Page 148 of Phantom Mine

I curl an arm around her waist and pull her into me.

“Not if you want to keep your lips.”

“They’re very nice lips. Women everywhere would mourn their loss if they were to suddenly become unavailable.” Another teasing wink in Valentina’s direction.

“And stop with the winking.”

Enzo tsks. “One official day asDonand you’re already too comfortable in the role of dictator,cugino. Careful there, we know it runs in the family.”

Valentina watches with a bemused smile as Enzo and I go back and forth, jabbing and jeering at each other like we’re still teenagers.

“Alright, enough,” I finally order, putting a hand up. “Leni, tell Enzo about your Adriana theory. He’s got some updates of his own to share.”

Valentina takes a deep breath and turns towards Enzo. “I think Adriana might be alive. I know,” she adds quickly when he lifts a brow in surprise. “I don’t know if she’s alive now, but I’m almost certain she wasn’t immediately murdered. The finger they sent my father wasn’t hers. I can’t think of any reason they’d do that other than to make himthinkshe was dead so he wouldn’t look for her in the right places.”

“The right places being?”

“I think they trafficked her.” It costs her to say the words out loud. “She is–was–beautiful. Young. Healthy. Based on the other photos in his drawer, she’s exactly the type of girl Rocco was looking to sell. That also explains why they wouldn’t cut off her finger—it would have impacted her value.”

He hums in acknowledgment of her theory. “Well, the good news is I’m pretty sure we’ve tracked down the trafficking ring in question.”

Valentina gives an excited little squeak.

“How?” I ask, although I’m hardly surprised. There’s a reason I chose him to lead the search efforts and it’s not just because he’s my closest friend.

“We started with good old fashioned Google. Two years ago, these three women were rescued from a drug den as part of a separate bust. They’d been held captive there by the drug runners. We tracked them down and interviewed them. It tooka couple of days to get them to talk, but eventually they told us they’d each been put up for auction and bought. They were stripped naked, forced to wear a number on their chests, then were paraded in front of dozens of men until they were sold. Two of the women were foreigners here illegally so they couldn’t tell me anything about the house, but the third was English. She told me it was in Chelsea.”

“Chelsea?” Valentina asks, her tone shocked.

It’s surprising to hear of a potential human trafficking ring existing in one of the wealthier neighborhoods of London, but the seedy underbelly is often much closer to us than we think.

“She was positive that’s where it was. So I went back through Rocco’s bank statements and found routine deposits into his account from an L.L.C. in Chelsea calledFemina Fortis. It’s Latin for ‘strong woman’,” he explains, anger simmering beneath his words. “Fucking animals.”

“Do they have a registered address?” Valentina questions, not letting herself get distracted by the grotesque nature of the L.L.C.’s chosen name.

“They do.”

Valentina inhales a breath so sharp, she seemingly forgets to exhale. For a moment, she’s perfectly still.

Then, she turns to me.

“Let’s go,” she says breathlessly. There’s an imploring note running just beneath the surface of her voice.

“No.” The look she gives me turns wounded. “Don’t look at me like that,cara. I’m not letting you walk into what may very well be a sex trafficking den without knowing what we’re getting ourselves into first.” She opens her mouth but I cut her off. “Give us a few days to figure out the best approach and then we’ll go, you have my word.”

Valentina nods slowly. Her reticence is clearly written on her face, but so is the fact that she knows I’m right. “Okay.” She nodsagain, as if having come to a decision. “Okay. I’ve waited two years, I can wait a few more days.” She turns to Enzo and hugs him. “Thank you,” she tells him, the words heavy with gratitude.

When she releases him, she turns to me. I cup her cheek gently, completely enamored by the new twinkle I find in her eye. She’s so abuzz with fresh energy, I can feel a spark running through her skin.

“One step closer,” I murmur.

“Thank you.” She covers my hand with hers and squeezes it tightly, speaking straight from the heart, “Gracias.”

“Don’t thank me until we’ve found her,cara.”

She looks furtively around to make sure no one is looking, then presses her lips to mine in what has to be one of the most chaste kisses I’ve received in my life. Still, I feel the entire foundation of my being tremble. One kiss from her unleashes a series of earthquakes that roar and groan as they smash and destroy everything I’ve always thought mattered, revealing the true treasures beneath it instead.

I’m in deep, deep shit.

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