27. Alessandro

My hands are shaking, the scabs over my knuckles threaten to tear apart with me constantly flexing my fingers in and out. Fists, in and out, as I fight myself. I can't go after her. I need to let Evelyn go. The danger from our lives, the danger from me, I can't have too close.

Perhaps, when it's all over, I can make that promise to her.

Soft vibrations of my phone in my pocket pull me out of my head, and I hate how much time I lose dreaming of Evelyn, mio dolce.

Fuck.

This is agony. I'm not a masochist in any sense, but purposely driving myself crazy over Evelyn is about as painstaking as it gets. Anger bubbles within me as I answer the phone.

"Alessandro." The voice is familiar and then not, until I let my mind figure out who it is.

"Jenkins?" I ask.

"Yeah."

Every instinct fires across my brain. My pulse races. The booming thuds of my heart beating against my chest drowns everything out until he comes back on the line.

"She's gone."

"What the fuck do you mean, she's gone?" I growl into the phone. There's nothing left to hold me back from unleashing the butcher everyone fears. The wrath on this city will be relentless until I have her in my arms again. I should have never let her go, but in the chasms of my mind, this is my fault. The monster guarding the treasure makes it that much more valuable.

"She was feeling sick after she left your house and I took her to Dr. Bireli's."

I cut him off. "Don't move, I'll be right there."

Every traffic code, law, signal, and sign become optional as I make my way through Manhattan to China Town. Going across the Manhattan Bridge instead of the Brooklyn Bridge gets me closer to Kathleen's offices without fighting ten times the traffic. Thankfully, it's the tail end of rush hour, but I get there in twenty minutes.

Police officers are on the scene and Kathleen's face is red as she clutches her jacket closed.

"Back up, buddy," an officer says, as if I'm an ordinary bystander.

Restraint is hard to come by, but I muster up some to tell him, "My wife was the one taken."

"It's okay, let him through," another officer says.

I join him beside Kathleen, whom I give the once-over. "Are you okay, Kat?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry, Alessandro. I didn't know?—"

I hold my hand up to silence her. "Don't say anything. This isn't your fault. Keys?"

She tosses me the keys to her office as I walk through the lobby of the mostly empty building with purpose. Jenkins is on my heels as we swarm the security desk.

"Bring up footage from right out front over the last three hours," I tell him.

This isn't the first time I'm using this office and it's probably not the last. I command the security here to erase evidence whenever we need someone stitched up after a night of Family business.

"You told me I needed a warrant," the cop beside me argues.

The security guard doesn't move from his post as he pushes a button across the screen. He glances at the officer. "You do. Mr. De Luca is a silent partner."

"De Luca? As in Don Sandro De Luca?" The officer turns to me with fear ripping through his features.

"That's my father, but yes, still hold onto that feeling because I'm a far worse man to piss off. Go out there and get security from the neighboring businesses. I want to see every angle in the next thirty minutes. NOW."

"Yes, sir." The officer is clearly new, because NYPD doesn't normally take orders so easily. I don't bother to give it any more thought as I see a man pull an SUV up to the front door. Evelyn's standing beside Kathleen, never paying attention as the driver gets out and ducks behind the truck.

My oblivious fucking wife is going to be the death of me.

The minute I see him move behind her, I can't see what he does, but she goes limp immediately, and rage surges through me.

"There wasn't any blood, and she didn't make a sound, Alessandro," Jenkins tells me. "I'm sure she was just knocked out."

"You'd better hope and pray that's all it was." The silence after my statement tells him that everyone responsible is going to die if she's hurt. I'm sick of his ineptitude.

We wait for the rest of the footage to come in, hoping for a glimpse of the asshole who took her. What do they want? Who are they? Why not square off with me?

The flash of an unknown number ringing my phone has my skin tingling with anticipation. "Evelyn?"

"No, no, no," the caller says calmly. They're using something to distort their voice. "I need a million dollars for your bride, Mr. De Luca. I'll call you in an hour with the drop-off location."

"Is she hurt? Is she still alive? I need proof of life before you get anything out of me."

"She'll be alive and well if you do as you're told, Mr. De Luca. Now, be a good little boy and get me my money."

The phone cracks under the pressure of my hands squeezing around it. Lorenzo arrives at the scene a few minutes later, taking over for me with the NYPD and soldiers who also pulled up with him. I go upstairs with Kathleen and Jenkins.

"How long was she here?" I ask them.

"An hour and a half, maybe?" Kathleen says. "We talked. I did an ultrasound, took some blood, ran some tests, and rescheduled for a few weeks from now."

"What do you mean, ultrasound? She's pregnant?" My eyes dart between her and Jenkins. Jenkins shrugs, and I turn my attention back to Kathleen.

"Listen, it's still way too early to tell, but it looks like it. She was using an implant in her arm for birth control, but the car accident smashed it into pieces. It's not life-threatening, but I wanted her to come back in to take the fragments out. I don't know how effective birth control is when it breaks inside the body. You need to stay calm."

"I am calm, deathly calm," I tell her, but I'm fuming inside as I pick up the phone to call my father. After explaining the situation, he tells me to get on the phone with Oscar.

"I have your money here, Alessandro. It's best you come and get it," Oz tells me before I can say anything to him.

"I don't have time to come out there. Which closet has the most clothes in it?" I ask him.

I'm not going to speak freely in case NYPD is eavesdropping.

"Those clothes are for special occasions, for Family occasions, not your personal shit. Come get it, Alessandro, because I highly doubt you're going to trust just anyone to handle these, uh, delicates, for your wife."

He hangs up, and I punch a hole in Kathleen's waiting room. I point to Jenkins. "Get to Don Rossi, and have him use whatever connections he has left with the DA to see if we can get some legal help on this without all the questions. I want to know her location within the hour."

Jenkins rushes out of the office, and I turn to Kathleen. "I'll have somebody come fix that in a day or two. I need you out of sight, Kat. Lock these files up and get out of town for a few days. I can have Dimitri set you up with security if you want. I don't know what the guy knows about our relationship, but anyone close to me is at risk."

"I'll head to Kings as soon as I lock up here. Don't worry about it, Alessandro. It's going to work out."

"Really? Alive or dead, the amount of blood I'm about to shed over this gives me very little faith in anything working out. The monster doesn't get to live, Kathleen."

"Sure, he does. The world is made up of monsters, some scarier than others. Just tell me you're going to hang around for Evelyn and the baby."

"Not you too." I shake my head. "Don't make a liar out of me. I'll try, and that's the best I can do."

She leaves it at that, and I find my way out of the building and into the car where I make the trek out to Staten Island. By the time I get to Oz's place, he's sitting in the driveway in front of his stupid gold statue and smiling.

"What the fuck do you find so amusing?" I ask him as I load the money into the back seat.

"You let pussy get the best of you, Alessandro. I never thought I'd see the day when the Butcher of Howard Beach was more interested in slaughtering pussy than his enemies."

"Oz—"

"What? No Zio?"

"Oscar, you don't want to end up on my butcher block. Stop toying with me. We're grown men, and I'm never going to hesitate to protect what I cherish. Oh, and whatever deals you have going about the gun shipments?"

His eyes widen with surprise.

"Yeah, I know about it, Oz. Cut it the fuck out before you get us all killed. The Bratva is not amused with your dipping your toes into their pond."

I don't say anything else as I leave his house and my phone rings. This time, it's a video call. Evelyn's sweet face is grimy with sweat and smudges of dirt.

"Alessandro?" Her eyelids flutter and lay heavily.

"Mio dolce. I'm coming for you."