Page 26 of Wrathful King
My cool façade slipped a notch as I fought the images in my head—of Reina begging for help, pleading for mercy.
“She made it to the dock,” Kian stated calmly. “They held an auction. My contact indicated Perez was the highest buyer, therefore there were no other bidders on her.”
“That fucking—” Darius quickly tempered his expression.
“What auction?” Dante questioned.
Kian’s gaze never wavered. “Perez set up a once-in-a-lifetime auction selling the illegitimate daughters of criminals from around the globe. He has kept it under the radar, planning and conniving, setting up his web and traps. The dark web is brimming with it. It seems my brother has been planning this for years.”
Kian hated recognizing his blood relation to Perez. It killed him to even utter those words—my brother—out loud.
The temperature in the room dropped sharply.
“Why in the fuck are we only hearing about this now?” Enrico demanded.
“Because we didn’t know about it,” Kian gritted.
“Usually, Cortes ran the Marabella Mobster arrangements, not auctions,” Illias stated pensively. “He was very much like Benito King with the Belles and Mobsters agreements in that regard. Why did Cortes change it to an auction now?”
Kian shook his head. “I don’t know. It’s hard to follow his logic. My assumption is that he’s been trying to blindside us with this shit. He’s been gathering a list of illegitimate daughters born to the crime lords for years. His little hobby. Also, he’s been after Sofia Volkov for that information too.”
“What do we know about this auction?” Tyran, the less manic Callahan twin, asked.
“Not much. The main attraction of those auctions was the illegitimate daughters.” Kian looked as sick about it as I felt. “He might have done something like this before, but this is the first time he’s made it public. I’ve kept my eye on Perez and have never known him to orchestrate such a blatant and large-scale attack. Word is he even has Sofia Volkov’s illegitimate daughter. Obviously, he’s gotten brave, especially with how much he’s advertising it.”
Silence filled the space, stretching like a rubber band, ready to snap.
“I didn’t know Sofia Volkov had an illegitimate daughter.” It was Darius who spoke.
“Stop with that fucking word,” Romero snapped, determination creasing his face. “I just want my daughters back.”
Suddenly I understood why Reina was so protective of her papà.
“Can someone explain what the fuck is going on?” Marchetti stood up and pushed his hands into his pockets, restless energy brimming from him. His gaze zeroed in on Romero and me. “We need to go into this with our eyes wide open.”
“This is bigger than just the Omertà,” I started. “I agree with Kian, this has had to be in the works for years.”
“It’s like Perez wants to start a mafia princess trafficking ring, Enrico.” Kian’s expression was thunderous. If Perez was cruel when handling his own blood, I didn’t want to imagine how badly he treated other women.
“How would he even know about Reina?” Romero questioned. “I didn’t even fucking know until recently. How can we be sure that Phoenix isn’t within their clutches? He went after Sofia Volkov’s daughter. Phoenix will be blindsided.”
The gnawing sensation chewed its way up my chest, sinking its teeth into the dark place I kept caged. Barely.
“Perez doesn’t have Phoenix,” Kian repeated his earlier statement with conviction.
“Maybe it’s safer this way,” I muttered. “If we can’t find her, neither can anyone else.”
Romero pushed his hand through his hair again. “I still don’t understand how she was taken.” His eyes found me. “Who knew about your movements?”
“My mother and Hiroshi.” Our arrival in Jolo was unplanned, so it would mean they had up-to-date intel. The question I was trying to find answers to washow.Assuming they slipped this to Cortes, it would have given him a twenty-four-hour heads-up. At best.
“And you think your mother’s behind it?” Tyran Callahan stated.
“I suspect she’s still not forgiven Romero.”
The twins had had issues with their own conniving mother, so this kind of thing shouldn’t come as a surprise to them. “Talk about a woman scorned,” Kyran muttered. “She sure can hold a grudge for a long fucking time. What? She can’t find another man?”
“We don’t need you pointing out the goddamned obvious,” Dante drawled, pulling his gun out and pointing at Kyran’s head. He was on edge; we all were.
