Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 93425 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93425 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
I bite my tongue. I might have been wrong in saying Oleg is the man who hired him, seeing as he knows about Matteo. Still, Oleg called for a meeting at the same time the kidnapping happened. It’s too much of a coincidence not to be connected.
I hate to think one of the made men we allow inside of the house, someone who has earned our trust, is suddenly betraying us to help Eric get in contact with Oleg, but it's the most likely explanation. Oleg and Eric must be in on this together somehow.
“If you have any more helpful information for me, I’ll show mercy and kill you by putting a bullet between your eyes. If not, I’m going to have one of my men spend the next several hours in here with you, bringing you right to death’s doorstep before pulling you back until I get bored. And then we’ll get you a nice pair of cement boots and drop you in the ocean. Which is it going to be?”
I can see the panic in the man’s eyes as he scrambles for information. Anything he can give me to help him escape a fate worse than death.
“We were supposed to take the girl upstate, towards the border. I think whoever we were bringing her to intended to take her to Canada.”
My irritation grows with the information. Whoever it was, Eric or Oleg, they had intended on getting her out of my reach. We have little presence in Canada, though we are actively trying to establish one. It’ll be significantly harder for me to get her home if she’s being kept there.
“I don’t know if that’s good enough. Anything else?”
I can see the moment the man finds the information I need. A sly smile slips onto his face like he knows he has a bargaining chip that could save his life. “Yeah, part of the deal for Santiago was a house in Kansas, somewhere he could use to get away from the mafia life. I’ve got an address you could use to get a name.”
“In Kansas? That’s all the information I needed.”
Panic flashes across his face when he realizes he gave away too much information and lost his bargaining chip. He earned his easier death with that piece of information. The begging dies on his lips as I pull the trigger.
“Perfect timing,” Andy says as he reads the text off his phone. “Looks like some of our men found the missing off-roader. It was parked next to the freeway, so whoever was on it either hitchhiked or called a car. Also, two helmets were found alongside it.”
“So either the kidnappers are very safety conscious, or it was Emma and Matteo on there,” I state. Pride mixes with anguish. She was able to get away.
Even if Emma managed to get away from the kidnappers, she’s still at risk. Not only is she a known figure with connections to me after our engagement, but anyone who sees her with Matteo is going to be able to make the connection that he’s my child. He looks too much like me for them not to.
And then there’s the fact she still hasn’t called me.
“We’ll get her home.”
Chapter Forty-One- Emma
The motel room has one double bed with a mattress that feels like they should have thrown it out twenty years ago. The TV doesn’t work, there’s no hot water, and there’s a smell that suggests something died in the room below ours.
When I checked in under the name Adeline Gray, they didn’t check for ID. Derek must have known they wouldn’t, and that’s why he sent us here.
When we got to the edge of the property, I didn’t know where to go or who to call. Being with Enzo was supposed to be safe for Matteo, but apparently there’s nowhere safe as long as we’re associated with him. That’s why I called Derek. He managed to completely cut ties. Maybe he’ll be able to help me do the same.
The thought of leaving Enzo, of never seeing him again, makes my chest ache. I’m not sure when it happened, but at some point I stopped thinking of him as being a necessary evil for Matteo’s wellbeing and as a life partner. A friend. Lover.
I cuddle Matteo into my side, but he isn’t sleeping. I picked up a burner phone at the store. It isn’t the best, but it allows for me to play YouTube videos over the motel’s crappy wifi. My phone is another victim of circumstance. After calling Derek, he gave me a list of things I would need to do. Getting a new phone was one of the first things on the list because anyone might track my current phone. I couldn’t use my accounts or cards, not that I have them with me. Derek ordered the phone for me, and I just had to show up at the store to pick it up. Now he’s on a flight to New York to help me figure out what I’m going to do.