I returned to the twins’ room.
They were awake and watching TV, laughing at a movie on the screen. The doctor expected a smooth recovery. Dante was lucky to be alive.
“Have you guys seen Ava?” I placed my palms on my knees to catch my breath. “I ran up and down this fucking place. Can’t find her.”
Angelo sat up straight and groaned, clutching his side as if he’d ripped his stitches. “Fuck,” he bit out. “When was the last time you saw her?”
“I left her in Dante’s room. But that was a few hours ago.” I moved between their beds. “She wouldn’t leave the hospital without telling one of us.”
“Maybe she went to the cafeteria,” Stefan suggested.
“I checked there.”
Which reminded me…
Paulie never came back with my food, and I didn’t see him down there. That fucking cock sucking pig. I should have put a bullet in Paulie’s head after Angelo told us about his betrayal.
“The hospital has cameras.” Angelo slung his legs over the side of the bed and put his bare feet on the cold tile. “Call Dante’s hacker.” He snapped his fingers. “What’s his name?”
“Slade.”
“Yeah.” Angelo bobbed his head. “Call him. Get him to hack into the cameras and find Ava.”
Slade Rizzoli did a lot of shady work for our family. Dante saved his ass from going to jail. Now he owed us and helped Dante do lot of illegal shit.
I removed my cell phone from my pocket and dialed Slade. He answered on the second ring, and I explained the situation. It didn’t take more than a few minutes before he sent me a link to the live camera feed.
I hung up and went back to the moment I left Ava. She lay on the bed with Dante, curled up on her side. Our girl looked so peaceful, touching my brother in his sleep because it was the only time she would get away with it. I wanted to laugh but wasn’t in the mood. Not without knowing where she went.
I stopped at the point when she left Dante’s room. Angelo was out of bed, leaning into my shoulder, his eyes on the screen. It would take more than a bullet to keep Angelo in that bed.
When I finally found Ava, an ache tore through my stomach like a knife to the gut, driving in so deep I could hardly fucking stand up straight.
“Vinnie Corallo,” Angelo said with anger in his tone. “You gotta be fucking kidding me.”
Of all the men to kidnap our girl, I never would have expected Vinnie to go against the family. He was a loyal soldier and had been for years. We watched the rest of the video as Vinnie led Ava outside through a fire exit.
Johnny Zabatino got out of a black SUV and stabbed Ava with a needle. He tossed the syringe on the ground, and when Ava swayed into his arm, he threw her at Carmine Figarello.
Johnny’s second-in-command.
Carmine lifted Ava into the back seat of the SUV and got in beside her. Johnny hopped into the passenger and let his newest recruit drive. I couldn’t believe Vinnie turned on us.
“Stef, you need to see this.” Angelo threw my phone onto his bed.
He watched in awe, and his mouth hung open in surprise. “What the fuck?” His eyes lifted to meet mine. “Is this real?”
I nodded. “Vinnie took Ava.”
“That fuckingpompinaro." Teeth gritted teeth, he wrapped his fingers around the phone. “I trusted him.”
A text message dinged on my phone. Stefan held it out for me to see the message from an unknown number. I tapped the screen to open the video, and my blood ran cold when I hit Play.
It was Ava.
She was on a stage, hiding her face with her hair as they forced her to strip for a crowd of men screaming and waving paddles with numbers in their hands.
They were bidding on her.
