42. Chapter 42
Rory
A heavy pounding on the door woke me. I didn’t know how long I’d been sleeping, but my eyes felt gritty. As soon as I pushed myself up, the ever-present nausea hit me like a ton of bricks. I squeezed my eyes shut against the urge to vomit and breathed deeply until it went away.
Whoever was on the other side of the door continued pounding and yelling my name.
I quickly wrapped my robe around myself and opened the door. A very panicked Connor stood on the other side. “Rory, we need you to come downstairs immediately.” The urgency in his voice and the wild look in his eyes sent anxiety spiraling through me so fast, my head spun. I nodded mutely, not trusting myself to speak and shut the door.
I quickly dressed in a pair of leggings and one of Cal’s shirts, pushing my feet into some slip-on shoes as I made my way to the door. When I opened it, Connor was still there, anxiously twitching like he couldn’t bear to stand still.
He led me downstairs, but instead of stopping at the den, like I expected, he moved on to Cal’s office. When I walked in, my anxiety doubled.
Carson, Lorcan, a bloodied Finn, Marco, a weeping Ebony, and a few other men I’d never met, were crowding the room. I cleared my throat and looked to Connor and Carson for guidance. Connor moved around to the back of the desk and posted himself against the wall, right next to Carson. I took that to mean I should be on that side of the desk too. I moved to stand behind Cal’s desk, but Lorcan’s sympathetic voice stopped me.
“Dolly, you should probably sit down for this conversation.”
Dread like I had never known swallowed me, my body turning hot and then cold in an instant, goosebumps erupting across my skin. I slowly lowered myself into the chair as I met Finn’s eyes, the blood dried on his face and in his hair making my heart pound too fast and too hard.
The moment I was seated, the men in the room took their seats, except Conor and Carson and Finn. Finn moved to stand at my right.
“Finn, what’s going on?” I asked. I’d meant for my voice to be strong, because I knew that’s what these men, my family, needed from me right now.
But it came out small and scared. Finn turned to look at me again and the bruising and blood made me lay a hand on my stomach protectively, like I could protect my baby from the news I knew was coming.
When Finn’s eyes changed from angry to sad, but his mouth didn’t move, I turned to Lorcan.
“Lorcan?”
His watery eyes met mine. “There’s no easy way to say this, Dolly. And if it weren’t just us in this room, I wouldn’t say this at all. But what comes next is going to be very hard. I need you to be strong. Our men need you to be strong. You need to lead our men with a level head-”
“Is Cal dead?” I interrupted, my voice breaking and tears threatening to track down my cheeks.
In a very uncharacteristic move, Finn laid his hand on my shoulder.
Lorcan, thank fucking God, shook his head. Hope bloomed in my chest, lifting some of the blackness that was drowning me.
But then he crushed that hope.
“We don’t know, Dolly. He was ambushed on his way back to the office. Their car was targeted, Finn was knocked unconscious, and Cal was taken. We don’t know who, we don’t know why.”
A sob burst through my lips and, if I hadn’t been sitting, I would have collapsed.
As it was, I turned in my seat and immediately vomited into the waste basket next to Cal’s desk. One of the guys immediately grabbed my hair and pulled it away from my face, as hands rubbed my back.
I heard the office door open and close and then open again before I was even done throwing up. Ebony held a glass of water and a small bottle of apple juice out to me. I swallowed heavily from the water while Carson uncapped the juice and set it beside my elbow.
I met Lorcan’s eyes and then looked up at Finn, who was still holding my hair, probably expecting another bout of vomiting, since my morning sickness was never one-and-done.
I took my hair from him and wrapped it into a messy knot on the top of my head, my eyes focused on the desk as I thought. My mind spun in circles, replaying Lorcan’s words, but I refused to let my tears fall. They brimmed on my lower lashes and if I so much as blink, they’d fall, but I refused to let them.
“Has anyone made sure Elio is still in the basement?” I asked.
“He is, I checked myself,” one of the nameless men said in a thick Irish accent.
“And who are you?” I asked, meeting his eyes directly.
