Page 111 of Not Mine to Keep

“The League had the architectural blueprints. Nothing listed there about tunnels in any of their research. They had eyes on them the whole time. If that were the case, Claudio Barone would’ve gone underground instead of risking heading toward the sea, where a team was waiting to intercept him,” Enzo said,nearlyshooting down my hope.

“But it’s possible,” I whispered.

Enzo frowned, but then looked at his father for direction on what to say. To do.

“Alessandro’s stubborn. So is Constantine.” Mr. Costa turned his attention on me. “No way will some missile strike be what takes them out.”

“Dad,” Izzy began, her tone somber, as if worried he was getting ahead of himself, “they’re not indestructible. I know you like to think that, but—”

“They are,” he hissed back at her, and that one tear gliding down his cheek had me falling to the floor again.

Six Hours Later

Constantine’s face filled the iPad screen his mother held, and he demanded, “Where’s Alessandro?”

Constantine was okay, but . . .

Chills scattered across my skin as Constantine tugged at the wires connected to his body, trying to remove the IV. Two nurses rushed to his side, speaking in another language—presumably Romanian—begging him to stop.

“Where. Is. He?” he hissed, one eye swollen shut. His head was wrapped as if he’d taken a blow there. One arm bandaged up, too.

“You were in surgery, sir. You need to calm down,” the nurse said, switching to English.

Enzo was already gone. The second he’d learned Alessandro was missing, he took off for the airport.

“Just tell me where my brother is,” Constantine barked out, setting his focus once again on the screen. When he visibly relaxed, I had to assume someone had upped his morphine drip to calm him down. His head rolled back, hitting the pillow. “Where is he?” he asked, groggily that time. “I was fighting Rocco ... and then the fucker jabbedsomething in my neck. Next thing I know, I’m here. So what the hell happened after that?” He didn’t peer around the room for answers, only looked at us over the screen, so I had to assume none of his other teammates were there.

No, they’d be trying to track down Alessandro.

“We think Rocco has him,” Izzy whispered, the first to break the quiet on our side. “Sebastian found you, unconscious, just inside an entrance to an old underground tunnel network.”

“There was a missile strike,” Mr. Costa added, his throat thick with emotion. “The League believes the Russians—well, an oligarch—hired the Barones to start the war, and they had an armed drone on standby in case of ...” He let Constantine fill in the blanks.

At this point, I’d cried so much, I was dehydrated and was pretty sure I’d temporarily lost the ability to produce tears.

“Alessandro was with you before you were drugged,” Mr. Costa continued, clearly doing his best to keep it together. One of us had to, I supposed.

“What do you mean?” Constantine sputtered. “Callie’s research was right?”

Yeah, it was. But from the looks of it, the tunnels aren’t exactly usable anymore. Probably not used in a hundred years.I couldn’t get those words out, though. Because I couldn’t tell him what he wanted to hear—what I needed to hear, too. That Alessandro was safe.

“The League said the tunnels are a mess. Parts appear to have collapsed and caved in decades ago,” Izzy shared in a timid tone. “They could still be down there, though. There’s a search underway.”

Constantine’s red eyes became glossy as he put it together, and his free hand curled into a fist atop his chest. “What you’re saying is you have no clue where Alessandro is?”

“There were signs a body was dragged away from where Sebastian found you.” Izzy revealed more details that Sebastian had shared with us. “The trail stopped after about a hundred feet. But they’re looking. They won’t give up. They’ll find him.”

“That means ...” Constantine closed his eyes. “Rocco has my brother. He took him instead of me. Must’ve drugged him, too, and you know how Alessandro reacts to drugs.” A few tears slid down his cheeks.

“I’m relieved you’re okay,” Izzy said, her voice hitching, “but that surprised me, too, given your history together.”

“He did it to torture me. Because losing my brother hurts more than whatever physical pain he could put me through.” Constantine opened his eyes. “I’m sorry, Callie.” He searched me out on screen. “I couldn’t protect him. I failed ... again.”

“Don’t say that,” Mrs. Costa cried, setting her hand on the screen as if she could physically comfort her son. “You didn’t fail, and we’ll find him.”

“If Rocco gets him out of that tunnel, he’ll go off the grid,” Constantine rasped. “Tell me they kept someone alive from the compound to torture for information. Claudio?”

“Claudio didn’t survive. Died being medevaced to the hospital.” Izzy gave him the bad news. “And only one man from his team made it, and he’s a foot soldier. Doesn’t know anything.”

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