“Okay, I’m gonna need you to slow down and give me more details. One, how did they get to the casino with two feet of snow on the roads? And two, where the hell were you that they made a clean escape?”
My hand flew to my head, tugging on my hair. “Someone got the jump on me when I went out for firewood. Woke up on my back in the snow.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah, so if you’re done asking stupid questions I can’t answer, maybe we can start brainstorming how to get my family back.”
“Gio.” Enzo’s sigh sounded in my ear. “You know this is a trap, right?”
“Of course it’s a fucking trap!”
My cousin’s relief was audible. “Good. For a second there, you had me worried that you were about to go in half-cocked without a plan.”
Was now a good time to tell him that’s exactly what I intended to do?
My silence must’ve clued him in because he warned, “At the very least, you need to wait for backup.”
“There isn’t time!” My desperation boiled over. “Rory’s barely three days postpartum. Luca’s got jaundice. I can’t sit on my hands and do nothing, knowing they’re in Dario’s clutches.”
“That’s not what I’m saying—”
“You know what? If you’re not going to help me, I’ll call someone who will.”
“Gio—”
I ended the call before he could say another word, immediately dialing another number.
“Is your power out too?” Matteo asked in greeting.
“Dario took Rory and Luca to the casino. I’m going after them. Are you in?”
“Fuck,” my brother breathed out. “Yeah, I’m in. You know I’ve always got your back.”
There was a beep in my ear, and I pulled the phone away to find Dario’s contact lighting up the screen.
“He’s calling to taunt me,” I relayed.
“Answer it. I’m headed your way.”
“But how—” My question went unanswered as the line went dead.
Staring at my phone like it was a grenade with the pin pulled, I sucked in a deep breath before hitting accept.
Into the receiver, I growled, “If you so much as hurt a single hair on either one of their heads, I’ll tie you to a chair and force you to watch while I spend weeks slicing body parts off your offspring. I’ll go out of my way to inflict maximum pain, making them walk the thin line between life and death. I won’t be satisfied until their screams drive you so insane that you beg me to put you out of your misery. And then I’ll fucking laugh while denying your request, drawing out the torture for years on end.”
Dario hummed in amusement. “Are you finished yet?”
“I haven’t even begun,” I snarled.
“Usually, in situations such as these, you might begin by asking what my demands are,” my uncle prompted.
If I weren’t so on edge, I might have snorted. “Don’t patronize me. We both know you didn’t take my wife and son in some bullshit attempt to drain my bank accounts.”
“No,” he agreed. “My ransom demands are rather . . . unorthodox, to say the least.”
It was no secret he wouldn’t be satisfied until I was six feet under.
“Why don’t you tell me why I should come down there to offer myself up on a silver platter? When by staying away, by staying alive, I’m able to keep you from seizing control? Do you think I can’t remarry? Can’t produce another son? You did.”
