"Anyone else dies, it's on you," Dr. Kim said. "Now step back."
I calculated odds. Two armed professionals. My wife unconscious and vulnerable. Matvey’s team responding but not fast enough.
If I fought now, Angelina could get caught in the crossfire.
"Where are you taking her?" I demanded.
"Somewhere your money can't reach." He started wheeling the bed again. "Vincent sends his regards."
They moved quickly, out the door, down the hall past the bodies of two more guards I hadn't heard go down. Professional. Coordinated. This wasn't amateur hour. I grabbed a gun from the guard on the ground and ran after them. I followed, keeping my distance, my mind racing through options. They hit the elevator, but instead of going down to radiology, they went up. To the roof.
Of course.
I took the stairs, calling Matvey as I ran. "They're extracting by helicopter. Roof access, now!"
"Boss, we're coming?—"
The stairwell door to the roof was locked. I kicked it open just as the helicopter descended, its searchlight blinding.
Dr. Kim and the woman were loading Angelina's gurney into the chopper. She was still unconscious, still so vulnerable.
"STOP!" I shouted, drawing my weapon.
But they were already lifting off, the wind from the rotors nearly knocking me back. I got one clear shot at the tail rotor—missed. I continued firing and it seemed to do nothing as the chopper raised and pulled off. And then they were gone, disappearing into the night.
I stood on that roof, breathing hard, my weapon still raised, and felt something inside me break. Vincent had taken her. And I had no idea where they were going. I pulled out my phone, my hands shaking with rage, and made the call that would unleash hell.
"Find him," I told my father. "They’re gone… Fucking find him!”
"We’re trying…"
I hung up and stared at the empty sky.
Hold on, Angelina.
Just hold on.
I'm coming for you. As soon as I fucking find out where you are.
I shouted into the sky feeling completely and totally helpless. In the moment, everything good in me seemed to die and I didn’t regret it. That’s when I realized that nobody was off limits. If he could come after my family, I could do the same.
Vincent
The burner phone rang at 3 AM, jarring me awake in the shitty motel room I'd been hiding in for the past eighteen hours.
"Yeah?"
"We have a problem." The voice was distorted, mechanical. The leader of the crew I'd hired to grab Angelina. "Your payment didn't clear."
My blood went cold. "What are you talking about? I wired the money over."
"You wired money from an account that's now frozen. The transfer bounced. Which means you owe us two million dollars, DeLuca. Plus expenses."
"I'll get you the money. Give me forty-eight hours."
"You don't have forty-eight hours. You have twenty-four. And if we don't see payment by then?" A pause. "We kill your wife and son as payment after we kill the Moretti girl."
The line went dead. I sat there in the dark, my heart hammering, trying to think. The account was frozen. How the fuck was the account frozen? I pulled out my laptop and logged into my offshore banking portal.
