Page 90 of Taboo Flames

The realization that I singlehandedly handed Aurora over to Il Sguardo Nero hits me like a freight train, and I squeeze my eyes shut, furious at myself.

“He’s the ultimate chess player, and he played you all very well,” the pimp says with a laugh. “You can’t stop him. Hisreach is infinite, and soon, he’ll be trading his girls all over the country.”

Fiore spits in disgust. “He’s a fucking trafficker.”

It’s one of the things that separates bad men from evil men in my world. As much as I was very okay with selling arms and drugs, selling human beings like cowhide in a market is something I don’t touch at all or even associate with.

No wonder all my contacts were unable to find this man. We know nothing about the flesh market.

“That’s where the money is at,” the skeevy pimp says with a salacious grin. “And when he succeeds in taking over Italy, he’s going to be richer than countries put together. Women were made to be warm, wet holes, and Il Sguardo Nero is only utilizing that. The Vitale girl will fetch a pretty sum on the block.”

In one swift move, I grab the axe close to me and bury it in his skull, shutting him up forever.

“Clean this up and gather the men silently. We’re going to war, and the only advantage we have on our side is the element of surprise.”

“But we don’t know where they’re holding her,” Fiore points out.

“I have a hunch, and my hunches are never wrong.” I know most of Giordano's hideouts, but the one I believe Aurora is being held at is at an ancient, crumbling castle by the ocean.

“Are you going to involve the Vitales?” Fiore asks.

“No,” I reply. “Aurora is my responsibility. I’ll handle it.”

Right at that moment, my phone begins to buzz. I retrieve it from the inner pocket of my suit and see that it is an unknown number.

I pick up the call immediately. “Yes?”

“After giving it some thought, I came to the conclusion that hiding behind anonymity feels wrong.” The voice is very familiar, and I immediately place it as Estefan’s.

I narrow my eyes suspiciously. “What the hell is going on?”

He chuckles, but the sound is grim and humorless. “You would have figured it out eventually, so allow me to go ahead and tell you. I orchestrated our meeting at Estes. I am your contact.”

“You knew about Giordano’s identity, didn’t you?” Even though I frame it as a question, we both know it’s more of a fact.

“You wouldn’t have believed me if I had told you,” he replies. “You needed to find out on your own.”

“How long have you known?” I ask through clenched teeth.

“I believe you have something far more important to do than playing detective, Lombardi,” he says gravely. “We have a common enemy. I would ask you to bring his head?—”

“I don’t work for you, Estefan.”

He chuckles humorlessly again. “I’ve lived in guilt for years at the fact that I was never able to get revenge for Ysabel,” he says. “I think a part of me has always known that this wasn’t my revenge though.”

Giordano’s life is mine, and no one is allowed to rob me of the satisfaction of ending him.

“Godspeed, Lombardi. You’ll need it,” Estefan says, and then the line clicks off.

It doesn’t take long for my men to kit up in their bulletproof vests and arm themselves with silenced guns. Then, we drive to the crumbling ruins at breakneck speed. I clutch and unclutch the chaplet in my hand nervously.

I’m not a praying man, but right then and there, I pray for Aurora with everything in me.

Our cars park some distance from the castle, and we creep around the fence quietly. The sky is beginning to show the firsttraces of dawn when we find a hole in the fence and sneak into the castle one by one, fanning out against the wall upon our entrance.

“Spread out,” I tell them in a whisper. “Shoot anyone you see and try not to get shot.”

“Yes, boss,” they all chorus quietly.

---