He moved forward and knelt in front of the desk, one arm on his upraised knee and his head bent. “Mario, Mrs. Byrne. I’m technically Cal’s operations manager of the legal businesses, but I’m privy to the other businesses and help with the finances when he needs me.” He raised his head. “Whatever you need from me, my team and I are at your disposal.”
“Thank you,” I said distractedly.
I rested my head in my hands, the first tear soaked my cheek and dripped onto the desk, but it was the only one I allowed to fall. “Who all knows of Cal’s kidnapping?”
“Only those of us in this room,” Finn said. I sighed.
My brain flashed through a thousand different scenarios, the face of every person Cal and I had pissed off with my unwillingness to be a proper Mob wife. Every person who had taken offense to our relationship. Anyone who might’ve opposed Cal as the rightful heir to the NYC Cosa.
I raised my head. “Marco, has there been any talk about people opposing Cal?”
Marco immediately shook his head. “The only thing I’ve heard has been relief that Elio is out. A few grumblings about Cal being an outsider, but no outright opposition.”
I frowned. Okay, so that’s out.
“Finn, please call Mikhail, Nate and Elliot. Tell them to come immediately. That no matter what they are doing, this is more important. Tell them it’s a direct order from me and they will come.”
Several eyebrows went up, but Finn just said, “Yes, Mrs. Byrne.”
I shuddered. “Ew, and cut that out. You’ve never called me that. In charge or not, my name is Rory.” He smirked as he pulled out his phone.
“Of course, ma’am.” I rolled my eyes and plopped my head back in my hands.
Staring at the desk, my brain did that weird thing it does when problem solving and started making lists with pros and cons columns.
The section under “Not A Proper Mob Wife” was the longest, so I started listing names of everyone I’d angered since marrying Cal.
Fern, obviously. But she couldn’t orchestrate something like this.
Hajek. Definitely a possibility.
Mikhail’s guys at the dinner, but they were clearly on our side, so I crossed them off.
Elio, but he’s in a cell.
Carlo, but he’s-
Wait.
My head popped up. “Ebony, go get my phone off my nightstand. Quickly!” She turned and ran from the room, returning thirty seconds later. I quickly pulled up a popular social media app and searched Fern, then her friends list for Carlo. Finding his profile, I scrolled to his most recent post.
April 30th.
The sheet presentation had been on April 29th. Cal had exposed Carlo’s affair with Fern that day, and he’s been MIA since.
“Mikhail will be here in twenty minutes,” Finn said, interrupting my train of thought. “Nate is on his way, but Elliot is in London on business. He will be headed to the airstrip the moment his meeting is over.”
I hummed in response, yanking open the copious drawers in Cal’s desk, looking for files. “Seriously,” I grumbled, “why the fuck are there so many fucking draw- YES!”
I pulled out a file marked Fern and began flipping through it haphazardly until I found an image of a young Fern, cuddled up to Carlo, the two of them sucking face so hard it made me want to gag again.
I read the writing beneath the picture, noting that she and Carlo had been at it far longer than any of us realized.
“Marco!” I barked. He moved forward and my men stepped closer to me, Finn laying a hand on Marco’s chest when he was within a few feet of the desk.
“That’s close enough, sir. You can speak to her from there,” Finn said, all business.
I rolled my eyes and pushed myself up, moving past Finn to stand toe-to-toe with Marco. “After the sheet presentation, when Cal outed Carlo and Fern, what happened with Carlo?”
He looked confused, not seeing where my head was at. “I’m not sure, Mrs. Byrne. He left for a meeting with Elio and several others. When they returned without him, Elio said he’d been sent to another meeting after, but he never showed up. Of course, we all assumed he’d been disposed of, but I have no proof of that.”
Lorcan groaned as he stood, leaning heavily on the desk. I moved to help him, knowing the stress of this situation was taking a toll on him. He waved me off but looked at me curiously. “Where’s your head, Dolly? What’re you thinking?”
