44. Emmett

Chapter 44

Emmett

The boat sped away, while I stood stock-still on the dock.

You fucking coward. You let them take her.

The calm sea and the wake behind their boat mocked me, reminding me of my failure to act, jump in, or do something—anything—to save her.

“Where’s the disc?” I demanded.

Scarlett’s voice sliced through my earpiece. “I told you it wasn’t the job you were?—”

“Shut it, Scar!” I snapped, fear twisting into anger. “Where’s the fucking disc?”

Jayce’s reply came swiftly. “I’m almost back to the Exotic Garden.”

Could we deliver the disc to Noah in time? What would Enzo do to Jenn if we didn’t? The image of the dead guards flashed through my mind—Enzo’s handiwork, no doubt. More memories flooded over me—the cocky taunts I’d shot at him before the beatings started in New York, the first time I saw myself in the mirror at the hospital in Venice?—

Oh god, what he might do to her that he hadn’t done to me.

I swallowed hard. “How fast can you run it down here, Jayce?”

Rav’s boat pulled up next to me.

Drew chimed in. “I’m faster and almost at the Garden, anyway.”

“Not faster in your dress shoes,” Jayce retorted.

I tuned out their bickering, my gaze fixed on Noah’s boat. The sooner I had the disc, the sooner Jenn would be safe in my arms again. “Both of you run. Whoever’s in front, take it.”

“Will, where’s the spare drone?” Rav asked as he tossed a line to the dock.

“On its way,” Will replied, “but the battery’s almost dead.”

A faint whirring passed overhead as the drone made for the boat. At least we’d have eyes on Jenn soon.

This was my fault. I’d insisted on taking the disc, a stupid, unnecessary risk. Why? Pride? Revenge? Ego?

And she was the one paying for it.

“We’ll get her back safely,” Rav said as he secured the boat.

“This is my fault,” I muttered, barely keeping my voice steady. “If I?—”

Dante burst through the door behind us. “Emmett! Did you find her?”

Exactly what I needed. A target. “What are you doing down here, De Rosa?”

“You left in such a hurry, I—” Dante started, his eyes wild with concern.

“Your father and his merry men took her,” I spat, the words tasting bitter in my mouth.

Mr. Thatcher’s warning from years ago echoed in my mind. He’d told me I would hurt Jenn, and now it had come true in a way worse than either of us could have imagined.

Dante’s hands balled into fists, and he pressed them against his forehead. “Tell me she’s not working with them?”

His words ignited a fury deep inside me. I advanced on him. He’d pay. For bringing her here. For getting her involved.

“Working with them?” I threw my hands in the air, holding back the need to punch him or throw him into the water. “They kidnapped her!”

Dante’s lip curled, and his fist flew—lights burst in my vision—straight into my cheekbone. The impact sent me reeling.

A bag flew over my head. Next came the fist to my ribs. The boot ?—

Snap out of it, Emmett!

You’re not in New York. You’re not in Venice. Get the fuck over it.

I shook off the memory, slamming my fist into Dante’s face.

Rav’s thick arm materialized between us, his muscular frame a barrier between me and Dante. I hadn’t even seen him climb out of the boat, but here he was, restraining Dante.

“If you lay another hand on him, you’re going into the water,” Rav growled.

“The guards are dead!” Dante struggled against Rav’s hold, but fortunately realized he was outmatched and gave up quickly. His eyes darted between Rav and me, anger and fear flickering across his face. “Did you kill them?”

A twinge of disgust bubbled inside me. “I expect it was your father, Enzo, or Noah.” The memory of the blood in the security room raced through my mind, and I suppressed a shudder. “Probably Enzo.”

The same man who’d beaten me in Venice now had Jenn…

Dante’s indignant voice snapped me back to the present. “My father would never do something like that.” But doubt filled his eyes, even as he spoke the words.

I ran a hand over my sore cheek. You aren’t asking the right question yet, Emmett. “Why did he leave without you?”

Dante’s jaw flexed, and I could almost see the gears turning in his head as he considered his response.

“Upstairs, you said your father had people spying on you to ensure you kept his secrets,” I pressed, noting the flicker of uncertainty in Dante’s eyes. “You’re not in his trusted circle, are you?”

Dante shrugged out of Rav’s grip, his shoulders sagging slightly. “He’s a criminal.”

“And you’re not?” I shot back. “Jenn told me about the Wheatfield painting.”

Dante thrust a hand toward the water, his frustration evident. “Why are we talking about this instead of taking your boat and rescuing her?”

