I’m going to make this right, Angela. I swear I will.
28
Massimo
Iwake up with my heart pounding frantically in my chest. I just had the most terrible dream. In it, I’d lost Angela forever. The Cleaver had broken into my house and stolen her away in the night.
I sit up and rub my eyes. The dawn light pours through my window.
It was just a dream.
Still, I can’t help the urgency I feel. I need to check that she’s all right, and immediately.
So I get up and hurry to the door.
On the way I realize I’ve made up my mind. I definitely can’t sell Angela, nor can I kill her father. I’m letting her go. I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life.
I’m also not going to bother kidnapping someone else to replace her for the trade with the Rizzos. Because there won’t be a trade: I don’t care about the money anymore.
My brothers will probably hate me for it but there’s nothing they can do. I’ll sign a personal IOU with all of them for the amount of nine million Euros. I’ll give all my income to them for the next ten years if it makes them happy.
But when I reach her room I discover the door is unlocked. I open it. Angela’s not on the bed, nor in the bathroom. What—
I hurry to Luciano’s room but he’s not there. I head downstairs and I’m relieved when I finally see someone: Rosa is sitting in the family room, reading something on her e-reader while sipping acafé.
Then it hits me.
Rosa set her free.
That’s the only explanation. She must have snapped when Luciano tried to kidnap someone in front of her yesterday.
“Rosa, Angela is missing,” I tell her, not bothering to suppress the rage in my voice. “Did you set her free?”
Rosa doesn’t look up from her e-reader. “I told you not to involve me in this shit.”
“Did you set her free?” I repeat dangerously.
Her brows draw together and she looks up. “Excuse me? Why are you acting all pissed? Of course I didn’t set her free.”
“Then where the fuck is she?” I ask. “She’s not in her room.”
Rosa shrugs. “Maybe you should ask Stefano. I heard him talking with Luciano in the hall earlier.”
“Stefano was here?” Shit. I was wrong. It wasn’t Rosa. If Stefano had come early, it means he didn’t trust me enough to go through with the trade.
He was probably right not to trust me, though.
“Why didn’t you wake me?” I grill Rosa angrily.
She seems puzzled: “I thought you knew. This is your operation, isn’t it? So if they took her, what’s going on?”
“Today’s the day we sell her!” I exclaim.
“Fuck,” Rosa says. “I didn’t know.”
But I’m already heading toward the door. I grab a pistol from the armory on the way and slam a fresh magazine into the gun. I shove the weapon into the back of my jeans and seize a few other important items, then rush out the door.
I try to call my brothers in turn, starting with Stefano and Luciano. My calls head straight to voicemail.
