Brighton was never my dream. Being an editor was never my ambition. As much as I loved running Jack’s press, it wasn’t for me. It wasn’t the life I’d have chosen for myself if I hadn’t been married to him.
“Like I said, I’ll honor my husband’s last wish. I’m going to live.”
CHAPTER 50
Fabio
Martino Da fucking Nino was a little prick I was going to mince into a Bolognese sauce. I checked his father’s club and all the punk ass places kids hung out at these days. All I could find was a whisper here and there about Nino’s whereabouts.
From what I’d gathered Nino thought he was old enough and man enough to split and get his own crew and business, getting girls on his own to work for him at private parties until he got his own club. Emilia had to be with him wherever the fuck he was hiding to run his business behind the curtains.
I pulled all the strings I had until someone sang and gave me a website link. It was cheap and amateurish, nothing like Poles or his father’s club. When I saw it had an escorting tab, I flipped.
I paid for a subscription and searched every face and name on the website. When I didn’t find Emilia, I thanked God and booked a party myself. I waited, praying my sister was smart enough to protect herself until I found her.
The motherfucking piece of shit drove a minivan, delivering the girls and props himself. As he saw me, he tried to run away, pissing himself, not taking a second look at the girls he was leaving behind. I punched the fuck out of him, making him take me to my sister.
He’d rented a dumpster where he kept the girls and ran his stinky operation. A few bodyguards kept watch, apparently for his protection, not the girls’. He didn’t give a shit about them.
“I’ll just take my sister and go,” I said. “If anything happens to either of us, Tino Bellomo himself will know about the whorehouse you’re running behind his back and your father’s. You know how much Il Lupo hates spoiled bastards like you who think they can take what doesn’t belong to them. Remember what he did to his own son?”
“Just get your precious sorella and fuck off.” Nino wiped blood off his nose. “She wouldn’t put out anyway.”
My fist clenched, thirsty for another punch, but I held back. Any more punches and I’d smash his face for real. He was the son of a Bellomo made man after all. I didn’t want that kind of trouble.
“Emilia! Emilia!” I yelled over the music, the smell of pot suffocating inside.
I searched the scattered faces, looking for her in them in vain. Then she emerged from behind a cheap beaded door curtain, horror etching on her face.
“Get your shit,” I said through my teeth.
Without a word, she went inside for a few minutes and returned with a backpack. I yanked it from her and grabbed her by the arm, dragging her outside. “Let’s go.”
“I didn’t do anything. I wasn’t going to. I was running the place with Martino,” she said, terrified.
“You were going to be. Eventually. You think he saw you as his partner? You think he gave a shit about you? He gave you up without so much of a second thought.”
She started crying. “I’m sorry. I just… I need you, Fabio.”
My love for her smothered the anger, and I took her in my arms. “I know. I’m sorry, too.”
“Thank you for coming. Will you stay this time? Please?”
CHAPTER 51
Gabrielle
I glanced through the window of the cab that drove me from the airport to the address Logan had given to me. Fabio’s house in Chicago. “Are you sure this is the right house?”
“Yes, ma’am,” the driver said.
I evened my breath, lowered my gaze to Tiara in my lap and kissed her little head. “Wish me luck.”
Feeling my steps out of the cab, I held Tiara tight. Then I went back to the driver. “Could you wait?” I wasn’t sure what was going to happen or how long I’d stay.
“Sure, ma’am.”
“Thanks.”