Because I’m waiting for the disc, and I can’t go anywhere until I have it. Instead of telling him, I said, “Because your father has her, and I don’t trust you.”

Will said over my earpiece, “Drone’s almost caught up to them.”

Either I was relieved at that news or terrified about what Will would report back. I wasn’t sure.

“I genuinely believed my father each time he told me it was a mistake.” Dante took a step further down the dock, his back to us. “He blamed the conservator just like he blamed his accountant for the errors in his books. Now this.”

I checked my watch, anxiety building in my gut. How long would Drew and Jayce be? What was going on aboard that little tender? Its lights were still visible, and it hadn’t arrived at the yacht yet.

The yacht. What would happen there?

You’re stronger than your emotions. I normally had excellent control when I needed it, but Jenn… Jenn was throwing me off in ways I couldn’t afford right now. I had to channel some of Scarlett’s control. Although from her silence, it was obvious someone—probably Brie—had muted her.

“Neither my brother nor my sister speaks with Papa anymore.” Dante turned to face me, his expression hard to read in the dim light, but the tone of his voice gave me more—he was confessing. “He didn’t bother concealing the truth when I confronted him at the auction. I wish any of this surprised me.”

Fuck, how did Dante and I have so much in common? Both of us were dealing with fathers who’d let us down, who’d chosen a life of crime over their families. Both of us were standing on a little stone dock below the Monaco Rocher, wanting to save Jenn.

“We should call the police,” Dante said.

Rav shook his head. “Too risky and too slow.”

“What do you call standing around watching her disappear?” Dante snapped, gesturing angrily toward the water again.

I took a deep breath, trying to steady myself. “They have a ransom demand that’s on its way here. We move when it arrives.”

Drew’s breathless voice came through my earpiece. “I’m ten minutes out.”

C’mon, Drew. Move faster.

“When I met her in Nice, I thought it was fate.” Dante turned back to the water, his shoulders slumping as the small boat winked out of view. “My father needed a painting cleaned, and I’d just met a beautiful art restorer.” He sighed, the sound barely audible over the lapping of waves against the dock.

“Before you get any ideas, Dante,” I began, knowing I was about to make a huge mistake by saying this out loud while on comms, but Dante needed to hear it, “Jenn is my woman.”

“What?” Scarlett’s shocked voice pierced my eardrum—apparently, she wasn’t on mute. “Emmett, I told you?—”

I tuned her out, my attention fixed on Dante’s reaction.

“I know.” He gave a small laugh and turned to share a tight smile. “You did a terrible job of hiding it. She didn’t see it at first, but I did.”

Was that why he regularly puffed up his chest when I was around her? Gave her those stupid macarons? Kissed her in the hotel lobby? It was on the cheek, Emmett . He’d been trying to win her over before I did, hadn’t he?

“I think she came into my life to help me accept who my father is,” he continued. “When she’s safe on land again, I’ll call my brother with the Carabinieri.” He nodded, not looking at me anymore. These were words for himself. “I have enough information to ensure the moment Papa sets foot on Italian soil, he’ll never be able to do this again.”

Well, shit. Dante wasn’t the bad man I’d thought he was. Maybe I’d been too quick to judge him, consumed by jealousy and suspicion. But now? Some sort of strange admiration was poking its way through all the negativity.

“My team’s almost here,” I said, glancing at my watch. Drew would arrive any second with the disc.

Rav moved past me, climbing into the boat and releasing the rope with practiced ease.

I followed, then turned to Dante. “Tell the manager about the guards down here. There aren’t any alarms, and no one else has come down this way, so I suspect they interrupted the security feed.”

The fucking irony. My team had done exactly the same thing to steal the disc—which had wound us up here.

Dante approached the boat. “Let me help.”

I put up a hand before he could jump in with us. “We’ve got this.”

But Dante wasn’t backing down. “I’m done making excuses for my father. Done being in his shadow and being defined by him. I don’t care if you understand, but I need to do this. To be my own man.”

His words hit me like a gut punch. I didn’t want to be defined by what my father did, either. I’d kept Jenn in Monaco against everyone else’s recommendations to prove I was better than my father and to prove I was over all the things Fenix had done to me. Where had that gotten us?

And where had my stubborn insistence that I didn’t need anyone gotten me ?

“All right, but you play by our rules.” I turned to Rav and asked, “Got your gun?”

Rav nodded. “Of course.”

I faced Dante again, a strategy taking shape in my mind. “Does your father love you?”

Dante looked apprehensive. “Yes.”

“Good,” I said. “Because I have a plan.”