Page 11 of Cruel Crown

“Okay, and I care…”

“The last marker was two weeks ago,” he said.

My knuckles tightened around the steering wheel. Two weeks ago was when Gideon took Rebeca. A part of me wasn’t reasoning because my first thought was if they connected the link between Falcon and Gideon since you could say they were friends. But then that made no sense since Falcon was here and his heart was still beating.

“It’d do you well to remember that you owe me a life debt,” I told him.

He let out a dry chuckle.

“Two weeks ago, I got called to do a cleanup at one of the Estacados’ locations. I don’t know what went down, but I do know it was sketchy as shit. It was their own kin that I had to clean up. And there are rumors Ignacio disowned one of his sons.”

Ignacio had twins. Rafe and Rafa, who were as different as night and day.

“Do you think this is a power play?”

From my peripheral vision, I saw him exhale smoke.

“I don’t know, but I do know that the bitch is now with the other brother.”

This was not what I wanted to hear when I was on my way to Franco’s house, but it was less severe than what I had imagined happened. I needed the brothers united if I stood a chance at having them back my war. If they were fighting amongst themselves, then I was back to square one—with nothing.

***

The gates to the Estacado vineyard glowed under the Tuscany sun. I parked at the entrance, aware of all the men who guarded the location. One of them walked up to me, and I took a deep breath because it was showtime.

Today’s outfit was carefully picked, something alluring, yet disarming and sophisticated. As usual, I was in all black. Instead of combat boots, I wore stiletto boots. Looking down at them, they reminded me of the night in London. Inside the heel was a blade, and on the other, darts with a tranquilizer strong enough to bring down a horse. Coiled around my hand was a snake charm that if you removed and opened, it doubled as a little chainsaw, and webbed between a sleeve of my shirt was a plastic pick in case I got handcuffed. I came as prepared as I could with such short notice.

I honestly didn’t know what Falcon would do if I went MIA. I would probably be one less of his worries. When the man was at my window, I pulled it down.

“You’re on private property. I suggest you turn around and leave.” The man’s voice was harsh. He looked at me, aware that I wasn’t a native of this country.

“Di ‘a Franco che ho trovato ciò che è stato rubato.”Tell Franco I have found what was stolen.

His body went taut, and his glare intensified.

“Out. Of. The. Car.” He said as he pulled a gun on me.

I pulled open the door slowly and rose out of my car with my hands in the air. As soon as I was out, more men came. They grabbed me by my arms and led me to a blacked-out SUV. The ride to the main house was silent but laced with rage from all around me.

When we pulled up to the main house, I thought they would have stopped, but they kept going deep into the vines, until we arrived at a little cottage away from prying eyes. The cabin was covered by trees all around, and a little stable that hadn’t been used in years was next to it.

They dragged me out of the SUV and put a gun to my back. When I made it inside of the cabin, Franco Estacado was sitting down, surrounded by his men.

“I will speak to Franco and Franco only,” I said as soon as the door to the cabin shut. Men started yelling, and Franco’s right-hand man was telling him how it was a stupid idea.

Meanwhile, the man I had only heard about looked like he was barely holding it together. His jaw was set, and he had dark circles under his eyes.

“lasciaci soli,” he said, and his men looked pissed but left us alone.

My shoulders were straight, and I didn’t flinch, nor did I move. He watched me with keen interest. He was about fifty, I’d say. He had aged gracefully. He was tan, with dark eyes that had a lethal edge to them.

“Make no mistake, girl, you say something I don’t like and I won’t hesitate to kill you.” He leaned back on his chair and pulled up the sleeves of his shirt.

“Those unfortunate enough to know me call me Daphne. Just as I’ve heard of you, I am sure you have heard of me.”

Franco raised one brow, not amused but interested to see where I was going with this. I needed to make my point clear before he ran out of patience and demanded to know where his daughter was.

“I belong to an organization known as Sekten.” As soon as I said the words, his body stiffened only just for a fraction of a second.

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