Page 48 of The Taker

Even though it’s a stupid idea and every part of me is screaming to turn around and run, I open the door, bend down, and get into his passenger seat.

Ronan seemed sohandsome when I first saw him in the restaurant, like a male model fresh off a fashion photoshoot. But as I look at his profile while he drives away from the curb, I realize it does nothing to hide the evil lurking inside him. Shady doesn’t even begin to describe the vibe he gives off. He and Rocco may both be criminals, but Rocco gives off aclassy businessman with an edgevibe. This asshole gives off used car salesman vibes.

Like the kind of prick who’d try to sell you a beat car without an engine.

His perfect white teeth curl into a smug grin, and my gut twists with regret. I shouldn’t have gotten into his car. But it’s too late now.

He locks the doors, and turns to me.

“Leo, before you make me out to be the bad guy, there’s a lot you don’t know about your partner…”

“He’s not my partner anymore,” I blurt out without meaning to. Was he even my partner in the first place? “Can we save the evil villain speech and get this trade over with?”

“No. I think you need to know what you can gain. Rocco may have told you the Brass Bruisers are a small fry gang, but that’s not true anymore. There’s a growing sentiment against the Italians. They’ve ruled the roost for too long, and going against them gained me allies who could open doors for me, Leo.”

Is this what his letter meant when it said,‘when the few band together, we become one of many’?

“Okay?” I prompt him, having no clue where he’s going with this.

“And what better way to bring the all mighty, untouchable Rocco Vettore down than to not only take his partner’s bratty little sister—but the beloved partner himself! And you were stupid enough to walk right into the trap.”

Bile rises in my mouth. Panic sets in at his words, but I have to keep my cool. I can’t afford to freak out right now.

“Rocco doesn’t love me.” As angry as I am at him, the words feel like a lie as I say them. “He’s a psychopath incapable of loving anyone. Why do you think it’s taken so long for him to find Julia. He’s not really looking.”

More lies. He’s been texting me incessantly with updates on how he and his men are working around the clock to find her.

“Hmmm, you’re lying to me, Leo. I know he’s searching for her because he has men stationed outside all my warehouses and known haunts. I forgive you though, because you’re going to help me.”

“No, I’ll give you the laptop and hard drive, you’ll give me my sister—that was the deal,” I remind him.

He stops the car at a red light, and backhands me right across the mouth. It’s fucking painful. His eyes are manic, filled with chaos and victory. They scare the shit out of me.

“Oh Leo, I don’t give a fuck about those useless things.Nueva Notte’sshit is locked down tight because Maximo is a tech genius. The plan was to use you as a lure. I’ll bet money your phone is tracked if you yourself aren’t. You’ll bring him right to me, and I’ll kill him.”

All I wanted to do was get my sister back, get Lucy and run away. Destroying Rocco in the process was an added bonus. Now that it’s becoming a reality, I don’t want it to happen.

I try to unlock the door, but before I can open it, I feel a sharp prick in my neck.

“Leo, you stupid fool…” I hear him say before darkness overtakes me.

16

ROCCO

“He’s gone?!” I bark down the line as I feel myself unraveling–becoming fucking unhinged. “How the fuck did he escape!”

“I’m sorry, sir. We’re looking for him now,” Gio whines, but I can’t bear to hear their incompetence.

I hang up and fight the urge to scream loud enough to give our location away. We’re staking out one of Ronan’s warehouses, because it’s the most likely place he’d take Julia. I hear typing over the coms my cousins and I wear on raids, and know that Max is already trying to find him. He never comes out with us on raids, because he works his magic at his tech desk, guiding us from afar.

“Max–”

“Already on it. Leo is in a red Bugatti registered to Ronan Allard, heading south toward Harlem. I’m tracking him right now via his phone and keeping an eye on them through traffic cameras.”

“Keep me updated. I’m following them,” I snap.

“Be careful, Ronan is stupid, but not this fucking stupid. It’s a trap,” he points out, like I didn’t know that already.

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