Leandro, Gino, Renato, Tristano, and Jimmy come racing toward my voice along with every soldier within earshot as I make my way downstairs barely able to breathe.“Sophia’s gone.She went home, to see her fucking sister.Her sister is fucking dying of some disease.Who the fuck knew she was sick?Who knew it and kept it from me?”I roar, almost out of my mind thinking about what could happen to my kitten if the Gallini or Amorte soldiers find her before we’ve finished this war.
Until then, no one is fucking safe, especially her.And yet, fear aside, she walks right out of a guarded house and is on her way to step right into the lion’s den.“Let’s move!”I yell.
I stop at the front closet, grab a black leather jacket, and slide open the secret panel at the back, gearing myself up with enough guns to take the fuckers out on my own before passing the rest out.
Jimmy runs a hand through his hair and gets on his phone, message after message.What the fuck could be more important than getting his ass in gear and getting me to the fucking Cassone’s house I do not know, but I have no fucking patience with that.“Let’s move!”
No matter that my brothers may have reservations about how this war came to be, they will be by my side for an eternity.We stand united no matter our differences.It’s who we are, the Roselli brothers, and if you fuck with one of us, you’re going to get buried in the ground.
We’re halfway out to the car when Jimmy stops on a dime.I almost run right into him in my haste.“What?”I growl, as his eyes go to his phone and then to me.
“Sophia’s sister is not sick,” Jimmy says.“I’ve got my best men watching her and there’s no way they’re not telling me the truth.Four of my best, all saying the same thing, Massimo.”
The hairs on my neck stand on end and a cold-blooded fear takes the place of the warmth in my blood.I race back into the house.“Elsie!”I race through the great room and up the stairs, taking them two at a time in my hurry to get to the only person who can give me the answers that I need.How does someone just walk in and take her, right under our soldiers’ noses?Someone fucking knows something!
Elsie comes out of our room, already in the process of preparing our bed for the night.The fear on her face can’t be disguised.I’ve seen it far too many times in my life.“Where is the note?The note you said she got from her sister?”I growl, seething with barely contained control.
“Come.”
She walks quickly back into the bedroom, unfolding the note and handing it to me as though it is the last thing she ever does, and it just may well be.It’s hard to even look at the bed that once held the kitten who has grown claws and wants to fight a war in the night.Elsie’s tears weep down her face, but I have no time for pity.I grab her by the arm, racing with her downstairs as I read the fucking note because there is no fucking time to waste.
Dear Sophia,
I am not well, growing weaker each and every day.The storm has demolished our home, our life, and the well laid future that was to be ours.I may not be here tomorrow so am taking a chance sending you this note via unorthodox routes.I pray that you make it in time to say goodbye but fear that you, too, are caught in a storm of your own.Love Always, Anna.
I read it once, and then twice and then again almost tripping on the bottom stair as I reach the great room.Something about the letter and reference to storms brings me back to the first time I let Sophia call her father as long as I could listen to the call.All of his references to the storms.But if she didn’t write it, who did?Fucking Barcelo, maybe he’s decided to make a play none of us were expecting.At least until he and Anna wed and he becomes part of the family.No, there’s no way.She’s completely safe with Barcelo until the wedding.Even with the quiet underground rumors about his philandering.He may be a dirty cheat, but he’s not going to harm his meal ticket.Her father, surely, he wouldn’t want Sophia hurt.But someone had that note put in my fucking house and I want to know who orchestrated it and who put it there.All of our resources are going into this the minute we get home.Heads are going to roll and fingers are going to fly off hands until I learn who put that note under that door.
My jaw locks tight as I race out the door toward my brothers, Jimmy, and the loyal soldiers who’ve all gathered around.Having two daughters to barter with would bring more money and power than one and even though old man Cassone is not the one who hijacked our trucks, he’s in the middle of a fucking war nonetheless, because of his trust in fucking Barcelo Gallini.
Anna Cassone made her own bed.She wants to sleep with and marry Gallini, who ordered the hit on our trucks and caused this fucking war, and there’s nothing I can do except keep the order of protection in place.And I will, for Sophia.Because when it involves Sophia, I will do anything.But no one is bartering with my wife, especially her fucking father.
Thought after thought of what could be happening to my kitten plagues my mind.“Get in!”I push Elsie into the car and slide in beside her while Leandro gets in on the other side, Gino rides up front with Jimmy and Tristano and Renato race to the car behind us with the soldiers in tow while others begin gathering, being sent in by the capos on the streets as word got out.
“This note, it’s not from Anna.It’s from her father or one of our enemies or fucking someone.”
I growl my fury at the woman who has been with us for years.Who knows that old man Cassone speaks in riddles about the storm when he’s got something cryptic to say.Fuck, it could be Sophia’s old man himself.Somebody lured her out with the note from Anna.“Let’s move,” I growl as Jimmy guns the engine.
“How did she get out of the house?”I ask Elsie.
She swallows hard.“With the dirty laundry.She’ll have to go to the laundromat and then sneak out and get a ride from there.I think we’re the last stop they have each day.”
I could kill the woman right now for putting my wife in danger but I temper my fury knowing that Sophia must have begged her and she thought she was helping.But even still, I can barely contain my fury.“What time did it come?”
Jimmy’s eyes meet mine in the rearview mirror as we race down the estate drive.He winds around the shoreline drive until we get to open roadway and can make up some time.“My men are watching for her, but no sign of her yet,” he reports.
“I’ll send a message to have our men meet us at the laundromat while you drive,” Leandro says, texting out a message to alert our men.He turns in his seat to look at me.“We’ll find her, we’ll fucking find her, Massimo.Our men will be at the laundromat in no time.The truck she’s in may not even be there yet.”
I turn to Elsie.“How long?Exactly how many fucking minutes!”
“The laundry truck left an hour ago.”
My chest tightens with pain.“They go straight back to the shop, no other stops?”
Elsie shakes her head.“No, they have many stops.Many stops where she may be discovered.What did I do?”She starts to cry again, holding her face in her hands while I try to control my temper, my mind running in a thousand different directions, knowing what those fuckers will do to my kitten until they get every piece of information they want, and then some.
20
Sophia
