Page 95 of Wicked Rivals

“Spit it the fuck out,” I demanded.

“What I’m trying to say is Bruce called and Don Capaldo’s at the house again and the girl and your son went missing.”

A wash of frozen dread slid down my spine.

My lungs spasmed, making it hard to draw breath.

“What did you just say?” I said, not really asking.

Tony smacked Jimmy on the back of his head.

“What the fuck you talkin’ about?” Tony asked.

“Ow. Sorry, boss,” the driver said. “She found a way out.”

I punched the back of his seat.

“Get me to Brooklyn now, goddamn it! If she’s running, that’s where she’ll go first.”

Then I called one of my captains, commanding him to get to my estate and help Bruce and Hastings search Val’s personal and business phone records and bank accounts.

“And get Capaldo the fuck out of my house,” I told him. “At gunpoint if necessary.”

Val had deliberately left my protection.

Anything could happen to her, to my son.

Whoever wanted them dead ran freely around the city.

CHAPTER 20

VAL

“I know you’re here somewhere, you stupid bitch!”

The shouting from below made me freeze in place, every muscle locked in fear, though I could flick my gaze toward Enzo’s bedroom.

Even over the whooshing of my heartbeat in my own ears, I could hear things shattering downstairs in the café. Then a bigthudshook one of my bedroom walls. Not a gunshot, but more like he’d thrown one of the heavier tables against the wall below.

No, not Stefano.

I knew that right away. The intruder’s voice sounded sinister and mocking, like a villain from a Disney movie, like he tried to make himself seem bigger or tougher.

I recognized the voice, so familiar, but I couldn’t place it yet.

Definitely not one of my brothers.

This man had a New York accent.

My brothers wouldn’t have destroyed my business anyway. They stopped that kind of behavior a long time ago after one stupid journalist compared them to rioters.

From then on, they were careful to maintain a better public image to avoid what my father always referred to as “muddling the message.”

Hard to say what happened to the reporter.

When my family sent a message, they made it crystal clear.

Using a quick, panicked process of elimination, my mind settled on the only viable option.

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