Page 33 of Savage Hearts

Interrupting the two men, I cleared my throat, making their gazes turn toward me.

“I don’t believe she’s dead. One of Manuel’s men mentioned something to me that made no sense.”

“What?” Alex, the man whose name I now knew, spat at me.

“He said Manuel was going to grab the other whore and make an example out of her. If he hasn’t sent you her body, then he’s sold her. That’s what he does.”

“Fuck.” Massimo pushed his hand through his hair. “I’m not sure that’s any better.”

“Maybe not, but it buys us time to locate her.”

“Antonio, call Alec. Get him to dig into the skin trade Manuel runs.”

“We can help.” A honey-skinned man stepped forward. “Cristian and Katya have been digging into sex slavery and have cultivated several contacts.”

Massimo turned toward the man. “Do it. Whatever you need is yours.”

“Matais.” The man I assumed was Cristian turned to face the one who’d spoken. “I’ll go back to the hotel and bring Katya up to speed.”

“She’s here?” Massimo smirked at him.

Matais shrugged, a smile covering his face. “All the wives are here. They felt they owed to be here for your women as they were for them.”

“Besides.” The third man stepped beside Matais. “Everly and Ariel can help. With Everly knowing how they transport the women, and Ariel’s knowledge in offshore accounts, she can help your tech man do more digging.”

“Damn.” Vincenzo shook his head. “I guess that leaves me and Miguel to shake down our contacts here in Vegas.”

My head turned to take in the man who stood in the darkened corner with his arms across his chest. He looked scary as fuck… but I was just as scary. As he locked his sights on mine, I held his gaze, refusing to look away. With a dip of his chin, he focused back on the men in the room.

“Who the fuck are you?” Filippo Bianchi glanced at Miguel Angel, who simply ignored him. It was Giacomo, the head of the Anastasis, who spoke.

“Filippo, Miguel is a powerful man in his own right as the head of the Sureños. He eliminated a threat to my family once and has earned a place as an alliance to this household. You will respect him, or I will let him show you what he is capable of.”

The sound of the basement door slamming open had us all jumping to our feet. If I wasn’t completely in love with Celestina, the woman staring at us with a look of complete fear might have caught my eye.

“Sofia… what is it?”

“You… ” She took a deep breath. “It’s Celestina… something’s wrong.”

I moved before anyone reacted, my feet carrying me like a formula-one car racing to the finish line, barely touching the steps to the bottom.

“Beckett.” A woman whose name I couldn’t remember ran toward me, but my eyes were riveted to Catarina, who was trying to pry open the bathroom door with a knife.

“Please… something’s wrong.”

I ran toward her and grabbed the knob. “Celestina, baby?” I called out, rattling the door. “What happened?”

“She lost it… I think she’s been hiding the guilt for everything, and it came to a head. It’s my fault.” Tears burned down her cheeks. “I mentioned Alex, and it was like a bomb going off inside her. She said she didn’t deserve to live… now she’s…”

“Come here.” A man grabbed her, tugging him into her arms.

Not waiting, I stepped back and kicked open the door. My heart bottomed out at the sight of Celestina on the floor, slumped over.

“Fuck.” I rushed inside and spotted the empty pill bottle. “How long?” Catarina glanced over, her eyes widening with shock. “Catarina… how long?”

“Maybe thirty minutes.” She pulled free of the man’s arms and met me at the entrance. “Get her out here.”

I carried her lifeless body out to the living room. I barely registered the others moving the children into another room as I laid her down on the floor.

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