“I’ll take her to Canada,” Luca said. “You deal with getting the baby back.”
I didn’t like his suggestion, but what other option did I have? I couldn’t leave Isla in the hospital, where we couldn’t properly protect her. Cara Clemente hadn’t been located. It was all a clusterfuck.
“If you take her to Canada, I want to go with her.”
I cut my gaze at Jon. “Excuse me?”
“Isla is my friend and she trusts me. Can’t say the same for any of you.”
“You son of a bitch!” I lunged at him, but Roman got between us.
“Calm down, brother,” Roman said. “I think he has a good point. Isla hasn’t been around the family in over a year. It might be overwhelming, especially with Pippa missing. Think of Isla. Do what’s best for her.”
I backed away and went to Isla’s side. The last thing I wanted was for her to receive attention and comfort fromsomeone other than me. But I couldn’t leave San Francisco without Pippa. I had to swallow my pride and allow Jon to escort Isla to my estate.
“Fine. I’ll make the arrangements. Be ready in two hours,” I told Jon. I kissed Isla’s head and stormed out of the room.
“What do you want me to do?” Luca asked.
“We need to check on Paolo, and I need to go to Alba’s.” I hadn’t let Isla’s best friend know about Isla. It was shitty of me, but I’d been too busy to think of anyone else.
“I’ll go see Paolo.”
“Good. I’ll be back in an hour. Call me if anything comes up.” I waved and entered the elevator.
Thirty minutes later, I rang Alba’s doorbell. It was almost nine in the morning. Hopefully, she was awake because I didn’t have time to screw around. On my way here, I’d gotten a text from Fabio saying Wolf was being a pain in the ass and demanding to see me.
The door slowly opened. “Ciro?” Alba peeked through a crack. There was a chain lock that only allowed the door to open so far. Didn’t she know I could easily kick it open?
“Can I come in?”
“Where’s Isla? Is everything okay?” She unlatched the chain and opened the door, letting me in. “I texted her this morning but haven’t heard from her. Or from Paolo which is strange.”
Jesus, I had a lot to tell her. I stalked in, doing my best not to be all business.
“You’re giving off bad energy. What happened?” she asked, closing the door.
“Isla and Paolo are in the hospital. There was a situation at her apartment.” The words flew out of my mouth unbidden. Not how I wanted this to go.
“What?” She covered her mouth with her hands. “Are they alive?”
“Isla’s injuries are not as severe as Paolo’s.”
“Oh my God. What happened?”
“You know about me and my family, right?”
She nodded.
“I can’t tell you everything. But Elsie’s asshole drunk of a boyfriend, beat her last night. From what I know, he went after Isla next.”
“Oh my God.” Tears rolled down her face. “Is Elsie going to be okay? What about Paolo?”
“Elsie didn’t make it. Paolo is in intensive care. He was shot in the chest.” I guided Alba to her sofa so she could sit. Plucking a few tissues out of a box on the end table, I gave them to her. “And Pippa is missing.”
Alba burst into tears. Gut-wrenching sobs followed.
I wasn’t sure what to do, so I went into the kitchen to get her a glass of water.
