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“Get inside that restaurant right now and find her. She may still be on the premises.”
Vasily hangs up, and I toss Dom’s phone back to him and grab my own. I open the security app even though I know Laila won’t be in her studio. Some deeper part of me knows she isn’t in the restaurant, either, but I have to check.
“I have my staff looking, too,” Enzo tells me. “We’ll find her.”
It’s cold comfort, especially as the video feed loads…
And I find myself staring down at the ruins of Laila’s yoga studio.
The mirrors have been shattered, the furniture destroyed. There’s spray paint across the walls and the wood floors. I scroll back through the footage until I find the perpetrator. Then I hit play, and I watch as one of the windows shatters and a tall manin a black mask climbs over the broken glass and proceeds to decimate everything my wife has worked so hard for.
“That’s Jasper,” Dominik spits from over my shoulder. “I’d recognize that lanky frame anywhere. But how did he get past the security?”
“Because I taught him more than I should have,” I grit.
It’s a testament to how worried Dominik is for Laila that he doesn’t hit me with a much deserved“I told you so.”
“But why destroy Laila’s studio?” he asks. “What purpose does that serve?”
“Other than to piss me off? Nothing.”
I’m rewatching the footage, a rage I’ve never known burning in my chest, when the message comes in.
LAILA:Hey babe. Wanna join me for a late lunch at Nonna Guilia’s? I miss you.
“Who is it?” Dominik asks urgently, stepping to my side.
I tilt my phone towards him. “Not Laila.”
“How do you know?”
“She never calls me ‘babe.’”
“So that means?—”
“It’s another trap. This time, for me.”
Dom puffs out his chest. “Then let’s fucking go. We’ll corner those idiots and make them regret the day they were born.”
“Count me in.” Enzo steps forward, teeth clenched. “The two of them have a debt to square with the Calcagno mafia. I intend to take repayment in blood.”
I appreciate the show of support, but my mind is already whirring through the options. I know what needs to be done.
“No.”
Enzo and Dominik exchange a glance before Dom turns to me. “Do you have another plan?”
“They want me to come alone.”
He barks out a bitter laugh. “Yeah, because it’s a trap, Arsen. You can’t play into their hands.”
“I also can’t risk Laila’s life by showing up with the full cavalry. Charles and Jasper are cowards with poor judgment. They’ll kill Laila and flee the second their backs are against the wall.”
Dominik shakes his head. “I don’t like this.”
“Neither do I,” Enzo agrees. “You’re assuming it’s just the two of them. What if they have more men behind them?”
“I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.”
