Page 28 of Blossom in Shadows

Before I knew what was happening, I was up and destroying my fucking office. Lorenzo, Tazio, and Luca who I was meeting with, stepped to the side and hugged the office walls, but I couldn’t see them. I could only see red, and I had nothing to direct the feeling to.

I was lost. Untethered. Seething.

I don’t know how long I was raging, but what snapped me back into reality was Sergio walking through the door, dried blood running down his neck and a look of pure defeat on his face. I walked right up to him and punched him. He held up his hands in surrender, in resignation.

Lorenzo had to pull me off him after I rained fist after fist down on him, following him to the ground, needing to take out my rage and my pain on someone.

“Stop,” Lorenzo shouted in my ear. “He has information. We need to find out everything we can and killing him will not give you what you need to know.”

It took a huge effort for me to pull myself away from Sergio, his eyes full of the same pain that was racing through my bloodstream. I knew they had become close, like siblings, and I trusted Sergio with Zinnia. I couldn’t kill the man, no matter how much I wanted to.

The moment I got my queen back, she would ask about him and then look at me like a monster for killing him. There was a little voice in my head telling me it was possible we wouldn’t get her back, but I shoved it aside. It simply wasn’t an option.

I sat behind my broken desk and steepled my hands, waiting. Sergio handed me his phone, a video already pulled up and ready for me.

“I installed a few cameras in the back alley of the dance studio since it’s where I park. It was a precaution I was hoping wouldn’t be useful,” he sounded hollow, and I looked at him, wanting to thank him for his foresight, but the words got lodged in my throat. “It’s Patrick O’Brien.”

The moment he said the words, I watched the man who I thought was in Declan’s custody not even try to hide is face as he snuck up behind Sergio and pistol whipped him in just the right spot. I watched as Zinnia walked out, not paying attention and knowing it was because she was texting me, and my heart sank. I watched the horror on her face as she found Sergio and the way she rooted in panic.

Then I watched, the blood draining from my face, as O’Brien snuck up behind her and injected her with something. The car he carried her too was just out of frame, but I knew then what I needed to do and where I needed to start.

I instructed Tazio to find Frankie, the man who should have been on top of O’Brien while Declan came to retrieve him. While he was gone, I made a call.

The moment Declan answered, I growled, “The man who should be loving your torture chamber at the moment has abducted my woman.”

“Oh shit,” he muttered. He sighed. “I was going to call you today and let you know he was gone, and we haven’t been able to track him down again. We wanted to check a few places in New York he could have slithered to that his brother knew about before we decided he really was gone.”

“I should have been informed the fucking moment he wasn’t where I left his bloodied ass,” I roared.

“You’re right,” his tone was flint and steel. I knew he wasn’t taking my words well and he didn’t exactly owe me an explanation, but I wasn’t thinking clearly. “Your man let him slip out somehow.”

“Yes, and I’ll be dealing with him,” there was death lurking in my tone, and I knew he’d hear it. “If he left New York, do you know where he’d be in Boston? Pests always go where they feel most comfortable.”

There were muffled words on the other side of the phone before Declan spoke to me, “There are a few places we can check again. Now that he believes I think he’s in New York, he might be stupid enough to go back to Boston.”

“I’m coming up. He’s my kill now. I will rescue my woman and if you get in my way, I’ll rain hell down on you as well.”

I didn’t wait for his response; I ended the call just as Tazio led Frankie into my office. My eyes were on fire with how hard I stared at Frankie. He looked like he would keel over and take his last breath without any help from me.

My voice was cold and hard, “Why did you not call and inform anyone that Patrick O’Brien got away?”

He shifted from foot to foot, and I have my answer. Fear. It was fucking fear. I gripped the gun underneath my desk, one of the few things I didn’t destroy while on my rampage. With chaos surrounding me and my heart ripping from my chest, I pulled the gun free, aimed, and fired.

He dropped, the bullet piercing his skull right between his eyes. I don’t relish death, but when I have to hand it out, I’m quick about it. It was the only mercy I was willing to give a man who let his fear rule him instead of his loyalty.

We are only as good as the information we have, and Frankie left me unprepared. He might as well have painted a target on Zinnia’s back. He might as well have handed him over to the man who now knew not only who I was and who Zinnia was to me, but that I was probably handing him over to Declan.

I should have detained him, but my man should have also done his fucking job. I was pissed and my body was not big enough to hold all of it.

My gun swept across the room, and I took aim at Sergio. He looked at me with understanding in his eyes. He wasn’t going to fight for his life, he wasn’t going to beg for it or make excuses.

“I know the consequences to my actions, Elio,” Sergio’s voice was resigned. “I understand you need to kill me for what I have cost you. I only ask that you allow me the opportunity to help you bring your queen home. Then I will kneel at your feet and gladly accept your bullet.”

Lorenzo’s eyes were pained when I glanced at him, and I knew why. His blood was offering up his life to me while owning up to his own mistake. Lorenzo didn’t step in; he didn’t say anything. He understood what I was up against and how far I would go to make it right, even though nothing could, ever, really make it right.

She was taken and I needed to get her back.

Zinnia will never forgive you if you kill him.

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