Chapter Eighteen

~ Luca ~

I had lived in New York for several years as a child, even though I'd been born in Italy. We had moved there the same year I'd met Nico. I'd been so intent on the cute little blond I had met to ever be concerned with going to some fancy French Restaurant, even though I had heard of the place even at that young age.

As we walked into the place, I was immediately filled with the overwhelming feeling that I was glad I had been too young to come here.

This restaurant was insane.

Crystal chandeliers, white tablecloths, wine glasses, and waiters dressed almost as fancy as the customers. As rich as I was, I felt out of place.

I just hoped the food was good.

We were shown to a private dining area as soon as we walked through the door. I could feel the stares of the other patrons as we walked through the main room to the VIP area. I didn't know if it was due to the small crowd we created or the powerful stature of the men walking with me.

I didn't care as long as the stares didn't affect Nico. The second Nico got upset, I was going to start punching people.

Luckily, he seemed oblivious to them.

I kept my hand in the low of Nico's back as I escorted him through the room. I felt a little better knowing Vinnie and Jake were doing the same with their husbands.

We were all overprotective assholes.

Once in the VIP dining room, I took a seat with my back to the wall, facing the entrance just as Vinnie did. We glanced at each other when we sat down, both of us letting out small chuckles.

"What's so funny?" Nico asked.

"Nothing, love. Just a mafia thing."

We did not sit with our backs to the entrance. If someone wanted to come after us, we wanted to see them coming so we could put a bullet between their eyes.

When we were given menus, Nico looked at his and frowned before leaning toward me. "There are no prices on this menu."

"There won't be, Nico. Just choose something that sounds good and don't worry about the price."

"But..."

"But what, baby?"

"I don't want to eat something really expensive," Nico said. "That would be rude since Mr. D'Amato said he was paying."

God, he was adorable.

"Tell you what, you order whatever you want and I'll make sure to help Jake out with the bill. Okay?"

Nico beamed at me before going back to perusing the menu. However, after a few minutes, the frown was back.

"What's wrong, baby?"

"I don't even know what some of this stuff is. What is Coq Au Vin ?"

"Its chicken cooked in red wine with bacon, mushrooms, and onions."

"Oh, that sounds good." He glanced up at me. "What are you having?"

"I think I'm going to have the Boeuf Bourguignon . It's a classic French beef stew made with red wine, pearl onions, mushrooms and bacon."

"Oh, that sounds good, too."

I leaned closer to him. "I'd be happy to share with you."

"Yeah?"

"Of course, cuore mio ."

"Okay." Nico closed his menu and set it aside before turning to talk to Nicky.

I was glad they were making friends. Nicky seemed like a good man for him to befriend. I knew Vinnie was.

When the waiter came, we all put in our orders. Jake also ordered a couple of bottles of wine and extra carafes of water, which I was thankful for. I didn't mind the occasional glass of wine, but I wanted to keep my wits about me the entire time we were in New York.

I'd have wine once we were back in Italy.

I started a conversation with Vinnie and Jake, talking about various businesses that we might have in common, the legal ones anyway.

When Nico tugged on my shirt, I looked down at him.

"I need to use the little boy's room," Nico said.

"Okay." I started to get up, but Nico shook his head. "You can stay and chat with the others. I'll take Stefano with me."

I didn't like it, but we were in a public place. Stefano should be enough to keep him safe. Besides, it would look strange if several of us got up and went to the bathroom at the same time.

I was trying to keep a low profile anyway.

I watched Nico and Stefano leave the room and then turned my attention back to my conversation. When the food came, I glanced toward the doorway again.

My gut twisted.

"Vinnie."

He must have seen the look on my face because he instantly became very serious. "What's wrong?"

"Nico isn't back yet." I wasn't sure how long it had been, but he should have been back by now.

"Go," he said as he stood.

The two of us rushed out of the VIP room and hurried to the bathroom. I tried to hold in my fear as I pushed open the door and stepped inside the bathroom.

"Nico?"

It was a rather large bathroom with four toilet stalls. When I didn't see anyone at the sinks, I started going through each of the stalls. When I reached the last one and pushed the door open, I almost screamed.

"Stefano!" I dropped down next to the unmoving man. Stefano's eyes were wild, darting back and forth, but not a finger moved. "Where's Nico?"

Stefano just continued to look from side to side.

My heart instantly sank.

I raced out of the bathroom and searched the hallway and then several rooms connected to said hallway, including the woman's bathroom.

There was no sign of Nico.

"They have Nico!"

I knew it.

"I think I know what's going on," Vinnie said when I hurried back into the bathroom. He was holding an empty syringe in his hands.

"Nico said his mother shot him up with something that made him paralyzed. He could feel everything, but he couldn't move a single finger."

Just like Stefano.

"It sounds like it might be something like Succinylcholine . They usually use it in surgery, but there are other uses."

"Is there a way to reverse it?"

I needed to know what Stefano knew.

