Page 16 of Savage Heart

Without turning around, I ask, “What happened?”

I stare at the turquoise blue and green turtle mosaic hanging on the wall in the hallway outside his office as the seconds tick by and he doesn’t answer my simple question. All he needs to do is tell me what the fuck happened to her. Why is that so difficult?

Finally, I turn around and stare at him, still confused why the hell he hasn’t answered me. “If she’s dead, just fucking say it. I’m not a boy, Helix. I can handle hearing someone’s dead. For Christ sake, I make people dead, so it’s not like I’m a stranger to the circumstance.”

“She’s not dead. From what I hear, she’s very much alive.”

“Then why drag her back to Italy? Does he miss having her around the table for Sunday dinners?”

Helix frowns like what he has to say disgusts him. “Guess again. Big brother’s not happy his sister gave the family the slip, so he’s making sure she pays for that and stays put forever.”

I take a step back into his office and shake my head. “What does that mean?”

“It means I’m sure he’s got plans for her. You know how families can be, Alaric.”

I roll my eyes at that thought. “I do, all too well. So if he’s not planning on killing her, what’s her punishment going to be?”

Helix shakes his head. “No clue yet. Gideon will know more about this when you get to him. I’m guessing, though, that his retribution will have something to do with keeping her in Italy from this point on.”

“So she loses her freedom and that’s the best she can hope for? Her brother’s a real asshole, isn’t he?”

“I’d say so.”

“So there’s nothing you can do to help her?” I ask, picturing Sienna forced onto a plane to Italy at gunpoint.

“I didn’t say that, now did I?”

Jesus, I swear to God he’s either getting charged by the syllable tonight, or he’s enjoying this torture he’s working on me. “Where is she, Helix?”

“Back home on the Amalfi Coast. They grabbed her this morning. I have Gideon keeping his ear to the ground to find out where, but for right now, I have no idea specifically where they’re holding her.”

“Fuckers. I swear to God I’m going to make every single person in her goddamned family who had something to do with this dead,” I mumble under my breath, barely able to contain my rage.

“Take the plane. Go find her and get her away from there before they do something like marry her off like it’s the Middle fucking Ages over there,” Helix says, still so calm.

I nod and take a deep breath to calm myself. “Thanks. Not that it’s going to change my mind, but is there any reason I shouldn’t wipe out every fucking brother she has that’s involved in this shit they pulled?”

A slow smile turns up the corners of Helix’s mouth. “None that I can see. They know how this works. They made their play. Now we make ours. Coordinate with Gideon when you get to Italy. I’ve had him watching the Rossettis and their friends for a while. He’ll have more information by the time you arrive.”

“Okay. I’ll go now. I swear to God, if they hurt her…”

I can’t finish that sentence. She better not have a single beautiful hair on her head out of place when I find her, or I’m going to lose my fucking mind. What happens next will be all they deserve.

“Just get over there and find her. Oh, by the way, just for good measure, it was the boyfriend who turned on her.”

Fucking Trent. I knew he couldn’t be trusted.

“I thought you checked him out. You said he was okay.”

“He became not okay. They must have gotten to him.”

The headache that began at the base of my skull now encompasses my entire head. “Fucking asshole. I knew he was no good.”

I don’t wait for Helix to tell me my gut reaction to him was probably jealousy and not some real knowledge of how bad he was. I know what I felt. Jealous or not, I knew he was bad.

Just for that, I’m going to fucking kill him too if I see him.

CHAPTER SIX

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