Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 118245 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 591(@200wpm)___ 473(@250wpm)___ 394(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 118245 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 591(@200wpm)___ 473(@250wpm)___ 394(@300wpm)
Fino laughed. “Wave goodbye, Antonia! Oh wait, you can’t.”
He turned the phone toward himself and handed it to one of the thugs. “Film me.” He then crouched near the open driver-side door and grabbed the top of my head, forcing me to face the camera phone. “This is your proof, Judge, that I have taken care of the problem for you.”
Why would Judge Delluci want Antonia dead? Or me?
Fino released me and reached into his pocket for a Zippo lighter. “And goodbye, Ella.”
Flicking the lid open, he tossed the open flame onto the hood of the car.
CHAPTER 52
MATTEO
Fire.
For the second time in close to three days, I saw an ominous orange glow in the distance.
This time the destructive flames were potentially killing the woman I loved.
“Fuck!” I screamed. “That has to be Ella. Faster.”
Enzo slammed on the gas as we raced toward the remote beach on a deserted stretch of coastland just south of Palermo.
For over two days, we had been tracking Fino’s movements after learning he had taken Ella to Sicily from Antonia, who cracked like an egg at just the sight of my father’s “tools."
She didn’t need to know they were actually pastry tools for Liliana’s new baking hobby.
After dumping her in Dante’s hands we went on the hunt.
But we were always a step behind.
Always getting there too late.
My frustration and anguish grew with each missed opportunity.
It didn’t help that she was being shuttled between secret mafia detention centers around northern Sicily. There were no official records of the facilities, and no one would talk openly about them. We had forked over countless millions in untraceable diamonds provided by Sebastian for bribes just to learn about them. It had taken millions more in diamonds to bribe our way into the clandestine locations to search for Ella.
None of this was done with the local police’s knowledge.
Or Dante’s.
We couldn’t risk it.
As much as I wanted to barge straight into Judge Marzio Delluci’s office and demand to know his involvement with Antonia and where he was holding Ella, I had been convinced to hold off.
Sicily was not our territory.
We had no true friends or connections.
There was deception and betrayal at every turn.
Each person we spoke to could be the one to give the order to have Ella killed.
There was no way to know who to trust— so we trusted no one.
Which meant an excruciatingly slow process of bribes and searches.
One prisoner after another.
Each one more disturbingly cruel than the last.
I was absolutely feral in my desperation to find her. When I did finally locate Fino, I was going to tear him apart limb from limb with my fucking teeth just so I could taste his blood and crunch on his fucking bones.
Finally, we had caught a break.
Unlike before when we missed them by hours, we had only missed them by minutes.
Fortunately, we had a helicopter in the air that was able to track and access any vehicles traveling on the remote roads leading to the secret prison.
It only took a matter of minutes to zero in on the correct ones, one large black SUV and one beat-up white hatchback.
Just as we were racing down the single lane toward the flames, the SUV approached from the opposite direction.
As it tried to veer off the road to avoid us, Enzo wrenched the wheel as he gunned it.
Our Range Rover swung violently to the left, perpendicular to the other car.
I stretched my arm out the window and fired one bullet straight into the grill.
A thick plume of smoke burst around the edges of the hood, before the flat piece of metal flew upward, blocking the windshield.
The black SUV fishtailed then stopped.
The three men inside burst out of the doors and made a break for it.
As Enzo, Cesare and Sebastian pursued them, my father and I searched the abandoned vehicle.
My father cursed. “She’s not in here.”
The blood in my veins froze.
Two cars. An SUV and a white hatchback.
I turned to search the horizon for the origin of the flames.
It was the hatchback.
“My God! She’s in the burning car.”
Time stopped.
Everything ceased to exist.
There was no breath, no warmth, no life.
All was nothingness except for the thundering in my ears as I ran with every ounce of my strength to reach the car which was already engulfed in flames.
Through the driver’s window I could see Ella’s horrified gaze as she shook her head violently and gestured with her chin that I should stay back. Even in death, she wasn’t thinking of herself.
From past experience, I knew it was useless to try the door. The only way to get her out was through the window and there wasn’t much time.
From the looks of it, Fino and his goons had only doused the exterior of the car.
A rookie mistake.
If they had known to soak the interior seat cushions and to douse the engine block, Ella would already be dead.