Page 12 of Stefano
“Send me the location.”
I hang up and grab my jacket, shoving my Glock into the waistband of my pants.My hands don’t shake.My voice doesn’t break.Outwardly, I’m ice.Inside, a storm rages so violent it threatens to tear me apart.
“Stefano!”Guilia’s voice cracks.She grabs my arm, her eyes wide, frantic.“It’s Andrea.You have to...”
“I will,” I cut in, my tone a blade.“I’ll bring her back.”
Alceu is already barking orders, sending soldiers out to sweep the streets.Severu loads his gun with calm precision, his jaw tight.Mancuso is muttering a string of curses under his breath, his knuckles white around the hilt of his favorite blade.
The family mobilizes like a war machine, fast and efficient.But it’s not fast enough for me.
By the time we reach the scene, blue lights flash against concrete walls.Police tape flutters in the breeze.Officers cluster near the alley where Andrea’s phone was found.
Too many cops.Too many eyes.
Alceu steps forward, his presence commanding, the kind of authority that makes men hesitate before asking questions.He flashes a badge he shouldn’t have, one of our bought detectives slips it into his hand quietly, a transaction hidden in plain sight.Money talks, and the Cammareris have plenty of it.
Within minutes, the uniforms back off, muttering about jurisdiction and paperwork.One by one, they fade into the night, leaving the scene to us.
A detective lingers just long enough to murmur, “Cartel for sure.Matías Sosa has been spotted in town.You didn’t hear it from me.”Then he’s gone.
The name is a gunshot in my head.
Matías Sosa.
I crouch by the shattered phone, the screen spiderwebbed, a smear of blood on the cracked glass.My chest constricts, my pulse thundering.
I imagine her struggling.Fighting.Screaming my name.And I wasn’t there.Rage scorches through me, white-hot.I slam my fist against the wall, the pain grounding me.
“Stefano.”Severu’s voice is steady but urgent.“We’ll find her.”
“Not we.Me.”My voice is low, lethal.“They took her because of me.I’m the one who’s going to bring her back.”
****
Back at the compound, the family gathers like a storm.Guilia is pale, Callie holding her close while Lira watches the children.Alceu’s pacing, barking into his phone, demanding intel from every contact.Severu spreads maps of the city across the table, pointing out cartel warehouses and safehouses.
I stand over them, silent, my mind already a battlefield.
She’s out there.Alone and terrified.
And they think they can use her to break me.They don’t know who the fuck they’ve taken.Because I will tear the city apart with my bare hands, brick by brick, body by body, until Andrea Rossi is back in my arms.
And when I find Matías, there won’t be enough left of him to bury.
