Page 81 of The Prince of Darkness

I ignore the insults, my back against the door. With one hand I feel for the handle while attempting to keep him at bay with my other. It doesn’t budge. They must have the child safety lock engaged.

Fred pushes forward, ignoring my swats as he lays over me, grabbing my wrists in his hands. With a hard yank he brings them together, holding them tightly in one fist.

I kick my legs, shoving my knees and feet wherever I can, hoping to get him in the balls.

“Knock her out,” the driver says with nonchalance.

Before I can argue, Fred reaches into the back pocket of the passenger seat. I barely get a glimpse of something black before pain explodes in my temple and everything goes dark.

Vicente

ChapterThirty-Three

Fueled by nothing but raging anger and fiery wrath, I burst through the restaurant door, marching by confused and worried guests who are eating their dinner. My face has to look furious, because by the expressions on the patrons’ faces, they look downright petrified.

I ignore them, going straight to the manager's office. In the hall are two men acting as bodyguards. They stand up straight when they see me heading toward them.

“I swear to whatever god you believe in that I will shoot up this whole damn place if you don’t let me talk to Donati,” I say, pulling out my gun. “That would probably be bad for business.”

One of the guys—the older of the two who’s already balding, speaks first. “Does he know you’re coming?”

“He’ll know in about three seconds,” I say, cocking the gun and aiming it at the office door.”

The dark-haired man curses in Italian. “Hold on.”

He knocks on the door. “Mr. Donati, there’s someone here to see you. It’s Moreno.”

It doesn’t take long before the door opens and Donati stares at me with horrified confusion. “What the fuck are you doing? Put that thing away before the customers see.”

“I need to talk to you.”

He waves me in. “Come on, come on.”

Before the door has time to click behind me, I’m speaking. “Where the fuck is Frederico?”

He sighs, running his hands through his thin hair. “I don’t know. He’s MIA.”

“How is he fucking MIA?” I ask, slamming my fists on his desk.

“Jesus Christ, Moreno. I don’t fucking know. As soon as you left my office on Saturday, I had one of my guys call him. He answered and was on a job with one of my other guys. Said he’d call him back. When I called him, he ignored it. Probably shit his pants, because I don’t normally make calls.”

“He got scared.”

Donati shrugs. “When I had someone else reach out, it went straight to voicemail, and it did that through Sunday. I’ve had people on the streets looking for him. Someone told me he had been hanging out with this low-level thug. Someone who’d barely be an associate. We found out where he lives but he’s not there. Whatever they’re up to, they’re in on it together.”

I slam my hand on the desk again. “Fuck!” I stand up straight, trying to control my breathing. “She didn’t show up to work today, Donati. Her phone is off, and she’s not in her apartment. He fucking has her!”

Donati stands up and goes to the door. He quietly speaks to the men outside before coming back into the office.

“Moreno, I’ve got people on it. We’ll find her.”

“No, fuck that! This is all your fault. You put her in danger,” I say, using my gun to point at him. “I’d never let this happen, Donati. If you wouldn’t have sent me away, there wouldn’t have been a chance in hell that anyone would take her from me. Nobody would get close. And now she’s gone, and at the hands of one of your own. What kind of family are you running here, huh? If something happens to her, I want you to always remember it’s because of you, and if I find her, because trust me, if anyone does it’ll be me, there’s nothing in this fucking world that’ll make me give her up. Not you and not your threats. I will kill every single person in your family. I will burn every building you own to the fucking ground, and then I will slowly and painfully take your life from you. So do not fuck with me. We made our deal, but she’s no longer a part of it. She’s mine. She’s in this life now, but at least I know I can protect her.”

“Fucking Christ, Moreno!” he yells, but I’m already out the door.

I hide my gun and leave the restaurant. I have people to hurt and places to burn.

* * *

---