Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 94720 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 474(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94720 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 474(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
17
ROCCO
I’d been sitting across from Emile for twenty minutes, but it felt like three days. My mind wouldn’t quit racing, but I let him do his job without interrupting. Emile was one of the best hackers we knew and had worked with me for a private company that the CIA didn’t want anyone to know about. I trusted him implicitly and knew he would do this job well. I just wished he did it faster. Dean was sitting next to me, waiting to hear from his contact. Giuseppe had the manpower to hunt down anyone, but he wasn’t in his territory. Lenora would have already been found if he’d been back in Italy. We had the upper hand here. As we waited, I thought about Lenora and tried not to get upset again, but it was impossible. I was fucking furious that she’d just left like that without telling us. We would have helped her. I would have helped her. Fuck. I could have whisked her away and ensured that Russo made it so no one would ever retrace us. That made me pause. What the fuck was I thinking? I had businesses to run. I couldn’t just disappear. I wanted to keep her safe but didn’t want to disappear. I wouldn’t do that for her, or anyone.
“I downloaded the camera feeds from the street and lobby.” Emile looked at us over his laptop. “I’m sending you the files and deleting the feed.”
I breathed a little easier.
“I’m having Carlos check the cameras from Pensacola to Marco Island,” Dean said.
Emile let out a whistle. “That’s a lot of territory. It’ll take a while.”
He wasn’t wrong, but it was the only thing we knew for certain. Giuseppe had told Dominic that she was off the Gulf Coast of Florida. Dom was still trying to get ahold of Lenora’s mother, but I’d grown impatient. I found out what hospital her mother was at and would visit her tonight. Dom couldn’t leave without his father figuring out something was wrong, but I could. I just hoped her mother wouldn’t throw her under the bus.
The nurses at Baptist Hospital were nice enough and led me to the waiting room of the wing that Lenora’s grandmother was in. I’d told them I’d stay there until her mother came out. I told them it was urgent. I lowered the ballcap on my head when I spotted who I assumed was one of Giuseppe’s men guarding the area. He blended in just enough with his jeans and a gray t-shirt. You would think he was just waiting for someone, but the way he walked said otherwise. He had a knife strapped to his leg. I couldn’t see it, but I could tell. I wouldn’t be surprised if he brought his gun in here, even though guns in hospitals were illegal and a bad idea for countless reasons. I didn’t bring mine, but I didn’t need one. I was the weapon. I kept my head down either way, because if they saw me talking to Mrs. De Luca, this plan could blow up in my face. I called Emile, who answered right away.
“I need the cameras on the second floor of the oncology building shut down,” I said quietly. “All of them.”
“On it.” He hung up.
I kept my eye on the door. When it finally opened, Lenora’s mother rushed out and saw me. Her face paled. I put both hands up to let her know I wasn’t a threat, but she still calculated everything before she took another step. She was a sharp woman; she’d been married to Giuseppe long enough and was studying her surroundings, as she should. She put a finger up, and the man in jeans walked over. I cursed under my breath. I studied the man. He studied me. I knew I could take him down, but I also knew it would be a hell of a fight. Fuck my life. I didn’t have time for that right now.
“He answers to me, not Giuseppe,” Mrs. De Luca said as she walked over.
“Did he send you for me?” she asked quietly.
“No.”
Something flashed in her face. Concern. Sadness. “For my daughter, then.”
“No one sent me,” I said. “I’m here on my own.”
“Why?”
“A lot of people are looking for your daughter right now. It’s best if I find her first.”
She let out a harsh laugh. “Please. I know what you do. If I tell you where she is, you’ll take her back to her father or worse.”
“There are worse people than your husband?” I crossed my arms. “Enlighten me.”
She blushed and looked down with a sigh. “Look, my mother is dying. Every minute I’m here with you is another I’m not with her.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “Nothing hurts as much as losing a mother.”
She swallowed and nodded as she asked again, “Why are you here? Where is Dominic?”