14. Rocco
14
ROCCO
I can see Leo’s anxiety eating him from the inside out. He’s fading away from me so fast I’m scared he’s on the verge of a complete shutdown. When this is all said and done, I’m putting him in counseling.
For now, I have to get tough, because I need him here with me. His sister needs him. Every second counts, because even though it isn’t confirmed yet, this is the exact kind of shit Ronan would do. I know he has her.
Now we need to mitigate the damage and hopefully get her back in one piece. Death isn’t the worst thing that can happen to Julia.
“We’re going to see Don Vettore.”
Leo stays on my lap, his breathing labored. I pick him up and take him to the car, using Gio as a driver so I can sit in the backseat with him. The ride to my Zio’s is quiet. I’m so absorbed in responding to texts from the school and getting a game plan together that Leo’s small, quiet voice startles me slightly.
“I met Don Vettore before.” Leo’s eyes are so far away, even though he’s sitting next to me. “After my mother left, I ran out of money in a couple of months. I couldn’t pay the rent and we had no food in the house…”
I put an arm around him, stroking the outside of his thigh with my fingertips, waiting for him to continue.
“I told the landlord the truth, because I didn’t know what else to do. I had no plan. He told me we’d talk about it the next day, but instead of him knocking on my door, it was Don Vettore. Your uncle paid for my apartment. He gave me a job. He said la famiglia takes care of each other, even in death.”
Leo’s file is engraved in my mind, so I knew what my Zio did for him. It didn’t surprise me in the least. He was a fair, compassionate man who took care of everyone. Hopefully, he’d be able to help us find Julia before it was too late.
“Do you think he’ll really be able to help?” he asks.
“Yes, lionheart. I know he will. Everything will be okay, I promise.”
I had no business making him such a promise. Ronan is a rabid dog backed into a corner right now. We have the Brass Bruisers by the throat, and he’ll do anything to loosen the grip. Resorting to kidnapping Leo’s sister is the least of what he’s capable of. But I’ll promise him anything if it will keep him here with me, instead of wherever he goes when he’s spiraling like this.
One of Don Vettore’s top guards, Gabriele, meets us in the foyer and takes us to the sitting room outside his office. My uncle rises from his favorite chair in the corner of the room, across from his garden outback, and meets us.
“ Mio figlio .” He hugs me. Don Vettore is the embodiment of la famiglia . After my parents were murdered, he took me under his wing and into his family as his own, not as his nephew. He called me son ever since. And to be perfectly honest, he was more of a father to me than my own ever was.
He, his wife Bella, and Maddie are the only people I hug. And now Leo, too. That little brat wriggled his way into my heart, and I never stood a chance.
My Zio takes one look at Leo and senses how distressed he is. He frowns as he puts a firm hand on his shoulder to comfort him. “It’s good to see you again, Leonardo, despite the current circumstances. Let’s all go into my office.”
His office is tastefully decorated, with rich cherry mahogany furniture and warm beige walls. His desk is pure marble imported from the Apuan Alps. Despite how superfluous it is, it works in the space. He closes the door and sits behind it.
“So given the note and the break in at your penthouse, I think it’s safe to say Ronan’s gang of miscreants is targeting Leo,” he starts.
“Yes. They know he’s important to me. The note made it clear.” I tell him.
“It made it clear that they have allies, too. The little street gang who tried to infringe on our stronghold at the ports has a big, bad backer. They think they can take out Nueva Notte ,” My Zio rumbles. “This isn’t the first time someone has tried this, it won’t be the last.”
“If that dumb fuck was smart, he would have just sold me his part of the dock. The Brass Bruisers could have gone legit with the money we paid them. None of this would be happening and he’d at least have his life. Now I’m going to make sure he’s pig food,” I grit out, trying to hold onto my anger.
My phone beeps. I check it immediately, in case it’s news about Julia.
Unknown number: Video attachment
The video is taken in daylight, on a street a few blocks down from Julia and Lucy’s school. I recognize the food cart she and a young man walk past from our trip this morning. That must be Michael. He seems like a stereotypical high school bad boy. His tie is loose, and he has an eyebrow piercing. I can barely see it under his mop of obviously dyed black hair.
