ANGELO

Chapter 35

ANGELO

"Candi asked me if I would kill you if Bianca needed me to." I smirk at Salvatore, who is sharing the back seat of the SUV with me.

He left his at the club when we went to lunch after making sure the women were safely tucked away in the manager's office.

"The fuck. Bianca loves me."

"That's why I felt safe telling her yes ."

"You asshole. I bet you meant it too." Salvatore doesn't sound too broken up by the prospect.

"I did."

"Good. Bianca deserves a friend who watches out for her like that and Candi deserves a man who would make that promise."

"Fuck, listen to you sounding all philosophical."

Salvatore shrugs, unembarrassed by his feelings.

Feelings I would have said he didn't have before he met Bianca. Just like me.

Sure, he showed more affection for his mom and sister, but at the end of the day, Salvatore was capo first, son and brother second. With Bianca, he is husband first, everything else comes after.

It's the way it has to be when you meet your soulmate.

At the club, we find Pietro in the main club area surveilling from one corner. Pitiful Princess doesn't open until later, so the only people around are staff. Derian is in the hall outside the manager's office, looking frosty.

He nods to me and Salvatore and steps back from the office door.

Salvatore shoves it open. "Hey, Candi I hear Death promi…" With a wordless shout, Salvatore rushes forward.

I'm right on his heels.

At first glance, what I see makes no sense to me. Bianca is slumped over the desk, unmoving. And Candi is nowhere to be seen.

Where is she? Did she go into the bathroom to get something to help Salvatore's wife? Why not call Derian in to help?

I rush to the attached bathroom and fling open the door, but there's no one inside the small space.

Coming out, I see that Derian has the door to a storage closet open. "No one's in here, boss."

"Candi!" I yell loud enough to be heard out in the main club.

There's no answer. Grabbing my second by his throat, I throw him up against the wall. "Where is my soul?"

"She was in here, boss," he chokes out. "I never took my eyes off the hall."

"How the fuck is that possible?"

Derian can't answer. My hold on his throat is too tight.

Releasing him, I step back trying to think, but the thoughts in my brain are spinning like chopper blades.

"She didn't come out, Death. That door didn't open," Derian croaks out as he scoots around the desk to look underneath like maybe Candi is hiding there.

Salvatore shoved everything off the desk and laid his wife on top in the few seconds it took me to check the bathroom.

His fingers are on her pulse at her wrist. "It's sluggish."

Fuck. What the hell is going on?

He lifts her eyelids.

"What's wrong with Mrs. De Luca?" Derian asks.

Salvatore lifts Bianca's eyelids and curses. "She's been drugged."

"I called medical." Pietro steps into the room. "ETA seven minutes."

Salvatore doesn't answer. He's trying to get his wife to respond, but she's out for the count. Not dead though.

And not fucking missing.

The same cook who made our meal made the one now strewn all over the floor around the desk. "The food wasn't drugged."

What chills me is how much of the food there is. Whatever happened occurred soon after the ladies sat down to eat lunch.

"What about the bottle of wine?" Derian points to a bottle of Candi's favorite Moscato.

It hits a discordant note in the already cacophonous absence of mia amate . Candi doesn't drink when she and Bianca get together because she has to be ready to dance. Not tonight though.

Maybe they ordered a bottle of wine to celebrate.

"Who served it to them?" I demand at the same time as Salvatore asks that question.

"Nina brought it in," Derian answers grimly. "She said the capo called and ordered it for Mrs. De Luca."

Spiders crawl up my spine like they used to when I knew the enemy had a bead on me. "Send someone to pick her up."

Salvatore makes the same order of Pietro simultaneously. Again.

I look at him.

He stares right back. "You find your woman. I'll take care of Nina."

I jerk my head in acknowledgment and grab my phone, going immediately to the app for Candi's tracker.

As soon as Bianca made sure all the dancers got medical and dental insurance through the club, Candi scheduled herself a cleaning appointment with the dentist she'd gone to while on the state's insurance as a foster child.

When I found that out, I bribed her dentist to tell her she had the beginning of a cavity, and that if she got it fixed then to prevent further tooth decay, it would cost less. Instead of fixing a cavity the dentist implanted a tracking device in her tooth.

Until I installed the cameras in her apartment, I spent a lot of time watching the little dot that showed her location.

It gave me peace. Now it keeps me sane.

I will not lose my soul .

She's northeast of New York, in Massachusetts, but nowhere near Boston. The good news is that the dot indicating her location is stationary. Her kidnappers had to have used a helicopter to be there this quickly.

"Assemble a team and have them meet us on the roof of the Oscuro building in fifteen minutes," I order Derian.

I text Mario a Code Red alert for Mira and Cookie's protection. He'll make sure they get to one of the house's saferooms and stay there until I bring Candi home.

Then I call Severu.

He picks up on the first ring. "Salvatore texted Nerissa. What do you need?"

"The ten-person helicopter ready to fly in fifteen minutes. This is a Code Red, Severu. Get Catalina and your mom to the saferoom and stay there with them."

"Their security teams are already on it."

When we arrive on the roof of the Oscuro Building, I'm not surprised to find my boss waiting. I'm shaking my head at him before I realize that Miceli is already on the helicopter.

"You are the fucking godfather, Severu. This whole thing is about getting to you through me." Because there's no question in my mind who is responsible for Candi's disappearance.

My mother working on behalf of my grandfather.

They think they'll use Candi for leverage.

But what they've really done is bring down the wrath of Death on their heads and everyone involved with helping them.

I am Death and I have no mercy for my enemies.

"You are family, Angelo and that means Candi is too." Severu jumps into the helicopter and jerks his thumb for me to follow. "You're fucking right, she was kidnapped to get at me and I'll be there to break the necks of the men who took her."

Severu gives the pilot the signal to go and the helicopter lifts off the roof.

"Coms on," I tell my team and then reach my hand out toward Severu and Miceli. "Give me your phones to activate our com channel."

After that's done, Severu says, "Our intel shows a vacation home near Plainville owned by one of Barone's business associates."

My phone pings with the address and I add it to Candi's tracker app.

Bingo. "That's our target." I check my other messages and forward the info on our secure channel. "There are twelve Barone soldiers total. Six flew in with Perla and the don. Six arrived two days prior."

Which means she was planning this kidnapping before she called me on Saturday night. She saw Candi as leverage before I told the world she was mine.

"Domenico says there are four private security guards assigned to the house," Severu says.

I nod my acknowledgment and tell my men, "Study the pictures I sent."

"Why?" Miceli asks.

"We don't kill civilians," Derian answers while I read through the other information our team has gathered. "The private security team didn't sign on for war with the mafia. They're there to protect some rich man's property."

"We incapacitate and warn. If they cross our paths again, they get no mercy." I don't look up from the glowing dot that represents my woman.

"Incapacitation presents more of a challenge," Miceli says with relish.

Not going to lie. That's one of the reasons we have the rule. It makes things more interesting.

Suddenly, Right Place, Wrong Time by Dr. John starts playing in my earbud. I look up and Miceli is grinning.

"Let's do this." Derian slams his fist against his chest.

I flip my knife up toward the ceiling of the helicopter and catch it before hitting my chest with the fist gripping it. "The Sicilians die."

My men shout sì la morte in unison.

Yes, Death .

"I want a saying like that for my men," Miceli complains. " Sì don isn't as cool."

He might be joking, but the deadly look in the don's eyes says he's ready to kill some Sicilian soldiers.

Good. Because tonight, twelve of them die with their don. But not their dona. I still have plans for Perla.

She will be my grandfather's downfall and after tonight, they both deserve nothing less.