No.
I try to stand, desperate to make Enzo pay for what he did to Raelynn, but I don’t rise more than a couple of inches before collapsing again.
Enzo nods to Rocco, who pulls a zip tie out of his pocket and tightens it around my wrists. The plastic digs into my skin, burning more with each beat of my heart.
My ankles are next. Idiots. Didn’t they see me fall only seconds ago?
Benny moves next to me, his gun aimed at my head as Enzo dials.
“Angelo.”
“Where is my son?” The voice pulls a choked sob from my swollen lips.
“Dad…” I whisper.
“See for yourself,” Enzo says and turns the phone around.
I start to cry. It’s been twenty years, but the memories come rushing back in a tidal wave. Dad cheering me on at the state championships. Laughing over Monopoly. Hugging me before bed.
“Nathan. Oh, God. You piece of shit. What have you done to him?” The video shakes. I have to talk to him. Keep him calm. Warn him what Enzo is planning.
“Dad…don’t listen—” Benny fists a clump of my hair and slams my head against the wall.
“Keep quiet, Nathan,” the enforcer snarls.
Enzo chuckles. “Imagine my surprise when one of my men called me from Seattle and said he was certain he’d found your son,” Enzo says. “Ran right into him on the street. He looks so much like you did at his age. Or…he used to.”
“I’ll kill you for this, Enzo,” my father snarls.
“No. You won’t. If you want Nathan to survive, you’ll listen carefully and do exactly what I tell you.”
I want to wipe that gleeful smile off Enzo’s wrinkled face. With a battering ram. Or a chainsaw. Or a nail gun.
“Anything. Just let him go!” My dad’s anguish bleeds over the call. God, I wish I could talk to him. Hug him. Tell him I love him.
“At 8:00 p.m., I will text you an address. You will have thirty minutes to show up. Alone. If you’re late, Nathan dies. If my men see a single one of your enforcers, Nathan dies. If you call the police or the FBI, Nathan—”
“Dies. I get the picture. What do you want, DeLuca? Are you going to try to kill me? Again?”
“Hardly. When you arrive, you’ll record a video confessing to the murder of my wife and daughter, as well as all the other crimes you’ve committed over the years. Do that, send it to the authorities—along with your location—and when they come to arrest you, I will release Nathan.”
My heart cracks into pieces. Enzo won’t let me live. My father has to know that.
“Why should I believe you? You’ve spent twenty years trying to finish what you started. I didn’t order the hit. My father did. Yet you came after my family. Killed my wife and daughter. Shot my son. And me. Isn’t that enough?”
“It will never be enough! Laura and Iris died screaming. Burning. You’re lucky I’m still the head of this family. Because if my son were in charge, he’d carve Nathan into pieces and mail them to you. One a week. For years.”
Enzo nods at Benny, who wedges the gun under my chin hard enough to force my head back. Flipping the phone so my father can see me—and the gun—he smiles.
“Enjoy your last few hours of freedom, Rossi. Because tonight, your control of this city ends. For good.”
I don’t care if he shoots me. I have to warn him. But before I can say a word, the screen goes black.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Raelynn
Angelo slumps back in the chair, and I snatch his phone before it hits the floor. “DeLuca’s going to kill him.”
