Page 23 of Played By the Fool

“I’m here. Don’t move. We don’t know how hurt you are. Do you know where Emilia is?”

“No. Someone hit me from behind. I heard her scream as I lost consciousness.”

“We need to go to her house. Maybe Kali knows something? I don’t have her number.”

“Carmelo and Celestino, you go and talk to Kali. I’ll stay here with Ciarán, we’ll talk to the police. After you talk to Kali, come back and get us,” Enea says to them.

Celestino nods as he and Carmelo leave.

“What if she’s dead?” I whisper. More to myself than to anyone in the room.

“You can’t think like that. I wish I could say I don’t know how it feels to be in this situation. But I do. My Lorenzo and Giovanna were kidnapped when they were two years old. We never gave up hope of finding them. It took us twenty-three years. But they’re back with us now. We were lucky that the person who took them, loved them. So as much as I want to kill them, I won’t.”

“I can’t lose her. I don’t know how to be without her.” I frown as I sit next to Frank.

“We will find her. You have to have faith.”

“I’m trying, Enea. I’ve never had someone like Emilia. Someone I want to protect. And I feel like I’ve failed her.”

“You haven’t failed her. Whoever took her had this planned. You have to remember that. What you need to focus on right now is how to find her.”

“The only person that comes to mind is John. But I really don’t know why he would take her. His focus has been on getting Kali back. He’s left Emilia alone.”

Enea nods as the ambulance and police arrive. We tell them everything we know, including my suspicions of John. I also make sure to tell Frank that we’ll be at the hospital as soon as we can. I know Enea is right. I need to find Emilia. No matter what.

After the police leave, we wait for Celestino and Carmelo to come back. When they do, they look worried, they have Kali with them.

“When we got there, Kali was at Emilia’s house. We saw John sitting in his car, Carmelo stayed outside to talk to him while I went up to see Kali. She said John had texted her tonight and again, she never answered him. She saw him out there and just decided to ignore him.”

“And John said that he’s been sitting out there for the last few hours. So unless he’s lying, which he fucking could be, he’s not the one who did this.”

“Do you believe him?” I ask Carmelo.

“No. I don’t. But I don’t know him and his ugly face could just put off those ‘I’m a liar’ vibes naturally.”

Celestino shakes his head and chuckles.

“I have to agree with Carmelo. I thought I knew John, but he played me for a fool. And I can’t say for sure that he was out there the whole time.”

“I think we need to check John’s house. But I don’t want to do that with only the four of us. We need the other guys. I talked to my dad and they’re leaving now instead of in the morning. And they’re driving straight through. There’s six of them so they’ll switch off. He said Salvatore Mancini and Francesco are coming too.”

“I don’t know how to thank you all. I’ve never seen so many come together for people they just met,” I say to all of them.

“This is how we work. Family is family and that means that we’ll do anything for each other. Blood or not,” Enea says.

“Thank you.”

We spend the next hour talking about people that have been around Emilia and if Kali remembers anything that could help us. Right now, the plan is to have Kali distract John so that we can get into his house. She won’t be alone with him, two of the guys will be close enough in case she needs them. We plan to do this as soon as the rest of the family gets here. I just hope it’s not too late.

Chapter Eleven

Ciarán

I don’t know how many traffic laws the guys broke getting to us. But I know it was a lot because they’re already here. Our plan is in place, Kali is meeting John at the bakery when it opens in a few hours. Carmelo and Lorenzo are staying with her. The rest of us will be searching John’s house. I pray that we find my Emilia and that she hasn’t been hurt. I don’t know where else to look if she’s not there.

The waiting is the hardest part for me. I watch everyone get ready, I have a kevlar vest on already. Salvatore said it’s just in case. He’s a Chicago police officer and was recently elected Sheriff of Lake Renegade. He’s the one coordinating what each of us will be doing. Because we don’t know the layout of John’s house, we’re relying on what Kali told us. There’s three bedrooms and two bathrooms. All upstairs. Then there’s the kitchen, living room and another half bathroom on the main floor. The basement has three rooms, the laundry room and another bathroom.

Salvatore has assigned two of us to each floor. Because John won’t be there, we shouldn’t run into any trouble. But we’re planning like there will be. Just in case. I just pray we find Emilia.

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