* * *
We’ve barely openedthe car doors in front of Giorgio Vitali’s Italianate-style villa before his booming voice fills the air.“How could you let this happen?What kind of amateur shit show are you running?”he demands, meeting me halfway down a set of wide marble steps.
The reasonable voice in my head, the one that’s guided me for ten years, is miraculously silent.But then nothing could stop me from taking the old man by the lapels of his silk shirt and pulling him in close to snarl in his face.I’ve been on the verge of a meltdown ever since we found the ladders, one propped on either side of the wall only a few dozen yards from my back door.Giorgio’s accusations are a match touched to the powder keg of my rage.
“Dante!No!”Papa barks behind me a split second before Luca separates us.Giorgio looks shaken, but waves off his men before they can do anything stupid.
“How dare you?”I grunt between gasps for air.“This was your maniac son.That sick fucking animal you should’ve put down years ago.He did this!”
Another voice floats our way from the top of the steps.“I hate to disappoint you, but I had nothing to do with it.”
Shock forces the rest of the air from my lungs while I turn my head to look up at the front patio.It can’t be.I’m seeing things.The tall, thin man with the gleaming black hair and healthy, tanned complexion cannot be who I think he is.
Luca breaks free of his shock before I do.“You motherfucker,” he snarls, and now he’s the one charging up the stairs for me to pull to a stop before he can reach Alessandro, who stands motionless, smirking down at us.
“Enough.”Papa slowly climbs the steps.A glance over my shoulder confirms the displeasure in every line of his face.“Past business can be discussed once present business is settled.And the present business is my daughter-in-law’s disappearance.”
“A disappearance I can assure you I had nothing to do with,” Alessandro insists.“It’snotmy style.”
A tremor runs through my brother before he barks, “Oh, you sick fucking?—”
The only thing capable of shutting Luca down is a sharp throat clearing from Papa.I didn’t understand until now how well he’s trained us.Even my flared-up rage cools at the sound.
Just because Papa wants to avoid carnage doesn’t mean he’s going to let that go.“Let’s lay our cards on the table, shall we?Alessandro, don’t insult us by pretending you didn’t kidnap, torture, and beat one of our family members half to death.A woman, at that,” he adds with a disgusted sneer.“All things considered, blowing up our front gate and smuggling your sister off the grounds is child’s play in comparison.”
Alessandro’s nostrils flare, but he inclines his head, accepting this.Even as I barely cling to sanity, I can still notice how strangely calm he is.Rational, even.Unlike himself.“I can understand why you would jump to that conclusion, which is why I’m glad I decided to fly commercial for once.”
It can’t be panic that makes him impossible to understand.“What does that have to do with anything?”I ask.
Folding his hands in front of himself, he explains, “Check my luggage tags, my boarding pass.I arrived on US soil two hours ago after flying out of Rome yesterday.I’ve been out of the country ever since…”
His gaze drifts to my brother.“Well, you know what happened,” Alessandro murmurs.Is he enjoying this?It seems that way.
“Bullshit,” Luca snarls.
“It’s true,” Giorgio insists.The man didn’t look exactly healthy on our wedding day, but now he could be two steps away from the grave—gray pallor, sagging jowls, and what looks like bruises under his sunken eyes.“He came in this morning.He was unexpected.”There’s something sour in the way he says it, almost like the arrival wasn’t a welcome one.
“Believe it or not, I only recently got word of the happy event which took place between our families.”Alessandro’s hard, dark eyes darken further.“I went off the grid and wasn’t planning on coming back.You haven’t lived until you’ve spent time in a seaside village, waking up to the sound of water gently lapping against the shore.”
“Spare me,” I grunt.“This is all very convenient.”
“No, convenient would’ve been swallowing my pride and coming back when I first found out about your wedding, but I told myself to stay away for my sister’s sake,” he snaps.“Though I couldn’t when I started becoming suspicious.”
That’s when the strangest thing happens.I didn’t know an animal could look sorrowful.“I should’ve come back sooner.”He sighs.“I might not have been the person who took my sister, but I know who did, and he took advantage of knowing how removed I was from everything going on back here.”
“You were in Italy,” I murmur, thinking it over.Do I believe him?Is there any other choice but to go along with what he says?Sophia is out there somewhere, and it might not be her loving brother who’s taken her.
“Right,” he replies with a grim smirk.“And I’m sure you know who else was out there until recently.We ran into each other in Sicily.I greeted him like a long-lost brother.He told me he was preparing to go home.When he asked for Sophia’s number, I didn’t see any reason not to give it to him.”
He looks over my shoulder to where Papa stands.“He told me about the marriage after he got back and has been stewing over it ever since.Then he sent me a message two days ago, telling me he had a plan in motion to rescue her.When I asked for an explanation, he went silent on me.That’s what brought me here.”
“Enzo,” I mutter.It makes too much sense.Why didn’t I see it?I might have if I knew before last night about the prick texting her like some lovesick puppy.
“He’s obsessed,” Alessandro confirms.“Back in Italy, he told me how hard he’d worked to make himself worthy of my sister.Neither of us had any idea she was going to be married.I even wished him luck,” he adds with a soft, regretful laugh.
But on a dime, his scowl reappears.“If we’re going to find her, you’ll need to let me take the lead.”
“Get fucked,” I growl.“Like any of us would trust you after what you’ve done.”
