Page 111 of The Art of You

He urged me to my feet. I’d never felt so fucked in the head in all my life. On one hand, I was ready to kill anyone who stood in my way of finding Bella. The other part of me already felt dead.

Constantine helped me outside the van, and we joined the others. Well, the few who were there. The rest of Alfie’s team was back at the safe house dealing with the mess to cover our tracks. They also had to get the leader’s son to safety.

When I set my back to the side of the van for support,Constantine let go of my arm and played Adelina’s first voicemail over speaker.

“I have new information,” she rushed out. “Rose legally changed her name when she was eighteen. My guess is her husband managed to bury her real identity under a million pounds of layered encryption so we wouldn’t make the connection. It took one of the best hackers at Falcon to finally find the truth. But, um, Rose had two brothers.” Her pause screwed with my already damaged mental state. “Her older brother was the man you, um, killed, after Bianca died. Her other brother is on Alfie’s team. Keith.”

Constantine fumbled the phone and Alessandro moved fast and caught it. “What the fuck did she just say?” Alessandro asked as shock tore a hole through my already beaten-up heart.

Bella was right. She’d thought this was about Bianca, but I never imaginedthiswas the missing piece.

“There are more messages.” Constantine cut off my thoughts, and my arms went lax even more when his composure failed. I hadn’t seen his tan skin this pale since learning Bianca had died.

“Malik and I are about to pull up to your parents’ house, but . . .” There was an unnaturally long pause before she yelled, “Something’s wrong.” The call died, and so did my heart.

Alessandro dropped the phone. “Calliope.”

I stared at Constantine as he picked up the cell, remembering we still had another message. I wasn’t sure how much more we could tolerate and keep it together.

“We were too late,” Adelina began, her voice trembling over her final voicemail. “Your family couldn’t get to the safe room in time. Your dad is being airlifted to the hospital. Your mom is okay and she’s with him. He’s alive, but he was shot twice trying to stop them from . . .” Adelina paused, then whispered, “They took Callie. They came for her.”

Chapter 43

Hudson

Long Island, New York

With the six-hour time difference,we managed to make it to the Costas’ family home in Oyster Bay around midnight Eastern, which officially put us at day 365—the anniversary of Rose’s death. There wasn’t a chance in hell we’d let it be the day Bella and Callie died.

We fought hard with everything we had in us to remain mission-focused and to think like operators en route back, not like men who’d had our hearts ripped from our chests. It hadn’t been easy, though. I’d be lying if I denied I’d thrown up twice on the flight home. Alessandro hadn’t bothered to hide that he’d done the same. We’d both cycled through the stages of grief, landing on anger more often than not.

Resting my elbows on the desk, I bowed my head into my palms, unable to watch his parents’ security footage anymore.

Alessandro had replayed it a dozen times, watching the men fast-rope in and knock out most of the security with gas ashis father had tried to get his mother and Callie to their safe room.

Eyes remaining closed, I listened to Alessandro’s repeated mouse clicks as Constantine conversed in Italian from somewhere in the office. He was getting another update about his father from his mom. His dad was out of surgery but still in ICU, and not yet awake.

“I promise, I’m bringing them home,” Constantine finished in English before ending the call, and I lifted my head and swiveled the chair around to look back and forth between him and Alessandro.

Feds were still there and swarming the property, combing through the evidence of our failure. We should’ve seen this coming. These assholes had been ahead of us at every turn.

“She was in the bathroom when my father tried to get to her and pull her to safety,” Alessandro said in a daze. “I’m going to retrace her steps.”

“That won’t bring her back.” Constantine shook his head. “Never mind. Do what you need to do,” he added as his phone rang. “It’s Enzo.”

Alessandro remained seated as Constantine placed the call on speaker.

“I’m taking Maria to the hospital,” Enzo rushed out. “She’s in labor. The stress . . .” He let his words trail off before picking up in a new direction. “This is my fault. Actions have consequences, and I killed that man, setting off the chain reaction. And now everything is fucked, and I’m just . . .” He switched to Italian, and Constantine hit him right back with something in his native tongue.

We needed a target. A fix on their location so we could stop feeling so damn helpless sitting around. My worst fears of losing Bella were happening in real time, and if we didn’t getactionable intelligence soon, I’d officially lose my goddamn mind.

Frustrated with their Italian back-and-forth blame game I was sure was happening, I finally spoke up. “Be with your wife and daughter. Just focus on protecting your family.”

“I’m so sorry,” Maria whispered over the line between deep breaths. From the sounds of it, her contractions were getting closer. “You’ll get them both back. And Dad will be okay, too. No one is dying today. It’s going to be a celebration of life, you hear me?” she added between her labored breathing. “My babies are going to be born on the day we finally put the past behind us once and for all. There will be only happy moments to look forward to.”

Alessandro slowly stood, holding the top of his chair, catching my eyes.

“I need you to confirm you heard me loud and clear,” Maria remarked. “Do not piss off a woman in labor. Tell me everything will be fine.”

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