"Let me make a phone call." Vinnie pulled out his cell phone and dialed someone. "Hey, King, I'm at Le Bernardin with Jake and Luca. We've had a little emergency here and we need Spencer. Nico's bodyguard was shot up with something. I suspect Succinylcholine . And Nico is missing."

He nodded a few times before stating, "Okay, we'll see you in a few."

Once he hung up, he said, "We need to get Stefano to King's place. His husband is a doctor and he can treat Stefano. In the meantime, we'll start a search for Nico."

"Wait." I dug into the inside pocket of my suit and pulled out the tablet Jake had given me. When I powered it on and waited, I wanted to scream. It was taking so damn long.

"I'm going to go inform Jake and get someone to take Stefano to King's place." Vinnie started for the door, but then paused and glanced back at me. "We can't make a big stink here. You know that, right? If the restaurant gets wind of someone being kidnapped from here, the police will be called and it will be all over the news. We'll need to take Stefano out through the back door."

I nodded, understanding where Vinnie was coming from. The last thing we wanted was for Nico's kidnapping to be all over the news. We needed to solve this on our own.

While Vinnie hurried out of the room, I turned my attention back to the tablet in my hand. I wanted to run out immediately and search for Nico, but I had to wait and that was killing me.

When the tablet finally loaded, I opened the app. A red dot was slowly moving through the city, moving away from my current location.

I checked the vitals readout on the tablet. The temperature was normal but the heart rate and blood pressure were elevated, and that had me worried.

If they hurt him, they were going to die screaming.

When the door opened, I reached for my gun until I saw Franco rushing into the room with Jake and Fred.

Two other guards hurried in behind them. They lifted Stefano up and carried him out of the room.

"Are they taking him to that doctor friend of Vinnie's?"

"Probably," Jake replied. "We need to find Nico. Do you have that tablet I gave you on you right now?"

I jumped up and hurried over to him, holding out the tablet. "Nico's vitals are crazy. Does that mean they are hurting him?"

Jake took the tablet and tapped a few buttons before shaking his head. "No, I suspect he is incapacitated like Stefano is. It doesn't look like they are hurting him."

That should have been a relief.

It wasn't.

"We need to find him."

The red dot was still moving across the screen.

"They are moving into Brooklyn," Jake said. "We need to call Díaz."

"Alejandro Díaz?" I'd heard that the guy had taken over Brooklyn recently. I'd personally never met him.

Jake nodded. "He's an old frat brother of mine."

Not sure why that was relevant.

Jake pulled out his cell phone after handing me the tablet back. "Alejandro, it's Jake, we have a situation and I need your help."

He must have put it on speaker because I heard a man speaking in with a Spanish accent a moment later.

"What's the issue?"

"I have you on speaker with Luca Sabatino out of Italy. He's an associate of Vinnie's. His husband was just kidnapped out of Le Bernardin where we were all having lunch. Nico has one of my little trackers and it says he is being moved into your territory."

"Is this the man we were all meeting about this evening?" Alejandro asked.

"He is," Jake replied. "We suspect that his parents have him."

"Meet me at my house," Alejandro said. "I'll call the others. I give my permission for you to bring as many guards as you need."

My eyebrows lifted in shock. It was unheard of for one mafia boss to allow another mafia boss to bring more than four guards into their territory under any circumstances.

"We're on our way." Jake hung up and gestured for me to follow him.

I had no problem with that.

Jake sent Fred to pay the bill as we gathered the others and headed for cars. He relayed what Alejandro had said. Vinnie simply nodded. Once we were in the cars, we got on the road and were quickly making our way to Brooklyn.

I clenched my hands, my mind in turmoil. They had taken my reason for living and I was going to make them pay for every second of this agony. If they hurt Nico, or worse, what I would do to them would probably get me the electric chair.

I just didn't care.

Nico was my light, my heart, and my humanity. Without him, nothing else mattered.

I pulled out my cell phone and dialed my grandfather. He needed to know what was going on. " Nonno , Nico's been taken."

Probably a little blunt, but it felt as if my throat was closing up, cutting off my words.

"Taken by who?" my grandfather asked.

I froze.

"Luca?" Vinnie asked. "What's wrong?"

Pretty much everything.

"What if Nico wasn't taken by his parents?" I asked. "What if it was someone else? What if it's the same people that took out the D'Angelo family?"

Vinnie instantly dug out his phone and called someone. He started speaking in a low tone.

" Nonno , I need you to make sure security is tight around the villa."

"Already done, Luca. You just find your boy."

"I will." I wouldn't stop until I found him.

"Do you want me to send you more men?"

"Not at the moment," I replied. "Vinnie has a lot of friends here and they are all helping out. This will probably be over before they could even get into the air."

"Okay, call me as soon as you find him. I'll be waiting near the phone."

"I will."

"If you need anything, just let me know. I have some contacts still."

I hung up with my grandfather and took another look at the tablet. Nico's vitals hadn't changed, and I suppose that was a good thing.

I was still worried sick about him.