Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 75062 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 375(@200wpm)___ 300(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75062 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 375(@200wpm)___ 300(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
He didn’t get to finish his sentence.
Mainly because the side of his head blew off, splattering blood and brain matter on the enforcer standing beside him. Who looked horrified, but only for a moment. Because his head exploded next.
I was too shocked to react for a moment, but Nicky didn’t seem quite as afflicted, his body jumping up and trying to block my body with his.
“It’s okay. It’s our help,” I told him.
Then we both watched.
As our brother’s body jolted hard as a bullet lodged in his forehead, as he wobbled and crashed to the ground.
My head immediately turned, going out the window with the broken glass, having flashbacks to a similar day four years before, knowing he was there. On the rooftop across the building.
This time, though, not ruining my life.
Saving it.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Massimo
I almost had myself convinced I was being paranoid.
I called and called.
I watched the house, even though I knew I wouldn’t see anything. I never really did.
But then, worry like a noose around my neck, making it impossible to sit still, I drove down the street the deli was on for the second time, finding everything dark and closed for the night… except Traveler’s shop.
I barely pulled to a stop in front of it before she was running out, arms waving at me, eyes panicked.
“What’s up?”
“He took her.”
“What? Who?”
“Cammie.”
“No… who took her? Colin? What was she doing here?” I asked.
“She had her uniform shirt on,” Traveler said. “And she was walking in this direction. I was cleaning the front table, so I saw right out onto the street. She seemed like she was coming this way for a coffee. But then a car pulled up, someone jumped out, and they grabbed her and shoved her in a trunk.”
“Did you call the police?”
“By the police, do you mean my father who is in the pocket of that shithead?” she asked, rolling her eyes. “No. But… there’s something else.”
“What else?”
“The guy who took her, he looked, well, he sort of looked a lot like her.”
“She has two brothers,” I explained.
“Do you think one would grab her off the streets?” she asked.
I couldn’t fathom a reason why they would. They’d been helping her, hadn’t they? Sneaking her their cell phones, giving her their cars and money when she had “doctors visits.” She’d practically raised them.
And because of that, I really hadn’t looked into either of them. Why would I? They were part of the rescue mission, not the bad guys.
Except… maybe they weren’t all they appeared.
“Tattoos or no tattoos?”
“None.”
Lucas.
That was Lucas.
The quiet one.
“How long ago?”
“A while. I’ve been trying to look you guys up all day and night since. But, apparently, hot mafia guys are unlisted,” Traveler said. “Around the time the deli closed in the afternoon.”
Fuck.
That was one hell of a head start if something was happening to her.
“Anything else?”
“No, I’m sorry. Everything else seemed normal. I’ll keep an eye out, though. I’m not going home until you guys tell me she’s okay.”
“If you see anything, call August,” I said, rattling off his number.
He and Nino had arrived in town just after one in the morning after Valley told them I rushed off, and while I told them about Cammie not picking up, I hadn’t explained the knot in my stomach, the certainty that something was wrong, without any proof to back that up.
But as I drove away from Traveler’s place, I was already calling up Nino.
“Yeah?”
“According to Traveler, she had an unexpected shift yesterday afternoon. And when she was leaving, someone grabbed her and tossed her in their trunk.”
“Fuck,” Nino hissed, and I heard him putting me on speaker as he relayed the information to August. “Who?”
“That’s the fucked up part. It sounds like it could be Lucas.”
“As in… Lucas, the brother?” August asked, and I could hear Nino flipping through the pages.
“She said the guy looked like Cammie and that he had no tattoos. It might not be him.”
“But that feeling in your gut says it might be,” Nino said.
“Yeah. Yeah, I think it might.”
“Christ. Okay,” Nino said. “No one saw the other brother? Nicky?”
“No. Not that I know of.”
“Alright. I’m on him,” Nino said, and I could already hear him moving. “Where do you want August?”
“The house. We need Colin if he is around. Alive,” I clarified.
At least for the time being.
Then I planned to dispose of him in a much more personal way than I usually did.
“You are on the other brother?” Nino asked.
“Hopefully,” I said, hanging up and turning my car in the direction of his apartment.
I knew I wouldn’t find him there. Not with his kidnapped sister in his possession. But I figured it might give me some information about him.
And it did.
His home was practically a fucking shrine to Colin and the whole crew. There wasn’t a single image of either of his siblings anywhere around.