"I don't know!" I grit my teeth. "I don't know how he found her. After the first safe house was compromised, I thought bringing her back to the penthouse was the right choice. That he wouldn’t look there—wouldn’t expect me to have her so close.”
Ronan shakes his head. “That was fucking stupid.”
“I didn’t have any good options. He would have looked into my other safe houses too, would have tried to find her there?—”
“You could have brought her to me.” Ronan’s tone is icy. "You lied to me, Elio. You hid my sister, married her, got her pregnant, all while lying straight to my face. And you did nothing but make it worse the entire fucking time.”
"Ronan, listen to me." I force my voice to stay calm, rational. "We're wasting time. Every second we spend here is another second Annie is with Desmond. We need to find her. Now."
"We?" He laughs, but there's no humor in it. "There is no 'we,' Elio. You're going to sit in this chair until I decide what to do with you. And then, when I find Annie and make sure she's safe, I'm going to come back here and kill you with my own two hands."
"You can't?—"
"I can't?" His voice rises. "I can't kill the man who knocked up my sister and then lost her to our worst enemy? Watch me."
"She's pregnant with my child!" I'm pulling at the restraints again, feeling the plastic cut into my wrists. "My baby is out there with that psychopath. You can't expect me to just sit here?—"
"That's exactly what I expect." He turns toward the door. "You've done enough damage. The best thing you can do now is stay out of the way and let me fix your mess."
"It's not a mess?—"
"She's pregnant and missing!" He wheels back around. "Her guards are dead. Desmond has her. And you're the reason. You put her in that safe house. You lied to me. You married her. You got her pregnant. This is your fault, Elio. All of it."
The words hit like physical blows because they're true. This is my fault. If I'd never married Annie, if I'd gone to Ronan from the start, if I'd posted more guards, if I'd been more careful?—
But regret won't save her now.
"Take me with you," I say, and I don't care that I'm begging. "Please, Ronan. I can help. I have resources, contacts, men who are loyal to me. We can find her faster if we work together?—"
"You think I trust you to help?" He shakes his head. "The only thing you're going to do is sit there and think about what you've done. Think about how your selfish decisions put Annie in danger. Think about that baby she's carrying—your baby—and what might happen to it if Desmond decides to hurt her."
The image he's painting is too terrible to contemplate. Annie, pregnant and scared, in Desmond's hands. The things he could do to her. The ways he could hurt her.
Hurt our child.
"Ronan—"
"I'm done listening to you." He heads for the door again. "I’m going to find my sister. Make your peace, Cattaneo, because when I come back, you’re a dead man.”
"You're making a mistake?—"
"The only mistake I made was trusting you." He pauses in the doorway. "I'll find Annie. I'll bring her home. And then I'll deal with you. Until then, you sit there and think about how you destroyed the best thing that ever happened to you."
Then he's gone, and the door slams shut behind him with a finality that echoes through the warehouse.
The panic that surges through me is unlike anything I've ever felt. I've been shot, stabbed, beaten within an inch of my life.I've faced down rival families, dirty cops, and street gangs. I've stared death in the face.
But nothing—nothing—has ever terrified me like this.
Annie is out there, carrying my child, in the hands of a man who wants revenge. A man who has every reason to hurt her. To make her suffer. To make me suffer by proxy.
And I'm stuck in this fucking chair.
I pull at the zip ties again, harder this time, not caring about the pain as the plastic cuts deeper into my wrists. Blood makes my hands slippery, but the ties don't budge.
I need to get out of here. Need to find Annie. Need to save her and our baby before it's too late.
The thought keeps circling through my mind. Annie is pregnant. We made something together. A child that's half me, half her. A future I never let myself imagine.
