Page 71 of Caught in the Crossfire
Cas stiffened beside me. My heart sank a little at the thought of the kidnapping being common knowledge amongst the underworld, but there wasn’t any avoiding it. My men had tried to overturn every stone to find me again.
Still, I didn’t enjoy knowing that all of New York was aware the Albanians had hurt us.
Cold. Dark. Scratches. Dead eyes.
Nope. Not going there. Not now. Never again. I blinked away the vision.
“I’m in perfect health for a little vengeance.”
“Is that what this is?”
“What else could it be?” I cocked my head to the side, sizing him up just as much as he sized me up. I knew so little about him, yet it was clear he knew far more about me. “What kind of man are you, Rossi? Are you like my father? Or are you a recluse because you’re not?”
He said nothing, but he crossed his arms over his chest.
“Cas thinks you’re a good man,” I continued. “I want to believe him.”
“Aww,” Enzo said, a smirk playing on his lips. “Sweet.”
Cas shrugged. “Figured you would be against human trafficking.”
“Is that the benchmark these days?” His eyes crinkled, like he was laughing at me. “To be a good man?”
“It’s a good fucking start.”
He sighed. “You’re right. There has to be some code in what we do. Otherwise, it’s chaos and bloodshed.”
I nodded. “So give me Orik Vokshi’s location so I can put an end to them. I want to stop what my father started.”
It was vengeance, but it all traced back to him. It all traced back to my need to fix all the shit I lived in ignorance about for far too long.
“I want something in exchange,” he said.
I gusted a breath. Of course, he did. “What?”
He observed me for a few tense moments. “Chiara Tommaso.”
I snorted while my fingers brushed over the hilts of my knives. “Get the fuck out of here. What the hell does that mean?”
Chiara was missing, but she’d promised me in her note from the VCI board meeting that she was fine. I hated that somehow he’d gotten her under his thumb, likely only as leverage against me, and there was no way in hell I’d simplygiveher to Rossi. She was her own full person. She was not a fucking object. I swore to Fallon I’d create a future where women were no longer treated as pawns, and I intended to do so.
“I understand she is engaged to Volpe.”
I stopped myself from rolling my eyes. “I suppose. What do you want with her?”
“I believe you are her best friend.”
“Yes.”
“And you think this engagement is a good idea?”
The worst idea I’d ever heard.
“I think, Rossi, it’s none of your fucking business.”
He leveled his gaze, passive yet calm. “I’d like you to bring her to me. I’d like to offer her my own proposal.”
“I think we’re done here,” I gritted out, practically vibrating like the water boiling in Obi’s tea kettle. “We’ll find the Albanian on our own.”
