Taylor shakes his head, desperation clear in his eyes. “That’s the thing. I don’t know. I just helped get her out of the house without waking anyone up. After that, I bolted.”
My heart is racing. Every second counts, and we’re running out of time. If I just hadn’t turned my back on that guy.
A fucking rookie mistake.
“Captain, we need that backupnow.We have to find her.”
Captain Swanson nods, picking up his phone to bark orders. “Taylor, you’re going to cooperate fully. If we’re going to save those girls, we need everything you’ve got.”
Taylor nods, relief evident on his face. “I’ll tell you everything I know and help where I can.”
When Matteo pulls upin front of Roberto’s apartment complex and shoots me a look, I am surprised.
Fuck, it seems I was not done with this building after all.
He gets out of the car, his shabby Fiat door creaking open before he opens my door for me. Feeling a growing sense of dread, I step out and walk ahead of him to the entrance, wanting to get this over with. But just when I want to go up the stairs to meet Roberto, Matteo puts a firm hand on my shoulder, halting me in my tracks.
“We go down,carina,” he tells me, his voice cold, motioning with the gun to the stairs that lead down to the basement.
Well, fuck. It just gets better and better.
I walk down the stairs, my heart pounding with every step until I stand in front of a door, and he motions for me to open it. It is heavy, and no matter how hard I try, I can’t open it. He scowls, ramming his shoulder against it, making it pop open. Then he ushers me inside, and a moldy scent fills my nostrils, making breathing even harder through the panic rising inside me.
As I look around, I realize it’s just a big empty space. Some tables and stools are pushed against the walls, and boxes are scattered around. But in the middle of the room stand two chairs, with some distance between them.
Wait, two?
“Where is Chiara?” I ask him, nearly spitting in his face. He whirls me around in an instant, his grip on my arms like a vice, pinning me to him. My heart races even faster as I feel the world closing in around me.
The door swings open with a creak, and Del Moro comes in, gripping Chiara’s upper arm. She’s in her pajamas, her tear-streaked face making her look even younger. The sight of her sends a fresh wave of fear coursing through my veins.
No, please, she can’t be here.
“Let her go, you piece of shit,” I spit out, trying to fuel my anger with my fear for her and pull myself out of Matteo’s grasp.
“Oh look, we have a family reunion. Isn’t that a beautiful thing?” Del Moro smirks cruelly, pushing Chiara down to sit on the chair on the left and tying her arms to the seat behind her back, rendering her helpless.
“Lina,” Chiara whimpers, her voice trembling with fear, tears streaming down her cheeks, and I see that her lip is swollen.
“You dared to touch her?” I scream at him, my anger and terror boiling over.
He stands straight again, walking over to us. Matteo holds my hands behind my back while Del Moro pulls his arm back, ready to unleash a punch square in my face, hard. I nearly see stars but manage to hiss out, “I would tell you that real men don’t beat women, but we already established that you’re a pussy.”
A sinister grin stretches across Del Moro’s face, his eyes void of any humanity. “Oh, you can say whatever you want to, Costa. You’re not getting out of it today. And I am going to enjoy every fucking second of it,” he taunts, his words hanging in the air like a chilling promise.
“Tie her down,” he orders Matteo, who pushes me to sit on the chair.
I shoot him a death glare when he crouches beside me to tie my wrists, and he pulls his shoulders up in a shrug.
The door opens again, and Del Moro Sr. enters the room, smiling at me. “What a beautiful sight,” he remarks, his voice dripping with malice as he steps closer, pushing a stray strand of hair behind my ear. I recoil from his touch, but he huffs a laugh and leans in to whisper in my ear, his breath sending a cold shiver down my spine. “Poor, poor girl. I told you to stop digging. So, you can’t say I didn’t warn you about what will happen. Telling the captain about it?” He tsks, shaking his head in mock disappointment. “What a bad idea.” He steps back, looking over to Chiara. “Such a pity. Seems like you are going to end up as collateral, just like your mother.”
“Don’t you dare touch her,” I seethe.
“At least I am going to make sure she isn’t going to suffer too much. You should be grateful for that. I can keep my head unlike your dumb-as-fuck uncle.”
“What are we going to do with him?” Martin asks his father, sadistic curiosity in his tone.
“We’re going to keep him for a while longer,” Del Moro Sr. answers indifferently. “Make sure this doesn’t blow up in our face like when he fucked up last time, so we still have him to frame if shit hits the fan.”
