Page 3 of Merciless & Mated

“Try not to bother Enzo with this,” Bianca added. “I have him monitoring the idiotic Cafaro uprising. I don’t want his attention diverted.”

Well, there went my plan. “Of course. I’ll handle it.”

“I want her matebonded once you find her. Take her to the club once she’s secured.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Bianca left me without a goodbye. The agreement was easy on my tongue, but my mind immediately erupted into a string of curses. This went beyond ‘jump’ and ‘how high?’. Omegas were bartered and sold in the mafia all the time, creating alliances with marriage and bondings, but I had never been asked to do that. Fuck. I could worry about that aspect later. First I needed to locate the omega.

I’d need Enzo’s help if I wanted to find the girl quickly, so I’d have to just ignore her order not to bother him. The man was a fucking bloodhound. He could find anyone if you gave him enough time, no matter how much they didn’t want to be found. I did have one thing on my side, though. While whoever took the Mancini girl wanted her off the radar, she certainly didn’t share that desire.

I knew every single street in this city under Gallo influence, and it was easy enough to find the small section where the Mancinis maintained some semblance of control. As long as Bianca allowed them to do so, of course.

I pulled into the small parking lot and beelined for the hole-in-the-wall restaurant that smelled like heaven the second I’d breached the doorway. Everyone froze and turned to me, waiting in silence to see if I had brought violence to their door.

I hadn’t. At least not today.

“Bring me Mancini,” I told the hostess. “Table for two in the meantime.”

They hustled one couple out of their table and hastily cleaned it so I would have a seat in the packed venue. Someone ran into the kitchen and a server promptly took my order, bringing me a glass of wine on their way.

I hadn’t even gotten through my glass when Joe Mancini, the family’s don, sat down across from me.

“You’re here about my daughter? Bianca never responded.”

“I’m her response. We’ll get your girl out, but don’t have any ideas about using her to elevate your family. Once we get her out she’ll be mine, not Bianca’s.”

He stared at me, and I could see in his eyes that he was weighing whether I would be better or worse for his daughter than Bianca would be. All he said was “We’re grateful for your assistance.”

“Where was she taken from and how long ago?” I asked.

He gave me every bit of detail they had collected, a clear picture of what had happened coalescing in my brain. Either this was a bold-as-hell abduction, or the Mancini girl had disappeared on her own. Girls in the life were always making stupid decisions, either in a desperate bid to get out or in trying to climb the ladder. Gianna Mancini had disappeared out of her bed three days ago. A lot could happen in seventy-two hours. She could be on another continent by now. But if she had been abducted and hadn’t left on her own, it was likely she was still close by.

“Please,” Joe said softly. “Gianna is the best thing I’ve done with my life and I couldn’t protect her. Take care of her.”

I didn’t tell him I would, but I did nod. Let him have that much security at least.

We weren’t supposed to target the children of the family heads, but not everyone played by the rules. The Mancinis certainly weren’t influential enough to scare anyone. They cultivated their power by being helpful, not with fear like Bianca did.

I indulged myself in some manicotti during Joe’s explanation before setting out on my mission again.

Gianna’s photo was saved in my phone so I could identify her if I found her. She looked the picture of a peppy blonde, with big hair, and big lashes over blue eyes. If—when I saved her, she’d be mine. Staring at the face of my omega without ever having met her was bizarre. Whoever had taken her would pay, and then I would make her mine and take her home. At least the compound was more secure than the Mancini household.

I dialed Enzo’s number and spilled all the details a half second after he grunted his version of a hello.

He sent me back a list of holding sites they had uncovered from some local traffickers. “Try these. If she’s not there, come back.”

“Will do. Thanks, Enzo.”

If Gianna was with the traffickers, it was in both of our best interests to move quickly. No sense in her suffering needlessly. Abuse of all sorts wasn’t out of the ordinary for omegas in the mafia, but not all of them handled it well. I wasn’t going to mate a husk of a person.

I called up one of our teams and gave them the addresses to scope out before heading to the first spot on the list myself. A fair few of the locations were simply houses where no one would notice the comings and goings of the people there. They would be easy enough to check quickly before moving on. Between all of us, we would be able to scope out the most likely place the Mancini girl might be held, assuming that she was even with traffickers right now.

I kept a palm-sized drone in my vehicle for reconnaissance. If I saw anything useful, I would be able to send the team in for recovery. The camera feed showed the drone zipping through the air and ducking down behind the hedges, and I carefully maneuvered it up to each of the windows. Granted they probably wouldn’t keep trafficking victims where they were easy to spot, but at least this way I could get the lay of the land. They were working on the edge of Gallo and Rossi territory, a dangerous place to be with tensions increasing between the two families every day.

A message came through my phone.

Mario:

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