“If Elio had Carlo killed, because we all know the pussy wouldn’t do it himself,” several snorts sounded, “then Fern would likely be very angry about that and want revenge. She’s also pissed that Cal embarrassed her by choosing me, after they had publicly announced their engagement. She’s the most logical suspect,” I said, feeling like the detective in a cheesy crime drama using that word.
“I can have Nate track her phone as soon as he-”
The door burst open and Mikhail, his entourage, and Nate filed through. Nate pushed a very angry looking Charlotte ahead of him, his hand on the back of her neck.
“This one couldn’t fucking follow the rules if it killed her!” he groused.
Charlotte shrugged off his hand and moved to my side, immediately wrapping her arm around my waist and laying a hand around my belly protectively. “You think I’m going to hear you say something like ‘Rory’s in trouble,’” she deepened her voice to mock his, “and not follow you?” The question was full of sarcasm.
Marco’s eyes locked on Charlotte’s hand, resting on my stomach. With the shirt now pressed against my torso rather than hanging loose, the tiny baby bump was visible. His jaw twitched but he didn’t say anything as I narrowed my eyes at him, wondering why he’d reacted at all. It shouldn’t matter to him whether or not I’m pregnant.
Nate and Charlotte immediately started arguing, so to put a stop to it, I blurted, “Cal’s missing.”
The room went silent again.
“I think Fern’s behind it. Nate, can you track her phone? Are you able to do that?”
“Yeah, I just need a computer,” he said, already moving around Cal’s desk to sit at the keyboard. As soon as he began to lower himself, Connor yanked the rolling chair back. Nate fell flat on his ass, frowning up at Connor above him.
“This is Mrs. Byrne’s seat,” he said, pushing the chair in my direction. Nate huffed but just moved to kneel at the desk.
He hammered at the keyboard for about two minutes before the computer started beeping, a red dot lighting up the screen. He pointed to the dot and spoke over his shoulder, “This is her phone. It’s currently moving through the shopping district down in Manhattan.”
“Not surprising,” I muttered. “What about Cal’s phone?”
“I have it,” Finn said. I huffed in frustration.
“It’s got to be Fern, right? But she wouldn’t be dragging him around fucking Fifth Ave. So, either she’s stashed him somewhere, or she has a partner. But who would be dumb enough to work with her? Either it’s an Italian, or someone outside the Cosa working-”
The shrill ringing of a phone cut me off. No one made a move for their phone and it took me a delayed moment to realize it was my own. I looked down and didn’t recognize the number, so I rejected the call and turned my attention back to the men in the office.
“Anyway, it would have to be someone from inside the Cosa, someone who believes they can take down Cal and-”
The phone rang again. I eyed it warily before hitting accept and putting it on speaker.
“Hello?”
“Mrs. Byrne, it’s Tomasso Bianchi.”
My eyes connected with Lorcan’s over the desk, then slid to Finn. I felt Connor and Carson shift into my personal space, the voice of an outsider in a moment like this making them nervous.
“What can I help you with, Mr. Bianchi?” I asked. I knew he preferred Tomasso, but he knew I preferred Rory and had called me ‘Mrs. Byrne.’ The last time we’d spoken, he’d used my first name, so either he had a charade to keep up, or he couldn’t be trusted.
“Well, I was hoping I could speak with Cal about something he asked me to look into.”
I hesitated, meeting Finn’s eyes again. Lorcan leaned into my line of sight and shook his head.
“Sorry, Mr. Bianchi, Cal’s not here right now. Perhaps it’s something I can help you with?” I asked, arching an eyebrow for Lorcan’s approval. He nodded to me.
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. Well he’d asked me to look into that friend of his, Nathan Rhodes. The one with the annoying habit of tracking cell phones?”
We all exchanged confused glances and Nate shifted uncomfortably at my side. When I went too long without saying anything, Tomasso spoke again.
“Yes ma’am, that’s the one. According to Cal, Nate was caught tracking some cell phones he shouldn’t have been tracking, and he wanted me to gather some information on him, see if his loyalties were changing.”
