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Over my dead body.I drop everything and run.
44
STEPHANO
The fucker gave us the slip.
Franco Fiore arrived this morning on a private jet from Naples and got stamped in with his regular passport at the airport.
It’s as if he is teasing us. A sane crime overlord would have come into the country with a fake passport. This guy has been lying so low under the radar in Europe, he isn’t even on Interpol’s most-wanted list, which we also scoured to see where he’s at. Franco Fiore isn’t onanyfucking list. In fact, he’s almost a myth. He slipped out from the underworld only once Randazzo was dead.
For Gigi, he is very real, and as soon as Benedict’s border control contact let us know he’d checked in, we had multiple teams out to track him down.
But now…what the actual fuck?He gave us the slip. Drove out of the airport terminal without anybody spotting him.
“I don’t care who you have to bribe, Dominic, or how much,” I hiss into the phone,“but I want all security footage from the airport to see where the fucker outwitted us.”
“I’m on it, Steph, for fuck’s sakes. Benedict’s already hacked into airport security footage.”
I kill the call. Somewhere, someone fucked up, and heads are going to roll. Our plan worked—partially. Vincenzo, while he still had all his fingers, typed up an email for Franco, telling him he saw Gigi. If he wanted her, he had to come fetch her himself as she’s married, and her husband won’t give her up without a fight.
Damn right. A fight that will end with Franco’s brains on the floor.
But the asshole was slow to bite. He insisted on a video call to verify Vincenzo was still alive and not bullshitting him. Instead, ‘Vincenzo’ sent him solid proof: video footage from the gallery, where Gigi met Vincenzo, compliments of one of our security members who shot the clip. We made it look as if it had been taken by one of Vincenzo’s Ukrainians. Vincenzo wasn’t exactly presentable, but seeing Gigi on camera worked. There were more messages between the two men, orchestrated by us, but the only thing eluding us has been Franco’s travel plans.
Now, the psycho is on the fucking loose in my city and on the hunt for my wife. I stride into Matteo’s apartment, and as always, the place is eerily quiet. This high up with every noise-limiting feature in place he could install, it’s like living in a vacuum.
“Gigi?” I call out when I don’t spot her in the living area or kitchen. I hurry to the stairs to see if she is in our bedroom, and when it’s empty, I go to Carla’s. I freeze when I spot the laptop and phone discarded on the bed. That’s Gigi’s phone. “Fuck!”
My stomach turns as I reach for it and unlock it with the code she hasn’t bothered to change.
The screen opens to her messages with Carla. Dread tsunamis through me as I glance over the last few lines.
We know Carla is pregnant, thanks to our spyware and the messages she sent to Vittorio Rossi two days ago. We were waiting for her to bring it out in the open, to tell her sister first, but not on the same day as the arrival of Franco Fiore. Talk about bad timing.
Now, the worst has happened.
“Both women are gone!” I call downstairs to Matteo and Luca who are with me. I flip open the laptop, my fingers trembling, blood rushing in my ears.
I want to be there for you, cara. Be on standby, I’ll keep you posted. Send me your phone number.
I read the line again and check the time stamp. The last one was sent this morning while we were trying to intercept Fiore after he’d landed.
“Jesus Fucking Christ.” I groan. We won’t know about the latest calls made between Carla, Gigi, and Franco—not yet. “Franco is pretending he’s Vito Rossi. He’s lured Carla out, and Gigi has either gone with him or has left to save her sister.” In some sick exchange.
“How the fuck?” Matteo grunts behind me. “When?”
I check Gigi’s phone now, and my skin pops with chills as I notice the short video call from Carla’s phone. Franco already has Carla, which means Tony is dead. And then, he phoned Gigi. Whatever he said to her, it was enough to make her drop everything and run. “Fifteen minutes ago.”
“Shit. She just walked out?” Matteo says as he and Luca exchange glances.
We just missed her, and right on cue, Matteo’s phone goes haywire with calls. Must be his security team in the basement trying to update him.
I don’t have time. I’m already heading to the front door and the holding cell next door where Vincenzo has slowly been dying in his own sick and shit.
“Get Dominic to send you the security footage of this block. If Gigi and her sister just walked out, we’ll see everything.”
Their footsteps fall hot on my own, Luca already on his phone.
