Page 244 of The Consequences of Love and Vengeance

“Not his daughter?” Luca asks for clarification.

“Mom had an affair. CC isn’t his, and I’m worried he knows that. So that’s why Summers is staying close to her.”

Luca walks toward us at a slow pace and then finally sits down in the chair next to me.

“What do you think he’ll do if he learns the truth?”

“You really want me to verbalize that answer?” Drago questions.

Luca’s face hardens, matching his brother’s. “Then we don’t let him.”

“You can’t tell our sister either.” Drago’s head shakes from side to side. “She’s already terrified of him. Knowing the truth would only make her fear mount up more, and I won’t do that to her.”

Luca nods. “And neither will I.” His brown eyes turn to me. “What are you doing to get my nephew back?”

“There is nothing we can do tonight. The courthouse is closed. We wait on Justin, but if he doesn’t get anywhere with his buddy, then I’m going to see Tom. I don’t care what strings he has to pull. He knows a lot of people. If I need to, I’ll call my dad too. He has friends in high places.”

“Vincent Acerbi doesn’t have friends, but even people in high places are scared of him,” Drago tells us both.

If we can’t have someone pull strings in our favor, then what the hell are we going to do? How are we going to get Gabriel back safely?

CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR

BRIANNA

Justin didn’t get anywhere with whoever he contacted who had an in with the judge. I met him for coffee down in the lobby of headquarters half an hour ago. The judge isn’t changing his order, and he isn’t seeing anyone about the case until a hearing is set for custody.

I thought that was what I’d already done. Where was Drago’s father when I requested Gabriel to be placed with me? He wasn’t here. He didn’t pipe up then, so why now? What does he want? That’s the million-dollar question. Although, Drago tells us he wants what he’s always wanted. His oldest son to man up and step into his father’s shoes. He wants him to dirty his hands and become a criminal doing illegal shit that isn’t Drago.

“Detective!” he yells, his face beet red and pissed. “You will calm yourself, or I’ll be forced to reprimand you. And I can assure you, you do not want that.” After Justin had to leave for an internal affairs meeting at the precinct in south LA, I marched upstairs and stormed into Tom’s office without knocking or even stopping to ask Becky if I could go in. I didn’t care.

“Goddammit, Tom!” I yell at him. “You don’t get it. He has my son. He has Gabriel, and I have to do something. I can’t sit here. I can’t allow him to hurt him or use him in whatever it is he’s trying to prove to Drago. He’s a baby. An innocent life that got caught up in shit he didn’t ask to be a part of.”

My chest tightens, feeling like a boa constrictor is slowly coiling around me, cutting off my airway. Fighting the need to gasp for air, I turn my back on my boss ready to rip his office apart.

“I understand a hell of a lot more than you realize, Bri.” His voice softens, sounding defeated and tired.

There’s a moment of silence where the rumble of the older air conditioning unit coming through the vent above our heads is the only sound that penetrates my ears.

He’s wrong. He doesn’t understand what I’m going through, what I’m feeling.

“You don’t have a son or daughter, Tom, so no offense, but you don’t have a clue what’s going through my head right now.”Does anyone?It’s been less than twenty-four hours, but I feel like I’m going insane. I don’t know where he is or if anyone is harming him.

My eyes cut to my left, watching as Tom glides around me, stopping directly in front of me, only a couple of feet remaining between us.

“That’s where you’re wrong. So, fucking wrong.” He doesn’t say more until my head tilts, looking into his brown eyes. Sadness and fear stare back at me, matching the emotions swimming inside of mine. “I’ve spent the last twenty-one years feeling every single thing you are right now. Only in my case as the years multiply so does that fear.”

What is that supposed to mean?

He doesn’t have kids. It’s a little-known fact that he’s never wanted them with his wife, which is why he had a vasectomy a few years back. I remember him candidly mentioning some time ago that he got married in his early fifties and was too far past his prime to deal with ankle biters. There was also the time when he said he was married more so to his job than to his wife, so it was pointless bringing a life intohisworld.

“I’m not trying to be disrespectful here, but—”

“But you are because you aren’t hearing me,” he says, cutting me off. “You think my vendetta against Vincent Acerbi is personal? You bet your ass it’s personal.” He sighs heavily, his breath fanning my face and smelling of more than just the average cup of Joe.

Is he drinking on the job?This astounds me and momentarily takes my attention away from what he’s telling me.

He steps backward, falling down onto the couch behind him, the leather crunching under his weight.

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