CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Luca
The Break
Deangelo burst into my office at two in the morning.
"We found them," he said.
I was on my feet immediately. "Where?"
"Warehouse on the docks. The trafficking ring. We've got three guys in custody."
"Are they the ones?"
"I don't know. But one of them has a scar on his hand."
My blood turned to ice. Liana had mentioned that. Had written about it in her journal.
"I'm coming with you."
"Luca—"
"I'm coming."
He didn't argue.
We drove to the warehouse in silence. My hands were shaking with rage, with the need to hurt someone, to make them pay.
The warehouse was one of ours, a place we used for... interrogations.
Three men were tied to chairs in the center of the room, their faces already bloody from the initial questioning.
I walked up to the first one and grabbed his hand, turning it over.
No scar.
The second one. No scar.
The third one.
There it was. A jagged scar running from his thumb to his wrist.
"You," I said, my voice deadly calm.
He looked up at me, his eyes wide with fear.
"I don't know what you're talking about, man. I didn't do anything—"
I punched him. Hard. His head snapped back, blood spraying from his nose.
"Three weeks ago," I said. "You and your friends grabbed a girl. Dark hair. Twenty-three years old. You beat her. Raped her. Left her to die in an alley."
"I don't—"
I hit him again. And again.
"Luca," Deangelo said quietly. "Let him talk."
I stepped back, breathing hard.
The man spat blood. "Okay. Okay. Yeah. We grabbed a girl. But it wasn't personal, man. We were just—"
"Just what?" I snarled.
"We were supposed to deliver her. To a buyer. But she fought too hard. Scratched one of us. We got pissed and—" He stopped, seeing the look on my face.
"And what?"
"We taught her a lesson. Made sure she knew her place."
I saw red.
I grabbed him by the throat and squeezed, watching his face turn purple.
"Luca!" Deangelo pulled me back. "Not yet. We need information."
I let go, and the man gasped for air.
"Who was the buyer?" I demanded.
"I don't know. We never met him. Just got orders through a middleman."
"Name."
"I don't know his real name. We called him Viper."
I looked at Deangelo. "You know that name?"
"Yeah. He's been on our radar for a while. Runs girls up and down the coast."
I turned back to the man. "Where is he?"
"I don't know. I swear. We just got orders and followed them."
I believed him. He was too terrified to lie.
"What about the other two?" I asked, gesturing to his friends.
"They were there. They helped."
That was all I needed to hear.
I pulled my gun.
"Wait!" the man screamed. "Please! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
"You should have thought of that before you touched her."
I shot him between the eyes.
Then I turned to the other two and did the same.
The warehouse was silent except for the ringing in my ears.
"Feel better?" Deangelo asked.
"No," I said. "But it's a start."
"What about Viper?"
"Find him. And when you do, bring him to me."
"What are you going to tell Liana?"
I looked down at the bodies. "The truth."