Chapter 33

It wasn't hard to find her. Wasn't hard to get a man on her, a contact Lucio knows in Florida. But what he relayed to me hurt. That part was hard.

She'd gone right back to work. Then she and her friend had gone out and gotten wasted together. She picked up her life and puzzled it right back together and carried on as if nothing had happened between us at all.

And the burning ache of it all is killing me.

"So, you were at my harbor and you threatened my security guard, anything else I should know about?" Lucio asks as I come back to reality from the video text I'd just received of Brynne and her friend in a dimly lit bar.

She's leaned in close, the both of them giggling, and her eyes are teeming with life.

Even though I want her to be happy, something in me is dying. The last part of me I had that gave me humanity.

"No, you about covered it. Oh, no, I'm using your contact in Florida to find Brynne. Well, he found her, so… now that's it."

Lucio's eyes grow heavy with sadness, and he sits behind his desk.

"So, that's what's happening. You're not spiraling because of Enzo; you're spiraling because something happened with Brynne."

I grit my teeth. "I'm fine."

He scoffs. "No, you're not, and I understand why you're not. I've never seen you look at anyone the way you looked at her. You should find her and drag her ass back here. If you don't, I will."

I look back down at the truth, splayed on the fucking glass screen of my iPhone. She's as I wanted. She's happy. But I can't deny how fucking sad it is that she's happy without me.

Which, part of me knows that's insane to even think. I stole her, ripped her away from the world. Her mother thought she was dead, and she almost died trying to escape me. Why would she want to stay with me?

I knew I was fucked up, but I never realized how delusional I was until she left.

I believed her. I truly thought the attraction between us was real and that she felt the same fucking way I did.

Do.

"I have to love her enough to let her go," I say aloud, and my brother gasps.

I look up at him when he doesn't reply. "What?"

"I'm sorry. I've just never heard you utter the term. Felt strange to hear."

"Felt strange to fucking say it," I admit.

I close my phone and shove it in my pocket, grabbing and downing the drink he'd poured me.

"So, what were you poking around the docks for?" he asks, and even though it's said nonchalantly, there's a veiled meaning behind the words.

I somehow forgot my brother had seen the mask I wore to stalk through the night before and would know it was me right off when the security officer described it.

"What are you doing at the docks that only requires security one week a month? The rest of the month is covered? What does that mean?" I eye him narrowly.

"Leave this be, Ardesia."

"Why?"

"Because. Some things are best left to the imagination. The things I've had to do to keep this family going aren't something I'm proud of. Just know that I'm careful, and it's gotten us back on track."

My brow lifts.

"While I was sick, things didn't run well. Enzo ran this family nearly into the fucking ground with the way he stepped up and helped. You were gone, and I couldn't bear to ask you to come back. I just couldn't."

A knife that's already sticking out of me twists deeper.

"I'm sorry, I truly am…"

He lifts his hand and shakes his head, telling me the apology isn't necessary. "The way we did business had to change, so I decided, and it's final."

He's being cryptic for a reason, and even though I'm dying to know the reason, I know better than to ask.

When Lucio doesn't want to tell you something, he's like a fucking iron vault.

"Well, alright then." I stand and set my empty glass down. "I need a fucking drink stiffer than this, or I need to stab someone. Either way, I've got to get out of here."

He chuckles but nods. "Do we understand one another?"

I stop, looking back at my brother whom I've known my entire life, and for a split second, when he thinks I'm not paying full attention, a slip of someone else tracks across his face. I don't know this version of him, and it only solidifies the need for me to find out what the fuck he's doing down at the docks.

"We understand one another," I echo, and his smile lifts.

"Let me know if you want me to have someone go get Brynne for you. Easy as one phone call."

I nod, knowing full well if I want her back, the hands that'll drag her home are my own.

I get into the car, pull out a burner from my glove box, and dial Dante's number.

"Boss?"

"Yup. We're going to need to do a little recon. You up for something off the books?"

He hisses. "You're speaking my fucking language."

"This never happened, Dante."

"What didn't?" he counters, and I smile.

At least there's one motherfucker on my team. I know he'll be loyal because he feels so shitty about what he helped Brynne do. He fears the reaper is coming for his life, for taking his queen, and it's good to make your prey squirm a little before you kill them.

Fear has a way of flavoring the meat.

* * *

The docks aren'tas they were a week ago. No, there's a bustling energy in the air. Employees skitter back and forth and two ships are waiting to dock and offload more shipping containers.

Dante and I lie on the roof of the building, having scaled the wall on the outer perimeter, where I'd disabled a camera the other night.

"What are we looking for?" Dante whispers, and I put my binoculars down and rub my face.

"I don't honestly know, Dante. I only know something's not right. Lucio is up to something that has the Bianchis involved.

More bloodshed is going to ensue if I don't figure out what the hell is going on.

