Page 1 of His Kind of Beautiful
Chapter One
“Leona’s gone.”
Two words, and the bottom fell out of Tony Moretto’s world. “What the fuck do you mean she’sgone, Marissa? She’s one of your girls!”
“She hasn’t been one of mine for a long time, Tony, and you damn well know that.” Marissa’s voice was sharp down the phone line and Tony had to bite back an impatient curse. “After all that shit with Angelo, she wasn’t interested in being a part of anything to do with the Carlisi family, and to be honest with you, I don’t blame her.”
Tony began to pace the street outside the new storefront for theHoli Cannolibakery, frustration a living, seething beast within him. “She’s one of ours. Period. If you made her feel any different, then you—”
“IfImade her feel any different?” Marissa exclaimed incredulously. “Whatever that girl is feeling, and I am sure it’s a lot, it has nothing to do with me or how I treated her.”
Tony’s head fell back as he took a deep breath, guilt and pain slicing through him. No. It wasn’t Marissa who had let Leona down, it had been him. And Gavriil Volkov shouldered a fair amount of that blame too. Just the thought of that had Tony fighting the urge to burst back into the bakery owned by Abigail, Gavriil’s woman, and punch the man right in the face.
“You’re right, Marissa. It wasn’t you. It was me, and it was Gavriil. And that means it’s up to us to fix this, which we can’t do if we can’t get to her. Do you know where she’s gone?”
Silence met that question and Tony’s heart sped up in fear. If Marissa had no clue, then he had no leads to follow, and that was unacceptable. He had to find Leona and bring her back. She wasn’t safe out there. She needed to be back in Carlisi territory. The thought of what could happen to her out there on her own had a dark determination rising within him.
If he had nothing to go on, then he’d do it the old-fashioned way. Threatening and fighting anyone who might know anything, and hunting her down as best he could, because getting her back here with the family was the only option. Leona needed them, and by God, she needed him and she was finally going to listen to what he had to say and let him be there for her.
“Tony.” Marissa’s voice sounded hesitant, and he knew he was not going to like what came next. “Leona wasn’t just one of my girls, she’s my friend. And I do believe that she’s in real trouble.” His free hand clenched into a fist. If someone was threatening Lee, then he would rip them apart with his bare hands. “She’s withdrawn into herself and nothing anyone says seems to get through. The only person she’s spoken to since she got out of the hospital was Gavriil. He was here yesterday morning, and they spoke. She’s been missing ever since.”
Not waiting to hear anything further, Tony disconnected the call and immediately spun around, his entire being turning to ice. He stepped into the bakery, completely ignoring the enticing scent of sugar and pastry, and walked to the back of the store, toward the kitchen. He pressed his thumb to the high-end security pad that would grant him entry and stepped into the kitchen area.
There were three people in the room. Gavriil, Abigail, and Gino Esposito, another one of the Carlisi enforcers and one of his best friends. They all turned to look at him as he entered. Their expressions were telling. Only Gavriil’s expression held a thread of understanding and expectation that told him the bastard knew Tony was livid, and he had a fairly good idea why.
He didn’t stop until he had Gavriil by the lapels of his suit jacket and had yanked him from the chair. “Where is she?”
Gavriil’s expression turned cold. Tony felt the urge to apologize and let him go but didn’t. His desperation to find Lee overwhelmed his deep-seated need to respect the hierarchy in the family and the man he’d sworn to protect all those years ago.
“You lost your mind, Tony?” Gino asked from where he’d stepped in behind him. Tony knew it was only the bond the three of them shared that stopped the other man from snapping his neck.
“Not yet, brother,” Tony responded, his gaze remaining locked to Gavriil’s.
“But you’ve been hovering on the edge of losing it since we lost Anthony.” Gavriil’s voice was steady and calm, exhibiting no fear, just that icy cold that he was renowned for on the streets of Chicago.
An ache settled low in his chest and Tony gritted his teeth against it. “This has nothing to do with my father.”
“Yes, it does,” Gavriil said as he reached up to lay a hand on Tony’s shoulder. “We all lost him, Tony, but he was your dad, your best friend, and I know how much you miss him. But you have been flying out of control ever since.Blyat!You almost killed that asshole at the casino two nights ago with your bare hands!”
“He fucking deserved it,” Tony roared. He could feel his sense of reason spiraling out of control. “He was one of the bastards Angelo turned loose on Lee.”
“I know that, Tony.” Gavriil growled. “You think I don’t share your anger? I’m the reason she was in that position in the fucking first place. I’m the one who asked her to use Angelo’s obsession with her against him to get us information. It was me who—”
Tony inhaled sharply in surprise. He had no recollection of moving or making the decision to pull back his fist and slam it into Gavriil’s jaw, but that was exactly what he did.
No one moved for a moment, and then there was a distinct sound of feminine displeasure before Abigail stepped up beside him. “Tony, if you’re going to beat on my Gavriil for a while, please, do it outside.”
Gavriil huffed a laugh as he lifted his hand and swiped it across his mouth, collecting the drop of blood that had pooled there. “You worried about me,moy angil?”
“Not even just a little bit,” Abigail said with a haughty sniff. “But I don’t want blood in my new kitchen. So, if you two are determined to act like children, you can do it outside.”
Tony caught Gavriil’s eye for a brief moment, then both of them were laughing. In any otherfamilia, striking a senior member would be a death penalty, but not the Carlisis. And not Gavriil. The two of them and Gino had been friends for too many years, and there had been punches and blood shed between the three of them on more than one occasion.
“See what I have had to put up with, Abby?” Gino complained, throwing his hands in the air. “All my damn life I’ve had to be the peacemaker while these two hotheads threw punches at each other. But now that you’ve claimed Gavriil as your own, and I still find that hard to believe when you could have had me, they’re your problem. I’m gonna go back out front and eat my body weight in pecan caramel cannoli.”
The three of them laughed as Gino practically skipped out of the kitchen in search of what was fast becoming one of the few vices Tony had in life. Abby was one hell of a baker, there was no mistaking that, but her cannoli were out of this world.
“Leona is safe, Tony.” Gavriil’s voice had lost all anger and humor. When Tony turned back to look at him, he saw that he was watching him closely, as if he were searching for something. “She asked to speak with me because she wanted help getting out of town for a while. I couldn’t turn her down. I wouldn’t.”
