Page 118 of King of the Cage

I stared at the wall, the words hardly computing.

“Bran, did you hear me? Someone took your wife.”

I hadmen all over the scene of the accident. Cian watched the traffic cams, Declan had recalled every single fucking detail that he could manage, and none of it was helping.

She was gone.

Missing.

There was nowhere else to look but in the direction of Casa Nera. At this point, I could only hope Elio had kidnapped his own sister and planned to force her to leave me. It beat all the other alternatives.

“So, you mean to tell me that not only do you steal my sister, force her to marry you, and live in Hell’s Kitchen,” Elio sneered the last like my neighborhood was akin to Dante’s inferno, “but then you go and lose her. Who are your enemies, O’Connor? Who would have taken your wife?” he demanded angrily.

This was not a phone call I’d ever wanted to make. Fuck if Elio Santori wasn’t just as annoying over the phone as he was in person.

“My enemies are too many to name, as are yours, Santori. Are you sure she didn’t come home to you and you’re both just fucking with me?” I asked. I wished it were true.

Elio was silent for a long moment. “If she’s hurt, you’ll pay for it, brother-in-law.”

“Oh, I know I will.” In this life and all the ones to come. I’d never stop paying.

“Think, there must be someone more likely to take her than anyone else,” Elio demanded tersely.

“Aldo Sepriano. He’s the only one who comes to mind to be that pissed at me.”

“Because you killed his brother?”

“You know?”

“Everyone knows.”

“Right, well, yeah. The problem is, I’ve had someone keeping an eye on him, and he hasn’t gone anywhere tonight.” I’d decided to have Aldo watched because he seemed to be a loose cannon. While we were playing nice with The Enclave, and Archibald genuinely thought I was interested in becoming a member, Aldo was after me personally. He had a score to settle about his brother. So, I’d had him watched. Not that it had helped. It had to be him.

“Is there anyone on his side, someone who’d be helping him?”

“His investment club, I guess, but I don’t think they’d abduct Giada. They have their own rules to follow, and it doesn’t fit.”

Elio thought that idea over. “Are they the ones who fucked up your back?”

“Yeah, they’re old-school.”

“Where can I find them?” Elio asked calmly. His tone was deceptive. He was an utterly lethal individual, and if he decided to go after The Enclave looking for Giada, then it was finished.

Maybe that was what we needed to do.

Elio spoke to someone in the background, the sound muffled. I pressed the phone against my ear, trying to hear.

“We’ve found her,” he said shortly a second later. “Someone named Regina called Casa Nera. Apparently, Giada had an accident and the hospital called her.”

Why the fuck would the hospital call Regina about Giada?

“Where is she now?” I demanded.

“They’ve got her at St. Joseph’s, in their private hospital area. I’m on my way. She asked for me… O’Connor? Are you still there? Hello?”

I made it to St.Joseph’s in record time, my bike weaving down crowded roads, over ice and melted snow. I headed straight for the private wing on the top floor of the hospital. While I stood in the elevator, annoyingly soothing music grated on my nerves, and a plaque announced that the wing had been namedafter Regina and Archibald Calloway in honor of the generous donation given by Cyrus Calloway, to celebrate his daughter’s marriage.Wait.Regina was the Calloway? Archibald had taken his wife’s name? That seemed startlingly progressive for a man like The Sentinel.

I put it out of my head as the doors slid open. I strode into the foyer. A couple of security guards stood around the front desk who wore the vaguely knightlike jackets I’d seen on the security team at The Tartarus. I pointed at one.

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