Page 258 of Syndicate of Sin Bundle

“Hand me the phone,” I said through clenched teeth.

He handed me the phone, and I immediately pushed the call to voicemail before looking through his long text messages with Dad, which dated back more than a year. His eyes widened slightly, and he snatched the phone back and tossed it onto the bed, swallowing hard.

“I can explain,” he said, shaking. “It’s not what it seems like, Chiara, I promise.”

“You’ve been bought this entire time, haven’t you?” I asked, staring him right in the eye. When he didn’t answer me, I put the gun right to his temple. “How long? Tell me how long you’ve been aiding those assholes.”

William shook his head. I shoved him against the wall, held the gun pointed to his head, and grabbed the rope restraints we used to fuck around with during sex from his dresser. After tying his hands behind his back, I shoved him into a chair, grabbed a knife from the kitchen, and cut his pinky off.

“Every second you waste, I take another one off. Tell me.”

Another second. Another finger.

“Now, William.”

His middle finger.

He let out a choked scream, but I continued.

“One more time, and you lose the fucking hand.”

“The entire time,” he finally said.

I wrapped a shirt around his hand to stop the bleeding and shook my head.

“The entire time,” he sputtered, face scrunched up in pain, “your father wanted me to act as if I were hunting them down.” He winced. “He told me to distract you, to give you something to do to make it seem like you were useful.” Another groan left his mouth. “But he threatened to kill everyone and—”

I didn’t want to listen to it anymore. I punched him straight in the jaw.

Dad wasn’t the man I’d thought he was. He had never been the man I’d thought he was.

He was a villain and a coward.

38

chiara

We sat in one of Alessandro’s many cars. This one was an inconspicuous black SUV with tinted windows. Parked outside Dad’s property, we waited and watched, trying to figure out a way to get into the damn place.

There must’ve been hundreds of men with guns guarding the property. Most of them I didn’t even recognize. They must’ve been from the Sicilian Mafia—the best. These guys weren’t average. They looked professional.

The woman who had healed me a few days ago sat in the backseat, saying something in Italian. I stared at her through the rearview mirror and furrowed my brows, only picking up on a couple of words from her. Maybe this was why Dad hadn’t taught me Italian, growing up. I’d tried to learn, begged for a tutor, but he’d refused, telling me that it was useless. But I knew better now.

It wasn’t useless. Dad was just a dick.

“This won’t work,” I said, shaking my head.

There were too many people around. One of us was bound to get shot and killed. We needed another way … but how? How were we going to get—

“Fuck.” I leaned forward in the passenger seat. “We have to go back to Officer William’s house. I have an idea.”

Karrie looked over at me. “Are you sure? We don’t have much time. They’ll figure it out sooner or later that you killed all his men, and your dad will have even more out, tracking you. I’d be surprised if he hasn’t already sent them.”

“It’s the only way,” I said, gazing around to make sure nobody had spotted us yet. I knew exactly where Dad had set up his cameras and the places the guards looked, which ones slacked, which ones didn’t.

Karrie threw the car in reverse and drove us back onto the highway as I directed her toward Detective William’ house. I ran into the house, grabbed his cruiser keys, and handed them to one of Alessandro’s partners, who slid into the car.

I leaned through the window. “There are underground tunnels,” I said. “My mom took me there one time when Dad had a freaking gunfight with a rival family. I faintly remember where they are, but they’ll take us directly toward where Dad must be torturing Alessandro.”

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