Matteo steps around the opposite side of the vehicle.He’s calm.A little too calm, which has my heart racing erratically.I’ve never liked Matteo.He tortures men for a living.His only goal is to extract information before their death.“Bruno and Vito caught her trying to get over the fence.She’s on her way back inside the complex,” Matteo says.
“Fuck!”
Eleven
Luca
There are four men on Harper, two restraining her, Halsey and Caden, and two watching to make sure she doesn’t escape, Bruno and Vito.
Do they really need four men to keep her contained?It’s overkill.
Nico and Matteo join the party, dragging the boy back into the dungeon, opening the cell and tossing him inside.
There’s a cot on the floor and a blanket that looks worse for wear.The little boy runs toward the cot against the far wall and curls up, keeping his distance as best he can.
But Harper isn’t in a cell, and knowing he wants her dead has my stomach churning.I don’t question why he hasn’t killed her yet.It’s probably to torture me.
What the fuck is Dante involved in this time?
Matteo stands in front of Harper, his hands bunched into fists at his sides.
“Tell me why you were snooping and I won’t make this unpleasant for you.”
The air rushes out of my lungs.
He’s talking about torture, quietly threatening her with it.
“I swear, I thought I heard a puppy!”Harper cries out, trying to wrestle the men free, but they force her into a chair.
She’s not physically restrained, except for the firm hands on her shoulders by the capo, keeping her from getting up and running.
Her breathing is erratic.
I know the feeling, horror, seeing what men are capable of, and worse, it’s my own father behind this child’s abduction.I never knew him to traffic children, but he’s a monster, always has been.And I don’t know all the dirty details of his business endeavors.
“Just let the child go,” Harper rasps.“I don’t care about me.Do whatever you want to me.”
“Oh, you’ll care,” Caden says with a deep, throaty laugh.“You’ll beg us to kill you.Stupid girl, coming down into the mafia basement and stealing our property.You must have a death wish.”
“Mafia?”Harper gasps.Clearly, she hadn’t figured it out until he spelled it out for her.I’m not sure if I should be relieved that she’s naïve, or embarrassed that she couldn’t get there on her own.
“Let her go!”I shout.My voice reverberates against the metal bars and dulls over the stone walls.
I shove Bruno and Vito backward, out of the way so that I can get to Harper.
Bruno grabs my arm, yanking me toward him, whipping out his gun and shoving it against my temple.“And your father always thought you would grow up to be a smart man,” Bruno hisses against my ear.
“Silence!”Dante shouts, and his footsteps are heavy when they tread over the cement basement floor as he approaches from down the stairs.
“What do we have here?”Dante asks, examining the girl seated in front of him.He walks around her like a lion stalking their prey.While he’s aware of the crime on camera, he wants to hear it firsthand and understand his enemy.
Halsey speaks first, his grip still firm on Harper’s shoulder as he keeps her positioned in the metal folding chair, facing the prison cell.“Caught the girl snooping.”
“I wasn’t snooping!”Harper shouts and shoves the man off her arm, but she doesn’t rise from the chair.She seems to know better than to run again.Besides, the men towering above her have guns.
“What were you doing?”Dante asks, awaiting an explanation, although I can’t imagine any answer would satisfy him.
“I heard a puppy, and I went to find it so I could let it out to the bathroom.Is that so horrible?”Harper asks.She doesn’t even mention that she stumbled into the mafia den and found a child, then proceeded to attempt an escape with him.No sense in reminding him of what happened.