"Are you sure this is what you should be focused on, Boss?" he counters, and I growl softly.

"What do you mean?"

His eyes turn back, pressing against his binoculars to look down from our rooftop. "I only mean I'm confused about why you're choosing to do this now. You have a lot going on. You should take some time to…"

"To, what?" I cut him off. "To heal from the very thing you ripped from my grasp, Dante?"

His binoculars drop to the roof, and he hangs his head, sighing heavily before looking at me. "I am sorry, Boss."

I lift off my stomach onto my haunches. This isn't what I need right now. This isn't what I want to talk about or deal with. Am I focusing on something else so as not to drive myself crazy with thoughts of her? Sure. It's possible. But I have to deal with it my way, and I still need to know why those men were sent, and who the fuck was in her camp.

"Why'd you do it, Dante?" I ask. I can't hide the heavy emotion in my voice.

He turns over on his back, eyes taking in the cloudy night sky above us. "You should've seen her face when I told her about Anna. It was like her worst fears had been realized. She already knew she was somewhere dangerous, but my wounds confirmed the facts for her. I could see she was going to run, Boss. I wanted her to do it safely. I couldn't have her out there while this shit was going on."

I hang my head. It's an admirable answer, even if I want to un-holster my gun and shoot him in the fucking kneecap. He'd done me a favor in getting her home safe and sound.

Where she belongs.

I don't say another word, only lay back down and resume my watching.

"We going to do this all night?" Dante finally asks, breaking the ringing silence between us.

I shake my head. "No. We're going to wait for this place to die down, and then we're going to find out what the fuck is in those containers."

I underestimated my brother's operation because it took until nearly dawn for the activity to die down. All that remains are soldiers on the lookout with rifles, guarding the containers like there are precious stones in them.

Dante and I peek around the corner of the building.

"We're going to have to take down men we've known our whole lives, Dante." My eyes are trained on him, looking for any flinch in his resolve.

He nods. "I know, Boss. But I have to say, I agree with you. Something's going on. Something shady."

I pull my mask down, and so does he. We move through the waning darkness like the stealthy men we are, making barely a sound. The first two soldiers go down easily. But the last one gives me a fight.

I hear a shot ring out as Dante subdues men, one after the other, while I tango with the massive beast of a man standing between one of the new containers.

"You don't want to do this," he tells me, squaring off and holding his rifle like the grunt he is.

"Don't I?"

He lifts his weapon, and I jump to the side, letting off one shot that cracks through the night air and finds its way home through his hand.

"Fuck!" he shouts, right before Dante knocks him over the head with the butt of his gun.

"That all of them?" I ask.

He nods.

Looking toward the container, we both take a steadying breath.

"What are we going to do when we find out what's inside that?"

I shrug.

So we stand and take a moment to gather ourselves. The Riccis have always dealt with protection and matters that would build our city up. Sure, we had a toe in the drug game, but it was to keep the dirty shit out of our neighborhoods. Other families can do what they want. We always aim to be a cut above.

"Alright," I finally say, "open it."

Dante shoots the lock on the door and slides the container open. The door shudders as it opens, and I hear gasps ring out.

Reaching for my Maglite from my utility belt, I click it on and run it over the faces of many women who are huddled together on the back wall.

"Boss, what the fuck is this?" Dante says shakily.

The smell of shit and piss is overwhelming, and there's food randomly stacked in the corner nearest the door.

I lift my arm over my face as I take it all in.

"I don't fucking know."

We don't deal in flesh. We never have. None of the five do that I know of. We keep this city clean of the shit that goes on in other states. But these are our men. The lion's crest tattoos on their hands had marked them as such.

Made men, working for my brother.

"What do we do?" Dante asks, and I let the sobbing of at least twenty or more women seep into my brain, so I try to think of what the next step is.

"Only thing we can do."

He nods knowingly.

"Make sure they're all dead and throw them in the fucking water," I order, flinging my hand toward the men lying scattered across the ground.

"On it, Boss."

* * *

We're perchedon the roof as the police flood the docks, and we stay all day as they empty ten containers of women who'd likely been kidnapped and transported here.

We don't sleep, eat, or drink. We don't even move to stand until the last car clears out, and the lot is locked away as evidence.

My brother won't go down for this, Dante, and I both know it. He's running it so deeply underground that only a member of the five would know what's going on and only if they got wind of something suspicious. Enzo hadn't known a damn thing, but he'd lead them on a goose chase.

So, it's likely they don't know what's going on and I've stopped it in its tracks.

"We did the right thing, Boss, but what's going to keep Lucio from just accepting more shipments next week? Putting more men on this?"

"I am, Dante. I am what's going to stop him."

A sharp inhale comes from Dante, but no words.

Because there are none.

Suddenly, I'm thankful Brynne is home safe because things are about to get bloodier than I ever thought they would.