Finally, I caught on and snapped at Nate, pushing the phone toward him and then pointing to the computer and waving my fingers impatiently. As if a damn broke, understanding rolled over the room and Nate immediately started typing again, plugging the phone number displayed on my phone into the computer system.
“I understand, Mr. Bianchi. Nate does have an annoying habit of tracking cell phones at the worst of times,” I said, trying to let him know I had Nate tracking his phone, without actually saying it. He hummed noncommittally, which I took as an affirmation that he understood. “Did you find anything interesting in your investigation?”
“Actually, yes. If that man would spend less time selling women and more time listening to them, he might actually be useful.”
Nate whipped around as he shook his head rapidly, looking up at me in confusion. Never, he mouthed.
I laid my hand on his shoulder, letting him know everything was okay, but something about what Tomasso said tickled my brain. It was so familiar. Tomasso hummed thoughtfully, as if I’d responded, even though I was lost in memories, desperately searching for-
I gasped as I remembered Cal’s words at the sheet presentation. I quickly grabbed a pen from the little tray, yanking a random sheet of paper towards me and scrawling HAJEK across it before pushing it to Finn. His brow scrunched until he seemed to recall the same memory I had, his eyes lighting with understanding.
“Okay, Mr. Bianchi, Nate’s been tracking cell phones he shouldn’t be and selling women. I understand what you’re saying. Is there anything else?”
“There might be, if you need more.”
I glanced at the computer screen and it was still doing the weird thing with an image of the Earth and a bunch of cell phone towers. Nate made a rolling motion with his hand.
“If you have more information, I would like to have it now please,” I said, my head kind of hurting from all this code-speak.
“Hmm, well, I did hear that he was working on the sales with a woman, but I don’t have a name for you. She was seen attending a dinner with Nate’s business partner, though. I believe you met her that evening.” Nate shook his head, his mouth turned down in a ‘no way’ expression. My mind raced back to that evening, but apparently I went too long without saying something because Tomasso went on.
“From what I gathered, she was quite upset about a bracelet that evening.” My eyes snapped to the slim diamond bracelet encircling my wrist and my frown deepened.
“But…that was Fer-”
“Yes, exactly,” he interrupted and understanding dawned. “Unfortunately, that’s all the information I have right now, Mrs. Byrne. Is there anything else you need from me at the moment?”
I looked at Nate who gave me a thumbs up, the computer screen now showing a red dot, blinking within a small triangle.
“No, thank you, Mr. Bianchi. You’ve been a huge help.”
He hung up without further words.
“What the fuck was that about?” Lorcan asked as soon as the line went dead. “None of that made sense and Nate would never be involved in trafficking.”
I explained the connection between what Tomasso had said about Nate selling women and what he’d said to Hajek in the sitting room, then explained about the night of the party, when Fern had been wearing the dress that my bracelet had snagged when I was trying it on.
“Okay, we know Fern is shopping. We know Hajek is helping her, but where’s he at? We know where Cal is but we don’t know what we’re walking into.” I stood and paced the small area behind my desk.
“I can help with two of those things. Mikhail, you have Hajek’s phone number?”
For the first time, the Russian joined the conversation. “Da.” He pulled his phone from the breast pocket inside his jacket and presented it to Nate.
“Okay, I’ll trace Hajek’s phone and get satellite images of the warehouse where Cal’s being held. If there are any cameras in or around the building, I can tap those, too. I’ll need some time though. This would be easier if I had my computer.”
I bit my thumb nail. “I can have someone go get it from the office? Is there anything else you need?”
Nate tapped away at the keyboard, his eyes glued to the screen. “No, but Elliott’s assistant can help whoever you send.”
I looked around the room. A few of the nameless men and Mario stepped forward. “My team and I can go, Mrs. Byrne,” he said, gesturing to the men standing behind him.
“Thank you, Mario. Return as quickly as possible. Be safe and assume that nowhere is safe.”
He dipped his head respectfully. “Charlotte, come to my room and help me get ready.” I met Finn’s eyes. “You’re taking me to see Elio.”