Page 2 of Sweet Retribution

And I let her down. I let her be kidnapped. Kidnapping her myself a month ago makes me a hypocrite, only I never caused her any physical harm. I don’t trust that Lorenzo or Antonio have her safety in mind.

I’ve upped the patrol at the house in New York, where her mother resides. There haven’t been any threats in the states. Yet. Still, I don’t let my guard down.

“We’ll find her, Stone.”

Stone.Lucca is family, but he always calls me boss. Calling me by my name doesn’t make me feel any better. In fact, it tells me he doesn’t think we’ll find Gia.

“Get the chopper ready.” I don’t have to tell him where we’re going. He knows.

The flight to the mainland of Italy doesn’t take long. We land on Parisi property, now partially owned by me since I married Gia. I don’t care about the winery or the estate. I care about finding what he’s been hiding on it, and having access to the property was the only way I’d find it.

We barely touch the ground when I rip off my safety harness and jump out of the chopper. The grounds crew smartly moves out of my way as I storm into the house and up the staircase to Lorenzo’s room.

Tio looks up as I enter.

“Any change?”

“No.”

I stare down at Lorenzo Parisi. Four days ago I shot him, not in the head as I’d wanted. I want him dead, but not until he tells me where Gia is. Shooting him in the kneecap took more restraint than I thought possible.

If Gia’s life hadn’t been on the line, he’d be dead by now. I’d have scoured the property for what I’ve been looking for, and my connection to him would be done. My vengeance served. My life could go on.

Only it won’t. I’d been living for too long with one focus. Revenge. I haven’t thought about anything else.

Lorenzo opens his eyes, and I swear he grins. Without a second thought, I withdraw my gun from my holster and shoot his other kneecap.

“Fuck!” he screams. He suddenly looks small and weak in his giant bed. The dark bedding turns wet with blood.

“Where’s Rossi?”

“Giving me... a grandchild,” he sputters.

I don’t react. He wants me to kill him to put him out of his misery. I have no plans to end his pain anytime soon. Not until Gia is safe.

“He’s... probably... fucking... her... right...”

I shoot his dick.

Lorenzo’s screams pierce my ears, but I don’t flinch. He curls in a ball and gasps for air.

“Bast... ard.”

“Where did Rossi take her?”

“Boss,” Tio says from behind me.

I turn knowing he wouldn’t interrupt me unless it was important.

“Got him.” He hands me Lorenzo’s phone that we confiscated four days ago when I first shot him.

Tio and his men have been working on cracking the password of the phone and computers. A man like Lorenzo keeps tabs on all his people. Especially Antonio Rossi with all the knowledge he has of the underground criminal world.

I take the phone from Tio and see the red dot on the screen moving down the transway. “Confirm it’s him. Have him followed. Don’t reveal we’re on to him.”

I won’t chance him catching wind of us and not returning to where Gia is. Lorenzo’s stench and crying is getting to me, so I leave the room and pace his study while I wait to hear from my men. Two hours later, Tio finds me.

“We’ve tracked him coming out of a small house outside Catania. We think he spotted our men because the phone isn’t moving anymore. Its location is a coffee shop. An empty one.”

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