Page 45 of His to Claim

I think Gallo has officially lost his mind.

“So let’s send your brothers a little video, shall we?” There’s a taunting tone to his voice that sets my nerves on edge and puts fear in my heart. I have no idea what he’s planning and I’m pretty sure that I don’t want to know either.

Unable to move, I squeeze my eyes, praying to wake up from this nightmare. When I open them again, I see him pull out his phone. My heart thunders and I immediately try to shake my head, but I can’t because of the rope around my neck. I don’t want my brothers or Damon to see me like this. They’re going to flip out.

“Why?” I croak. “What’s the point?”

If he’s going to kill me, the last thing I want him to do is film it. Feeling sick to my stomach, I whimper, unable to move. I’ve never felt so helpless in my entire life. If this is it, if I’m going to die, I don’t want him to send a horrible video of my death to my family. It would devastate them.

Unfortunately, I have no say or control over the situation. When Gallo hits record, I do my best not to cry. And I fail miserably.

18

ARCHER

Carlotta’s brothers, their wives and I have done our best to talk out the situation and come up with a tentative game plan while I wait for some kind of a lead to come in from one of my contacts. I’ve received a few calls, but nothing useful. The vague, very general leads—like someone saw a black SUV—isn’t going to help us find Lottie. Good to know, sure, but I’m still pacing like a lunatic because I’ve never felt so damned helpless in my entire life.

Meanwhile, Miceli touched base with the other four mafia families. They’ve vowed to help and are ready to move the moment we call. And that makes me feel good. I’m surprised at how easily they came together and how ready they are to go to war for one another. But the group who sits at the table has evolved over the past year. All of the troublemakers are gone and the ones who currently rule are loyal as hell. And that’s a great thing for us right now. The last thing I want is for anyone to stall or drag their feet. All hands are on deck and I couldn’t be more grateful.

But, time seems to be dragging by and I can’t stop pacing, my phone is radio silent, and I’m on the verge of losing my shit. The urge to move fills me and if we don’t do something soon, I’m going to implode.

Hell, I’ll burn this city to the ground if that’s what it takes to find Carlotta.

Suddenly, everyone’s phone seems to ding or buzz with a text at once. We all open up our messages at the same time and I see it’s from an unknown caller.

“All from unknown?” Miceli asks, and Vin, Enzo, Angelo and I confirm yes.

“It’s a video,” Vin states, and the women gather round to see their husband’s screens.

“Yeah, I have a bad feeling about this,” Angelo says. Blake wraps an arm around his waist, her attention on his phone.

I hit play and an extremely close-up image of Carlotta fills my screen. Her pretty brown eyes shine with tears and my stomach twists.

“What the fuck is this?” I hiss, hating the fear I see in her brown gaze. I swear to God, I am one step away from losing my shit. I wish I could jump through my phone’s screen and save her from whatever has her in an icy grip of fear. Because I would kill whoever made her cry. I’d kill them with my bare hands and then empty my entire gun in them for good measure.

As if on cue, the camera slowly pulls back and I get my first look at the noose around her neck. My stomach sinks and my grip tightens so hard around my phone’s case, I hear it crack.

“Oh, my God,” Alessia whispers. Hannah gasps and Gabriella and Blake grimace.

“As you can all see, your sister is in a world of trouble,” a voice says and I want to punch my fist through the screen. “You might say she’s hanging on by a thread…or a rope.”

“Fucking Gallo,” Miceli growls.

Gallo laughs and a chill runs down my spine. Carmine Gallo has lost his fucking mind. And poor Carlotta is at the receiving end of his insane bullshit.

How could I have let this happen? I never should’ve taken her back to her apartment. A little voice in my head had warned me, but I ignored it. I figured we’d be in and out in under ten minutes. Well, I guess that’s all it fucking took to lose the woman who was quickly becoming so damn important to me.

I don’t care what anyone else says, this is all my fault. I should’ve listened to my gut. Feeling sick, I watch the rest of the video play out and it only gets worse.

“I’m not sure if you can see,” Gallo continues smugly, “but right below your dear sister’s feet are standing on a trap door.” He uses his foot to brush the hay away, revealing a door in the loft’s floor.

Several curses fill the air. I swallow down the vomit creeping up the back of my throat.

No.Carlotta is so innocent, so good, so sweet. Gallo is a fucking monster for doing this to her and I’m going to fucking kill him. If it’s the last thing I do, I’m going to put him in the ground.

“I’ve rigged the door to drop in exactly one hour. Oh, no wait. Maybe I only set it for forty-five minutes.” He laughs again and my skin crawls. “No matter. Either way, when the trap door opens, Carlotta drops and the rope will tighten. I doubt that you have enough time to prevent that, but I wanted to prepare you for what you’ll find—your baby sister’s corpse swinging from the rafters.”

“That sick sonofabitch,” Angelo grates out.

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