“Cora was tattooed during her captivity, and it’s a series of bank codes. We know the three banks those bitches need to visit to transfer the funds to their accounts, and my wife’s good health is important right now because she must be scanned as part of the security series,” I continued, forcing myself not to pace.
“We need you all because there’s no way of telling which bank they’ll visit first. We also don’t know how many people they might be using. We’ll need a full team at each location because, above all, my wife must be protected. Take the women if you can, kill them if you can’t, but save Cora,” I said. “You must not be noticed; we can’t afford to scare them off.”
Carlo and Davide pass out pictures of Schmidt’s mother and sister and the bank assignments to each team. Giovanni slaps me on the back, “I’m heading out to my bank location. Lorenzo, our Capo from New York will take the third. He’s good and he’s used to these kinds of tactics. Are you ready for this?”
“The only thing that matters to me is getting Cora back safely,” I try to sound confident, like an Underboss, but it comes out in more of a croak. “When she got beaten up by Santos, the doctor who checked her over asked if she had much of a support system. I told the doctor that she had our family. She had us.”
Gio grips my arm. “She has a huge family, bigger than just us. All of these men will give their lives for her if necessary. We’ll get her back, safe and sound.”
Running my hands through my hair, I said, “I told her I’d keep her safe. She’s been kidnapped twice under my watch.”
“Ekaterina was kidnapped under mine,” he countered, “along with our nephew. We’ll get her back.”
Chapter Thirty
In which Schmidt's idea of motivation is not the same as Cora's.
Cora…
“You could have picked someone more motivating,” I said, trying to get myself under control again. The sight of my parents chained to a wall instantly gave me a huge surge of satisfaction before the shock took over. These women must be more powerful than I thought if they had the resources to kidnap the Senator and Mrs. Thorne.
“They’re not ideal, I know,” Hilda agrees, examining her perfect manicure. In the bright sunlight, I can see the lines around her face, the softening and drooping of the skin. She must be in her upper sixties or lower seventies. How can a seventy-year-old wield a sniper rifle like a professional assassin? Of course, she actually might be one. A professor’s salary only goes so far.
Why am I trying to put this into logical terms? What do her budgeting skills matter? They’re going to take the outrageous amount of money Schmidt stored in these banks and they’re probably going to do something even more horrible than he had with it.
Though it occurs to me that they may not know that Casey and Davide managed to drain all the money they could find and redistributed it to the human rights organizations that worked against traffickers. How much was left? Maybe none, which I would be thrilled about but they will likely instantly kill me.
“Is she ready?” It’s Marietta - no, Lina - striding into the room and she looks angry to see her mother sitting with me like we’re having a tea party. Throwing some clothes on the bed, Lina turns to me. “Get moving, we have a lot to do in a short amount of time.”
Gathering up the clothes, my gaze moves between them. There’s a lot of tension there that I could use, somehow. “Okay. Hilda? Thanks so much for the talk, I appreciated you being so open with me, even if you are holding my parents as hostages.”
A smile lights up her face and I force myself not to shudder as she looks like a starving anaconda again. “My pleasure,Liebste.”
Lina’s mouth tightens with fury and I head over to hide in the bathroom to change. Yes, definitely some digging to be done there.
Hilda waves over her shoulder, “Let her eat her meal, Lina. The girl must be starving.”
Dressed, I return to the bedroom to see Lina fuming, waiting for me to eat.
“You must be sick of having to say ‘How high?’ whenever your mother tells you to jump,” I said.
Her cold blue eyes move to examine me. “Don’t bother. Do you really think this feeble attempt to make me jealous is going to work?”
Well actually, yes,I thought. Shrugging, I take another bite of my pastry. “You forget that I’ve seen you in action as Marietta. You’re really good at what you do. That’s why it’s surprising to see you take orders like this.”
“We have a detailed plan set in action here,” she hissed, “and your little games are not derailing it.”
“How can you live with what your brother did? I asked your mother how she’d feel if someone kidnapped you and did all those evil things to you that your brother did to those women,” I said. “Do you know what her answer was?”
“I’m sure you’ll tell me,” Lina drawls, looking around the barren room.
“She said that if you got yourself in that situation, you probably deserved it,” I persisted. “Do you really think you’d survive the things your sick fuck of a brother did?”
“Shut up,” she snarls, grabbing my wrist and really digging in her fingernails. “No family is perfect. We all have our black sheep.”
“Black sheep?”Incredulous, I stared at her. “He bought and sold human beings; how can you possibly excuse that as-”
“No more negative talk today,” Hilda returns, clapping her hands sharply and Lina leaps up, shoulders back and looking like a soldier in formation.
