He leaves without waiting for a response.
I'm alone with Pietro and Valentino.
The silence stretches.
"She's strong," Valentino says quietly. "Antonella. She's stronger than you give her credit for."
"I know how strong she is."
"Then trust her to survive until we get there."
I want to believe him. I want to believe that Antonella is sitting in whatever hellhole they've put her in, calm and collected, waiting for me to come crashing through the door.
But I've seen what desperate men do to innocent people.
I've done some of those things myself.
My phone buzzes again.
Liam's name this time.
"Talk to me."
"I've got my man in the Castellano organization on the line. He says there's been unusual activity in the past forty-eight hours. Money moving, people being called in. Something big is happening."
"Does he know what?"
"Not yet. But he's going to find out. I've also reached out to my contact in the Vance family. He's harder to get hold of, but I should hear back within the hour."
"Make it faster."
"I'm trying."
I hang up.
Two families. Two possibilities.
And somewhere out there, my wife is waiting for me to find her.
Antonella
The door scrapes open.
I force my eyes to focus, blinking against the harsh light that floods the room. My body aches from hours in this chair, wrists raw from the zip ties, left hand throbbing where they cut off my ring.
The scar-faced man steps inside.
He's carrying a water bottle.
The plastic crinkles in his grip as he walks toward me. His eyes are empty, flat, like looking into nothing.
He stops in front of my chair.
"Time to talk."
I don't respond.
He reaches for my face, and I flinch before I can stop myself. His fingers find the edge of the duct tape covering my mouth. He doesn't peel it slowly. He rips it off in one brutal motion.