Ew…he’s an emo one, for fuck’s sake. He’s not good enough for her in the least. Explains the awful music she listens to.
The video isn’t security footage. The angle is straight on instead of from a high vantage point pointing down. And the quality isn’t nearly grainy enough. This was filmed with a smartphone.
Julia and Michael stop at the cart, and she points to something on the menu board. He talks to the cart purveyor, then goes into his back pocket, presumably to get his wallet. Two large men dressed in black come from the alley next to them. One grabs Julia, and the other knocks Michael out with a club.
They didn’t stand a chance.
Leo gasps as the one man drags her into a car. Fuck . I should have left the room. He didn’t need to see that.
“You need to see this,” I tell my Zio as I hand him the phone, so he can watch the video.
He reads my mind. “They took her to a secondary location.”
“She’s probably already dead…” Leo’s face falls.
“No, she’s very much alive. She’s their bargaining chip,” he corrects him. Leo’s eyes shine with unshed tears, and I can tell he’s on the verge of breaking down. “Can you wait in the sitting room down the hall?”
Leo looks to me for permission, and I nod before he leaves.
“I’ll have Max work on finding different places they may be holding her. In the meantime, play along. Do what they ask. Make sure to get proof of life as soon as you can, and send any communication to Max so he can work whatever tech magic he has on it.”
“Will do.” My phone vibrates, and I answer the call and put it on speaker to save myself the trouble of relaying it. “Giuseppe. I’m with Don Vettore. What’s going on.”
“Don Vettore,” he says out of respect. “A boy who lives a few floors down from you saw one of our guards in the lobby and said a man outside paid him to deliver something to Leo. It was an envelope with Julia’s hair.”
“And we’re sure it’s Julia’s?”
“Yes, it’s her whole ponytail, held by the scrunchie I saw her wear this morning. They also sent a polaroid of her after they cut it off. We tried to find the man, but the boy didn’t see him outside.”
“He’s trying to scare Leo,” my Zio observes. Thankfully my lionheart didn’t receive the package. We need him with it and focused on finding her. I can’t bear it if something happens to him, too.
“How is Lucy?” The last thing I need is for something to happen to her too.
“She’s in a safehouse with me and guards I handpicked to watch over her. Maddie is on her way to keep her company.”
Maddie is Max’s twin, the youngest of my cousins. She may seem like a thick beauty queen with an MBA, but that’s a facade. She’s a hoarder of blackmail and an assassin. If my Zio has a problem, she’ll use either skill to make it go away. The first female Capo in Nueva Notte , a fixer of sorts. When my eldest cousin Franco takes over for my Zio , I think he’ll pick her for his Consigliere , if he’s smart.
There’s no one I’d trust more to protect Lucy.
“Good. Keep me updated. Remember, anything that happens to my toy’s baby sister will happen to you, too. Keep her safe.” I end the call, then crack my neck to relieve some of the tension.
“Your toy?” My Zio asks. “Hopefully he’s a consensual toy? Leo’s father was one of my best soldiers. Please don’t terrorize his son, Rocco. Don’t drag him back into this life without his consent. He may lose his sister because of it.”
Guilt slams into me. He’s right, this whole shitshow happened because I dragged Leo kicking and screaming back into this life.
“He’s fine,” I assure him, shutting the conversation down by drawing his attention to the threat at hand. “We need to call a family meeting tonight.”
“Yes, we do. In the meantime, I’m going to get Luca to round up the soldiers. We’re going to have to take her back by force once we get a location.”
Luca is Zio’s middle child–the silent, vigilant weapons and security expert. He usually keeps to himself unless he’s hanging out with Franco. But he’s still a Vettore. No matter how hard he tries to hide it, I see the monster inside him. He just keeps it under wraps better than the rest of us.
“We’ll hunt these fuckers down, make an example out of them,” I growl. “I’ll burn their entire world to ash because they thought about Leo. And I’ll slit Ronan’s throat myself and end this once and for all.”
