Massimo stays calm but I can tell it takes everything that he has to stay strong for his family.“Keep pressure on her and tell the boys to lay the fucking hammer down, get her home.Doc will get her stitched up.I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
9
Sophia
Massimo’s phone beeps again and he doesn’t have it on speaker.I turn away trying to give him what privacy I can inside the car, but Massimo pulls me to his side and puts it on speaker.“You can speak freely Vincenzo.”
“Our soldiers got a little info from a captive who didn’t want to die so painfully.We’re already at the docks.”Massimo meets my eyes as my heart races craving good news of my sister.
“Don’t get your hopes up.It could be a dead end but we’re going in now.We owe you that.”
“Thanks, Vincenzo.We won’t forget the favor,” Massimo says, keeping the line open.Massimo didn’t hesitate to let me hear everything and my heart fills with appreciation of his acceptance of me even when I just thought that maybe he didn’t trust me.This night is just taking everything out of all of us emotionally.
Now, a waiting game to see if my sister is alive or not.The back of my eyes burn with unshed tears, but my heart still holds hope that she is okay.How could Barcelo turn into such a beast or was he always a monster and no one knew it?How could I not see what he was, and why wouldn’t she say?
The guy booms over the speaker of Massimo’s cell, pulling me out of my reverie.“Someone’s down here.Describe your man before I fucking shoot him in the face.”
Massimo growls.“Jimmy’s in the same fucking blue beanie he wears every fucking day.Don’t you shoot my fucking brother.”
I take Massimo’s hand.It’s going to be okay.It has to be okay.All I can think about is his mom bleeding on the way back to Massimo’s house, fighting for her life while I’m here and unable to do a thing to help.I should have stayed back.I could have helped.A million possible scenarios run through my mind.Maybe someone in the helicopter had a first aid kit with a needle.Maybe I could have gotten out and stitched her up at the warehouse.It’s going to be my fault if she dies.
Massimo’s dark eyes meet mine.“Whatever you’re thinking, stop.”He’s just trying to get through the worst of this, get everyone out alive and keep me safe at the same time.And now, for once if he’s not going to let me go into the warehouse, find my sister, and go into combat, I wish that I weren’t here.Because if things go south and he’s not in that warehouse to protect Jimmy and something bad happens, it’s going to be my fault too.He asked me, no ordered me to stay put.But I had to be stubborn when I should have been smart.
I could be back at the house, getting hot water and disinfectant and needles ready because I can stitch a person up as good as any surgeon can having practiced on soldiers who came in shot all to hell for years.If I had known she was bleeding that bad I could have had Massimo leave me there while he went for Anna.Fuck!It was part of the training, part of the preparation for life to come as a daughter of a Cassone and Massimo could be in that warehouse covering Jimmy no matter that I’d be worried as fuck.
The reality is that I would be helping instead of slowing him down.My heart beats with angst every second while we wait for any movement around the warehouse at all.And of course, everything happens all at once.
Massimo’s phone buzzes and he answers it while gunshots explode all around us.We look at each other at the same time and I know exactly what he’s going to say.Stay.But that’s not going to happen.They found my sister.I’ve caused too much angst already and I’m going to do what I came to do.I pull out my gun.“You’re going to have to stop protecting me and understand that you married a Cassone.I’m never going to be the little lady at home.Let’s go.”
He doesn’t argue but comes around to my side of the car and grabs my arm.“You stay behind me, all the fucking way.Do you understand?Not one false move.Behind me, and if shit goes south, you get out and get to the helicopter.”
I swallow, meeting his eyes.“I promise, but it won’t come to that.We’re going in and coming out alive.”
“Vincenzo has Anna.Let’s move,” Massimo growls.
He moves through the night like a panther, muscles rippling in his jeans and black sweater and boots.I stay close, right behind him, walking quickly to keep up to his lengthy pace.Then we creep inch by inch along the side of a warehouse, and he puts his hand behind him holding me in place as gunfire erupts.I can’t see around the corner, but he must have a good view.“On my three, then we’ll move.One, two, three,” he moves quickly but not so quickly that he doesn’t make sure I’m right on his heels.The minute we’re in the door, we hear more gunshots in the back and loud voices.
“Jimmy!”Massimo yells, his gun drawn, guiding me along the dark corridor, stealthy steps into the back of the warehouse, leading me around boats that are hanging from the large metal roof and some that are parked on big trailers.“Back here, Mass!It’s all clear!”
We walk faster and faster, turning a corner that leads to a room at the end of a hall.Massimo pushes the door open and Jimmy stands, while another tall man has my sister into his arms.“Anna.”I start to go to her, but Jimmy shakes his head, and Massimo’s arms enclose around me.“Let them take care of her, Sophia.”
“What does she need?”Massimo asks as I watch the man gently carry my unconscious and pale as a ghost sister toward me.The marks around her wrists are bloody and my eyes go back to the place where she was lifted, my stomach lurching as I see the chains attached to the wall that look like they’ve been blown apart with gunfire.
Tears fall from my eyes.“Vincenzo found her like this,” Jimmy says.“He’ll take her by helicopter to your house since the doctor is already there for your mother.Sound good?”
Massimo gives him a nod of approval.Vincenzo’s jaw is locked tight as he carries my sister past me and toward his helicopter.My sister is out cold, not moving or making a sound, just lying still in his arms.My heart tightens fearing the worst.“Can I ride with them?”
Vincenzo gives Massimo a nod.“I came in your cousin’s ride.We have room for you both.”I race to keep up to the large man and my sister whose greasy hair hangs stringy and limp over the side of his arms.Massimo keeps a firm hand on my arm, and I’m thankful for it when I see blood running down her leg and drops dripping onto the ground in front of me.My stomach lurches, and I swear if we ever find Barcelo, I will fight every single person for the right to kill the bastard with my bare hands, whatever it takes to put that evil man in the ground.
Massimo takes Anna from Vincenzo’s arms as he jumps into the chopper, and then Vincenzo takes her back from him, allowing Massimo to help me climb aboard before jumping in himself.“I’m going to take the car back and meet you at home.The rest of the fuckers, they’re not breathing, but Barcelo, somehow the fucker disappeared without a trace.The man’s like a fucking ghost,” Jimmy says.
The darkness in Massimo’s eyes gives me hope, hope that we’ll find the bastard and put an end to him for what he’s done to my family and especially to my sister.Vincenzo doesn’t put Anna down, just holds her in his arms as we lift into the sky, slowly gaining altitude and heading up to clear the enormous trees on our way out toward the coast.
The pilot doesn’t use the space out in the green, but instead hovers right by the house, bringing it down almost right outside the front door.Massimo jumps out and Vincenzo lowers Anna into his arms, jumping out right beside him.“I can carry her in while you deal with your mom.Just have someone show me the way,” he says.
Massimo doesn’t argue, handing Anna back to him.We make our way quickly into the house.Elsie and Layna are both busy, moving in and out of the kitchen with water basins and towels.I have no doubt the doctor working on Massimo’s mother may need some help.I touch Massimo’s arm.“Go to your mother.I’ll take care of Anna until the doctor can see her.”
Massimo gives Vincenzo a look, and then his guard, who gives him a nod before speaking.“We’ve got this.boss, go be with your mom.”I take Vincenzo upstairs, following the others.Massimo and the others all go into the room that I was in not that long ago, where Massimo’s mother must be while I usher Vincenzo into a spare room that’s not used for anything that I know of right next door.I pull the covers back and Vincenzo lays Anna’s frail body on the bed.“She was unconscious when we found her.She’s severely dehydrated, probably undernourished, and my guess without looking closely is that she may have been assaulted.”
