Page 11 of His Kind of Beautiful
Tony didn’t even flinch at the pain caused when he drove his fist through the wall. His rage and anger enough of a painkiller that he felt nothing.
Over his heavy breathing and pounding heart, he could hear the soft cries of the women in the room. Sofia had buried her face against John’s chest, but her sobs could be heard, as could Abby’s, who stood in front of Gavriil, wrapped safe in his arms. He turned to his own woman where she stood silently crying just to his left and yanked her into his arms.
“It’s okay, Leona. We’ll get him back.
Her entire frame shook in his arms, and he held on a little tighter. They’d only just gotten back from the lake house and walked into the office John used as a meeting room. They’d been in time to see a video message the Battaglia family had sent as an incentive to give them him and Leona.
When the video started, they all gasped at the sight of Gino tied to a chair in the middle of the screen. He was bleeding from multiple knife wounds across his chest and shoulders. They weren’t deep, but there were so many, and it was obvious whoever was cutting him not only knew what they were doing, but that they were acting to inflict as much pain as possible.
Tito, Angelo’s older brother, stepped up beside Gino and grabbed a handful of his hair, pulling his head back so the camera got a better view of his face. But it was barely recognizable as Gino. He’d been badly beaten, his right eye was completely swollen shut, blood poured from both sides of his mouth, his jaw swollen, and there was a gash over his left eye. But Gino was still glaring at the room at large.
“You want your man back, Poppa John, then give me my brother’s whore and the bastard who took him from me.” Tito sneered into the camera. When he took a step closer, the camera shook, as if the person holding it started to shake, and Tito’s gaze slipped to the side of the shot, no doubt toward whoever was shooting the scene. “Hold that fucking camera steady, bitch, or I swear I’ll start back in on you.”
Gino went wild against the bindings, proving that the chair was indeed bolted to the floor. He cursed the man for being a coward for hitting a woman but was silenced by a vicious backhand from Tito.
“Keep your goddamn mouth shut!” Tito roared and the sound of a very feminine sob could be heard from the screen. Tito turned back to the camera. “You have two hours to get that slut and the murdering bastard you call an enforcer to me, and if you do, then maybe I’ll return your man in one piece. If not?”
Tito turned back to Gino, moving to stand beside him. He took his knife from the sheath he wore at his side and deftly removed Gino’s pinky finger on his left hand. Tony would never forget the sound of one of his best friends screaming in pain as Gino did at that moment. Not ever.
Tito, the sick bastard, then walked to the camera, the blood-soaked finger in his bloodied hand. “Then I will return him to you piece by piece until you do.”
The camera tilted crazily and the sound came of someone vomiting before the screen went black.
“Where the hell is that room?” Gavriil growled. “We’re going to need to find out where the fuck they have him.”
“It’s Angelo’s apartment in town,” Leona whispered. “It’s where he took me. Tito would know I would recognize it.”
“The other families will want to hear about this.” John’s broken voice brought him back to the room.
“We don’t have fucking time to bring them all together, John,” Gavriil snapped. “We need to act now and apologize later. Or not.Blyat!They all know the Battaglias are unstable, that their thirst for power and money is without conscience. We take them out of the picture, we end this shit.”
John nodded. “We do this, we’ll take some losses.”
Tony thought about that for a moment. One of his best friends was being tortured because of his actions. Other men, his friends, his family were about to go to war because of his actions. Could he live with that?
“We’ve known this life was not without risk,” Tony said quietly, holding Leona tighter when he felt her shudder against him. “Sofia, Abby, could you takemi amoreback to my rooms? I don’t think she should have to see this.”
He was sure his woman would argue, but it was a clear sign of how unsettled she was when she simply nodded. He kissed her gently then handed her over to Abby. As soon as all three of the women left the room, they began to plan.
Tony mooted the thought that perhaps he went in to try to buy them and Gino some time, but that got rejected emphatically by John and Gavriil. Then John began the task of calling all the other families to bring them up to date while Gavriil called the heads of every one of their crew and while Tony started organizing for their weapons to be delivered. They had catchments of guns and ammo all over the city, and tonight they were going to war. They were almost ready to leave when Abby came charging back into the room, her face pale.
“Leona’s gone.”
There were those two damn words, again. He should have known, he should havefuckingknown! His woman was intelligent and so fucking selfless, of course, she would give her life for someone else. He turned from the room, ignoring Gavriil and John calling out to him, and ran for his truck.
