28. Zeke

28

ZEKE

H ow the hell was I supposed to focus on the game? I’d thought last night’s game was going to be difficult, but tonight Vito would be God knows where planning to take down Benito. I didn’t know if I’d ever see him again.

I was hoping that, like before, I’d be swept away by the excitement of the crowd and the thrill of skating out to their cheers. Hearing the fans go wild would never get old. It was a dream I’d had for so long and every time it felt like the first time.

I’d finished my off-ice warm-up and was about to go put on my gear. Then I heard my phone ringing from inside my locker. Before meeting Vito, I would’ve ignored it. But now, especially knowing what was happening tonight, I couldn’t.

I pulled it out and saw a number I didn’t recognize, but instinct told me I needed to answer it. “Hello.”

“Zeke? It’s Liam.”

“What’s wrong?” I knew immediately Liam wouldn’t be calling me if there wasn’t a serious crisis.

“It’s Vito. He didn’t show up when he was supposed to, and Lucien just got a message that Benito has him.”

“Oh my God. What?”

“Benito’s saying we have to meet his demands if we want to see Vito again.”

“So meet them.”

“It’s not that simple. There’s very little chance Benito will actually let him go.”

“Then I’ll trade myself for him.”

“Absolutely not. Vito would never want that.”

“I need to help find him.”

“Your game is about to start. I just wanted you to know that?—”

“No. Where are you? I’m going to meet you. I don’t care about the fucking game.”

“Zeke, you could lose your place on the team.”

“Vito is more important.” That was as clear to me right now as anything had ever been, as clear as my dream to be in the NHL. I loved playing hockey, but I would give it all up for him. I didn’t know how it had happened, but in that moment, I believed what he’d been telling me. We were meant to be together.

“Zeke, he doesn’t want you in danger.”

“I’ll go looking for him on my own if you don’t tell me where you are. Wouldn’t you do the same for Val?”

Liam started to answer, but his words were cut off by a voice I didn’t recognize. “This is Joe, I’m Devil’s husband. Meet us by Entrance D.”

“You got it.”

I slammed my locker shut, grabbed my bag, then found Johnson.

“There’s a family emergency; it’s serious. I’ve got to go.”

“What do you mean go?”

“I mean I’m leaving. I won’t be here for the game.”

“You can’t leave.”

“I don’t have a choice. He could die.”

“Who? What’s going on?”

I ignored him and ran. I exited as soon as I could and made my way in the dark around the edge of the arena until I saw Liam waving at me from an SUV. I pulled open the back door and hopped in.

“This is Joe,” Liam said, gesturing to the man in the driver’s seat. He looked almost as scary was the rest of the Marchesis.

“And this is Peter.” Liam indicated the man I was sharing the back seat with.

“Nice to meet you,” he said. No wonder Lucien was ridiculously protective of his husband. Peter was unbelievably beautiful, one of those people you couldn’t help but stare at. “I would say it would be better to meet under other circumstances, but these are the sort of circumstances we’re involved in so much of the time.”

Great. “So this is what it’s always going to be like?”

“It sure as hell is,” Joe said. “I take it that means you’re not sending Vito packing after we save him?”

“Fuck, no, he’s mine.”

Joe smiled. “Then I’m glad you’ve joined us.”

I looked out my window at the arena as we took off and wondered if I’d ever be back inside. I hoped I hadn’t ruined everything I’d worked for, but if I had, I’d made the right decision. I’d chosen the man I’d fallen in love with over my job. I couldn’t believe that just days ago I thought there was no way for us to truly be together. I’d thought it was more important to keep my reputation pristine. None of that mattered now. What mattered was the man who’d risked his life to protect me. I prayed he was alive and that we would find him in time.

“Tell me everything you know,” I said as we sped out of the arena parking lot.

“Vito was supposed to gather back at Dom’s house. Lucien sent Benito a demand to meet us to discuss what he was doing in the city. We expected him to come ready to fight and bring his allies. We worked out how we needed to be positioned around the meeting location so that we’d be able to ambush them. But Vito didn’t turn up and he didn’t answer his phone. Then we received a message from Benito saying he had him.”

“How did this happen?”

“We don’t know, but we’re doing everything we can to find him.”

Peter laid a hand on my arm. “I know you’re scared. I’ve been through this, and it’s a nightmare. I told them we had to let you know what was happening. I insisted I be the one to save Lucien when he had been captured. I would’ve lost my mind if I hadn’t been allowed to.”

I nodded. “That’s how I feel. Hockey has always been the most important thing in my life, but nothing matters more than finding Vito.”

“You can have both,” Joe said. “We’re going to fix this.”

“Damn right we are,” Liam agreed.

We had to. “Where are we headed?”

“Vito’s apartment.”

“Where’s everyone else?”

“Lucien and Dom are coordinating things from Dom’s house. Devil and Angelo are at the location where we told Benito to meet us, in case he shows up there. Val is tracking down one of Benito’s top allies. He intends to get any information he can out of the man.”

Liam whistled. “I wouldn’t want to be whoever that man is. Benito has his brother; he’s not going to hold anything back.”

“None of us are,” Joe said.

“You know Vito worries he doesn’t mean as much to the family as Val does.”

Liam nodded. “I’ve tried to tell him it’s not true, but he doesn’t listen.”

“Listening isn’t a Marchesi’s strong point,” Joe said.

Peter huffed. “That’s for damn sure.”

We didn’t find anything out of place at Vito’s apartment. It didn’t look like he’d been taken from there.

“Let’s go look for his SUV,” Joe suggested.

We found it parked in his assigned spot. I hurried over to the car, hoping to find something, anything to give us a clue where he’d gone before Benito had taken him.

I shivered as I peered into the vehicle’s windows. It had gotten a hell of a lot colder than it was when I left for the game. Suddenly, I remembered. “My jacket.”

“What about it,” Joe asked, “What difference does that make right now?”

“I left it in the SUV, but it’s gone. What if he took it with him?”

“Why would that matter?”

“There’s a tracker in the pocket. He put it in there when he was stalking me. He probably thinks I took it out, but I never did.”

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Joe said. “He’s as bad as Devil.”

Peter snorted. “That’s saying a lot.”

“Vito is a fucking hot mess,” Liam said.

“And he could die if we don’t find him.”

Liam laid a hand on my arm. “We love him no matter how crazy he is, and we’re going to find him.”

“Damn right we are. Joe, if you could get access to the tracker somehow, we might be able to find him if he took it with him.”

Joe nodded. “We’ll do our best. Everyone back to my car.”

“Aren’t we going to keep looking for Vito?”

“Yes, but it’s bad enough that I brought all of you here. Lucien, Val, and Vito will all murder me—maybe one at a time with somebody bringing me back to life in between—if anything happens to you. We’re going to Dom’s house.”

I could tell from Joe’s tone that it wasn’t going to help to argue, but I still tried. “We need to move as fast as we can. We don’t know how long Benito will keep him alive.”

“He said we had until midnight, so we’ve got several hours at least unless….”

Unless he’s already dead. I prayed that wasn’t true. How could I have found something so wonderful and lost it so fast?