“That was your sister’s friend Jen,” she says. “Sophia’s room is empty. The place has been turned upside down. It looks like…it looks like someone’s taken her.”
Chapter 10
Dario Caraldi
“Dario…Dario, I love you, baby.” The scene’s rolling out in my mind like some ancient film on grimy celluloid, a flickering filmstrip played too many times in my dreams. “I’ll always love you,” the voice says. There’s the scent of roses again, a warm feeling as I seek out her face. Her expression so tender, my heart bursting as I reach for her, and then the horror unfolding once more. The pink-tinted smile, her throat slashed open, straining toward her as I watch her sinking into a pool of her own blood. So much blood.
“Dario…baby…” she chokes out. “Mama… Mama will always love you.” I feel terror surging through me like a wave, and then it dissipates as I sink into a warmth that’s pure heaven.
“It’s okay,” a voice says. “Everything’s going to be okay…” Someone is holding me, pulling my face against a chest that’s soft and fragrant. “I’m not going anywhere,” Nikki Love whispers into my ear. I feel my arms curling around her, engulfing her as she melts against me. That sweet, pliant body, made for pleasure. Made for me.
“Nikki,” I groan. “Tesoro…amore puro…I don’t deserve you.” Her hands cup my face, and her plump lips brush mine again.
“But you do, my love…you do…” Her words make my breath hitch in my chest. Reaching for redemption as I slide my hands down her lush curves. But my hands close on nothing. She’s gone. Snatched away from me. And when I look up, three looming figures are facing me. My father, my uncle, my cousin…all laughing.
“It’s a dream, boy,” my father says. “It’s all a bad dream. Go back to sleep.” But I don’t fall back against my warm pillows. My eyes are fixed on something he’s holding. Something that’s streaming gore onto the floor. And I’m staring into Nikki’s lifeless eyes as he holds her disembodied head aloft. “You’re asleep,” my father says again, raising his other hand where he has Dani’s head by the hair. And they’re still laughing. All of them still laughing.
“No!” I roar, flinging myself toward them. “No! I’ll fucking kill you!”
But they’re gone now. And I’m blinking blindly into a dark room. I’m alone. It was all just a dream.
“Fuck!” I choke for air, running my hands through my hair as I sit hunched at the edge of my bed. My sheets are a damp, tangled mess behind me, and sweat still clings to my throat and chest, chilling me.
“Jesus,” I husk out, standing and heading to the bathroom for a shower. I don’t know what time it is, but I know I’m never going to get back to sleep now.
As I come out, water still streaming down my skin, the light of my phone draws my attention. A message from Emilio – the tail I put on Nikki. The text holds just one word.
Trouble.
I’m texting back at the same time as I pull on clean clothes.
On my way,I type back, then watch as a string of details follow. Emilio’s had eyes on Nikki since I sent him the address I tracked her down to. Some high-end home that seems to belong to her friend’s family. Chick comes from cash…fucking billions of it, by all accounts. Who would’ve guessed? I send another message to Mateo as I head down the stairs.
On for 4 a.m. Meeting point as discussed.He doesn’t need to know what I’m about to do. He already has doubts about Nikki. And I can take care of this myself.
∞∞∞
Nikki Love
“How are you holding out?” Andy says, her hand on my shoulder. I give her a tight-lipped smile. I’m a wreck. I’m pretty sure she can see that, but putting it into words feels like it’ll just make things worse.
“I’m okay,” I say hoarsely. We’d spent over an hour with a couple of guys Andy had brought in to speak to us earlier. Specialists from her dad’s security team, she’d explained. I’m so grateful she’d called them in because when we’d learned that Sophia was gone, I’d lost it completely. And then I’d panicked even more when I’d come to the rapid realization that there was no way I could call the cops.
How the hell could I explain this whole damn mess to law enforcement? My dad sold me to a mafia boss rather than let human traffickers take me; I’d lived with the guy and become his lover before I walked out. And now my father has sold my sister too? It’s unbelievable. They’d either think I was on drugs or involved somehow.
Am I involved?Why didn’t I just go to the cops when this whole fucking mess began? Maybe Sophie would be safe now.
“God, this is all my fault,” I whisper brokenly as I sit slumped on a sofa in the bedroom that Andy’s settled me in. My hands are clasped tightly together over my knees; I’m trying to stop them from shaking.
“Nikki, you could never have anticipated any of this, hon’. You thought you were doing the right thing,” she says softly, sliding an arm around my shoulder as she sinks onto the seat beside me. “This isn’t the type of stuff they teach you about in school…or anywhere, goddammit. And if anyone’s to blame, it’s that giant piece of shit you call a father. Jesus…and I thought mine was bad.” Her jaw is set firmly. Andy can be a force to be reckoned with when she puts her mind to it. I wish I had her strength. Because if I did, I would hunt down that bastard and kill him with my own bare hands. I know I can’t, but either way, he’s dead to me.
“What if they can’t find her, Andy?” I turn tortured eyes to her. It’s not like those guys have much to work with. I’d told them everything I knew about Dario and his family – which didn’t seem like much once I’d laid it all out for them. And then I’d had a good hard look at the life Dario Caraldi leads; what he’s involved in. God, what kind of man have I fallen for?
I tried to focus on what I could remember about his hideous cousin, though. Eduardo had seemed to be the one most involved in all the trafficking. I can still remember his filthy hands on me…how he’d leered and pawed. He would have raped me in a parking lot in full view of anyone passing by – arrogant enough to believe he could get away with it. He probably could.
And then the Russian connection. I’d told them about that, too, though I don’t know much beyond the conversation I’d heard. How Eduardo had joined forces with some other group involved in human trafficking. Like there’s some sort of network of these bastards who can just tap into each other’s resources. It makes me want to throw up.
Andy’s guys had seemed pretty proficient. Big, mean-looking men with hard eyes…all business. The last thing they’d done before leaving was hand me a gun.
