Page 44 of The Taker

“She’s probably already dead…” Leo’s face falls.

“No, she’s very much alive. She’s their bargaining chip,” he corrects him. Leo’s eyes shine with unshed tears, and I can tell he’s on the verge of breaking down. “Can you wait in the sitting room down the hall?”

Leo looks to me for permission, and I nod before he leaves.

“I’ll have Max work on finding different places they may be holding her. In the meantime, play along. Do what they ask. Make sure to get proof of life as soon as you can, and send any communication to Max so he can work whatever tech magic he has on it.”

“Will do.” My phone vibrates, and I answer the call and put it on speaker to save myself the trouble of relaying it. “Giuseppe. I’m with Don Vettore. What’s going on.”

“Don Vettore,” he says out of respect. “A boy who lives a few floors down from you saw one of our guards in the lobby and said a man outside paid him to deliver something to Leo. It was an envelope with Julia’s hair.”

“And we’re sure it’s Julia’s?”

“Yes, it’s her whole ponytail, held by the scrunchie I saw her wear this morning. They also sent a polaroid of her after they cut it off. We tried to find the man, but the boy didn’t see him outside.”

“He’s trying to scare Leo,” myZioobserves. Thankfully my lionheart didn’t receive the package. We need him with it and focused on finding her. I can’t bear it if something happens to him, too.

“How is Lucy?” The last thing I need is for something to happen to her too.

“She’s in a safehouse with me and guards I handpicked to watch over her. Maddie is on her way to keep her company.”

Maddie is Max’s twin, the youngest of my cousins. She may seem like a thick beauty queen with an MBA, but that’s a facade. She’s a hoarder of blackmail and an assassin. If myZiohas a problem, she’ll use either skill to make it go away. The first femaleCapoinNueva Notte, a fixer of sorts. When my eldest cousin Franco takes over for myZio, I think he’ll pick her for hisConsigliere, if he’s smart.

There’s no one I’d trust more to protect Lucy.

“Good. Keep me updated. Remember, anything that happens to my toy’s baby sister will happen to you, too. Keep her safe.” I end the call, then crack my neck to relieve some of the tension.

“Your toy?” MyZioasks. “Hopefully he’s aconsensualtoy? Leo’s father was one of my best soldiers. Please don’t terrorizehis son, Rocco. Don’t drag him back into this life without his consent. He may lose his sister because of it.”

Guilt slams into me. He’s right, this whole shitshow happened because I dragged Leo kicking and screaming back into this life.

“He’s fine,” I assure him, shutting the conversation down by drawing his attention to the threat at hand. “We need to call a family meeting tonight.”

“Yes, we do. In the meantime, I’m going to get Luca to round up the soldiers. We’re going to have to take her back by force once we get a location.”

Luca isZio’smiddle child–the silent, vigilant weapons and security expert. He usually keeps to himself unless he’s hanging out with Franco. But he’s still a Vettore. No matter how hard he tries to hide it, I see the monster inside him. He just keeps it under wraps better than the rest of us.

“We’ll hunt these fuckers down, make an example out of them,” I growl. “I’ll burn their entire world to ash because they thought about Leo. And I’ll slit Ronan’s throat myself and end this once and for all.”

“That’s the spirit. I’ll be in touch. Stay safe,figlio.”

I nod, then shake his hand before leaving his office. Leo follows me and Gio out to the car without saying a word.

An uneasy feeling settles into my stomach, clawing at me the whole ride home. Something doesn’t feel right. Leo is still quiet, but instead of being lost in his anxiety, he’s radiating an angry energy. His face is pinched, and those pouty lips are thinned in frustration.

I try to pull him into my lap, but he stiffens at my touch.

“What’s wrong, lionheart?”

He pins me with a glare, and it feels like a physical slap across my face.

“I stood at the door…heard everything. They cut Julia’s hair off—and that’s only the beginning. I know what can happen to her. She’ll be lucky if she walks out of there with just a bob. Lulu is in so much danger she has to stay in asafehousewith a troop of guards!”

He sobs into his sweater sleeve and vehemently pushes me away when I try to comfort him. This morning we couldn’t keep our hands off each other, and now he wants nothing to do with me. I don’t even care that he eavesdropped on a private conversation, I can’t stand him pushing me away.

“Lionheart, it’s not your fault. Please don’t be too hard on?—”

“I know it’s not my fault.It’s your fault” he seethes. “Who killed an innocent man at the club because he‘touched what was yours’? Who took my job and apartment away and forced me to work for him—to live in his fucking building?! You turned me into a torturer, for fuck’s sake! From the minute you set your sights on me, I was fucked, Rocco.”

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