So here I am, sitting in a leather chair in the center of Sal's office, wearing a crumpled white t-shirt and black, cotton lounge pants after being rudely awakened by the sound of thugs breaking into my condo. They searched the whole place before we left, no doubt per their boss's orders, and came up empty, of course.
Adeline wasn't there. Adeline isn't even in the United States, as far as I'm aware.The Wolfhas her.
And instead of returning her, as agreed upon, he'skeeping her. And I am so fuckin' fucked.
Swallowing hard again, I manage to tell Salvatore, "Adeline was kidnapped a few weeks ago while you were in Cali." I don't dare tell him that she was kidnapped the night he left or the fact that I paid off her bodyguards to keep their traps shut.
I managed to keep Bruno and Dario in the dark over the past several weeks, feeding them lies about Adeline's whereabouts. They thought she was safe and sound with me, and they enjoyed spending the fuck out of my hush money whilst not having to babysit.
However, they paid the price dearly when Salvatore returned home and the two of them couldn't answer his questions as to why Adeline wasn't in her room safe and sound. Sal didn't waste any time showing them what he thought of their negligence.
He slit their fuckin' throats.
But I have earned something over the years that Bruno and Dario never did --- Salvatore's trust. Sal trusts me not to lie to him. He trusts me not to fuck up. And he trusts me so much that he's willing to welcome me into his family by allowing me to marry his daughter and produce an heir to take over the entire empire someday.
"So, she's been missing for weeks, and I'm just now finding out the truth," he states matter-of-factly.
I can practically hear the blood start to boil in Salvatore's veins. He calmly stands, his hands clenching into fists at his sides, the only indication that he's losing his cool. If there's one thing I know about Salvatore, it's that he's always the three Cs --- cool, calm and collected. Even when he's a raging lunatic or on a killing spree, he always seems like he knows exactly what he's doing in the heat of the moment. He never wavers past the point of no return. He's always present, in the moment, doing the task at hand.
"I trusted you." He spits the words out as if they're full of venom. "I trusted you with my youngest daughter."
I hang my head in shame. This wasn't supposed to happen. I was thinking solely about the money, all the fuckin' money. And now I've lost the most important thing in my life. Did I love Adeline? No. I loved what she could give me. She gave me the chance to be second in command to the most powerful mafia boss on the east coast. I knew without a doubt that once we were married, Salvatore would consider me hisson. And with that title, I would assume new responsibilities. I would have the life most men in my world only dream about.
"I knew how important your business was in Cali, and so I tried to find her, tried to get her back on my own without causing a ripple in the pond."
"Oh, you didn't create a ripple, Giovanni. You created a fucking tidal wave." He slowly rolls the sleeves of his black shirt over his thick, hairy forearms. "Tell me everything you know," Salvatore says in a calm voice that causes a chill to run up my spine.
I recount the story back to him of the kidnapping, not giving him any more details than necessary and making it seem like an ordinary mugging in the city with nothing to link her disappearance back to me. I exaggerate about the amount of men, however, knowing that he won't believe that I couldn't overcome just a few men.
"Those fucks took my daughter," he says through clenched teeth with rage practically sprouting out of every greasy pore in his body.
"I tried finding her on my own. I should have told you right away, Boss. I'm sorry," I tell him hurriedly, sweat beginning to drip down my temples. My life is starting to flash before my eyes. I've seen a guy get gutted for a hell of a lot less in this very room.
"You kept this from me," Salvatore says, seething, while he slowly stands and rounds the desk. His pudgy hand shoots out and grabs me by my collar, pulling tight and strangling me in the process. "You shouldn't have done that. I control this fucking city. I could have found her in less than an hour," he spits, saliva running down my cheek. "I should kill you just for being such a stupidfuck," he snarls, wringing my neck back and forth roughly for several seconds before finally releasing his hold on me. "But you're engaged to my daughter, and that is theonlyreason you're alive right now. Don't you fucking forget it," he warns me, pointing his finger at me.
I nod vehemently, choking to get air back into my lungs after his assault. "Yes, Boss. We'll find her. We're going to get her back," I tell him, not knowing if I'm trying to convince him or myself.
"You're goddamn right we're going to get her back." He grabs his cell phone off of his desk and presses a few buttons. After a muffled voice speaks on the other end, he says, "Adeline was kidnapped. I need all manpower on this. And when you find thefucksthat are responsible, don't kill them. I want all of their pain and blood on my hands."
I swallow hard at his words. If Salvatore finds out I'm the one behind Adeline's disappearance, it won't matter that I'm her fiancé or that he trusted me. He'll fucking kill me…but not until after he makes me suffer through a long, torturous and painful revenge.
I put my head in my hands, visibly distraught and not knowing how the fuck to fix this. When Salvatore clasps his hand on my shoulder, I nearly jump out of my chair.
"Don't worry," he says to me in a calmer voice, obviously thinking I'm upset about Adeline's disappearance and not shitting myself over the fact that I'm terrified of him and what he'll do to me if he finds out the truth. "We'll find her," he tells me with all the confidence in the world.
I hope he's right. I've tried finding her for weeks with no more information than when I started. Adeline disappeared off the face of the earth when I sold her. And if her father ever finds out what I did, it will be the end of me and everything I've worked so hard for.
I rub my blurry eyes, tired and bloodshot from lack of sleep. I haven't slept more than a few minutes since she was kidnapped. I worry constantly about whether she's eating or sleeping or being tortured. If I don't get her back safe and sound, my life as I knew it is fuckin' over.
My decision to sell her was so extraordinarily stupid that I still can't believe it's real. I feel like I'm in a never-ending nightmare that I can't wake myself out of.
I did this. It's all my fault. And if the truth were to ever come out…then I'm a dead man walking.
CHAPTER 33
ADELINE
IT'S A SUNNY, breezy morning when I venture outside to the butterfly garden that Lucien had planted for me a couple of weeks ago. It still feels weird to leave the house or even my room on my own without someone in tow or someone watching.