“That’s the spirit. I’ll be in touch. Stay safe, figlio. ”
I nod, then shake his hand before leaving his office. Leo follows me and Gio out to the car without saying a word.
An uneasy feeling settles into my stomach, clawing at me the whole ride home. Something doesn’t feel right. Leo is still quiet, but instead of being lost in his anxiety, he’s radiating an angry energy. His face is pinched, and those pouty lips are thinned in frustration.
I try to pull him into my lap, but he stiffens at my touch.
“What’s wrong, lionheart?”
He pins me with a glare, and it feels like a physical slap across my face.
“I stood at the door…heard everything. They cut Julia’s hair off—and that’s only the beginning. I know what can happen to her. She’ll be lucky if she walks out of there with just a bob. Lulu is in so much danger she has to stay in a safehouse with a troop of guards!”
He sobs into his sweater sleeve and vehemently pushes me away when I try to comfort him. This morning we couldn’t keep our hands off each other, and now he wants nothing to do with me. I don’t even care that he eavesdropped on a private conversation, I can’t stand him pushing me away.
“Lionheart, it’s not your fault. Please don’t be too hard on?—”
“I know it’s not my fault. It’s your fault ” he seethes. “Who killed an innocent man at the club because he ‘touched what was yours’ ? Who took my job and apartment away and forced me to work for him—to live in his fucking building?! You turned me into a torturer, for fuck’s sake! From the minute you set your sights on me, I was fucked, Rocco.”
My anger rises with every word he says, because he’s right—everything is my fault. My obsession with him put them all at risk, and I’ll never forgive myself if something happens to Julia because of me.
“Leo—” I growl, trying my hardest to stop his anger from pouring out, because even though he’s right, I’ll be damned if I let this tear us apart. I’ll dig my claws into him and never let him go.
“ No . I let you in, even though I told myself how nothing good could come from being with you. Because made men are all the same. They come into your life, set everything ablaze, and watch the entire thing burn until there’s nothing left but ashes. I watched my father ruin my mother, until she was a shell of herself! I should have known…and look at what happened. My sister got burnt. This is all your fault. I should have let the bullet kill you.”
The first time he told me he regretted saving me, I laughed it off, even took pleasure in what he said because it was proof I made him feel something. This time, I can feel my heart breaking.
After Gio parks the car, he runs to the private elevator, purposefully closing the doors behind him before I can catch up. As soon as I find him, I’ll lock his ass up so he’ll never run away from me again.
He can’t leave me, or else I really will burn everything down.
I’ve never felt like this about someone. Never been obsessed to the point of seriously contemplating trapping them in my penthouse. Not once have I ever decided to keep someone around after fucking them.
Leo is the only one. He’ll be the only one.
I try to call the private elevator back, but when it comes down, it’s empty. My guard at the front door informs me Leo is in the guest room he originally picked with the door locked.
“Leo, open the door right now!” I order him, knocking on the door.
I’m met with silence at first, then try again. And again. I bang my knuckles against the door so loudly it shakes. The entire building can probably hear me.
“Leo, I will break this fucking door down if you don’t open it!” I shout, pounding on the door until I’m out of breath.
“Please, leave me alone,” he pleads, his voice broken and hoarse.
“No, lionheart. I can’t do that. I’d rather lose everything than lose you. Let. Me. In.” I mean it. I would rather lose my entire empire than be without him.
My phone pings.
Luca: Family meeting at Franco’s place in an hour.
My first instinct is to stay here, force my way into Leo’s room, and fix everything. Bind all our broken pieces back together so he won’t be able to tear us apart. But isn’t this how we got here in the first place? I steamrolled my way into his life, turned everything upside down, and put him and his girls in a position that can cost them their lives.
Don Vettore doesn’t think they’ll kill Julia, but I know Ronan. He’s desperate to make a name for the Brass Bruisers. He wants power and glory, to be the biggest player in the game. At best, he’ll make an example of her and use her as payback for everything we’ve done to them.
I can’t let that happen.
It may feel wrong on every level, but if Leo needs space, I’ll let him have it. I’ll give him time to pull himself together. In the meantime, I’ll go to the family meeting and do everything in my power to get Julia home in one piece.