“Not really,” he answers. “I was disoriented. They had beat on me pretty hard. It was dark …”
“What about afterward?” I dig.
He shakes his head. “They locked me back in the trunk.”
“Maybe—” My cell ringing back in the living room interrupts me. I grab it off the coffee table to see it’s a blocked number. “It’s him. Stay quiet,” I order, then answer, placing it on speakerphone. “Where the fuck is she?”
He laughs. “Well, hello to you too, Luca. Or should I call you son?”
My teeth grind. He knows. Which puts her life in even more danger. “Cut the shit, Rossi. Where the fuck is she?”
“She’s here with me.”
I fist my hands. “Where? Let me talk to her.”
“She’s unavailable at the moment.”
“Goddammit—”
“But there’s still time,” he interrupts me. “I’ll send you an address.”
“Rossi …”
He hangs up.
“Fuck!” I go to throw my cell across the room, but Bones grabs my hand.
“You’re going to need that.” He takes it from me. “Break this.” And hands me a glass sculpture that looks like the Eiffel Tower. “We’ll get her,” he says, nodding his head. “We’ll do whatever it takes to get her back. Understood?”
I nod, trying to convince myself when my phone dings in his hand. He looks down at it, and his jaw tightens.
“What is it?” I ask. My heart picking up with adrenaline.
He looks up at me as he shows me the phone. “It’s the desert.”
_______________
I drive about forty-five minutes out of town. The sun has started to set, and I know that he did this on purpose. He’s had her and her mother for over five hours. He waited this late, knowing that we’d lose daylight. He wants the advantage of knowing the area. And who knows how many guys he has with him. He’s either cocky and has no one, or he has an army.
I turn my GPS off. It shows I have a little over two hundred feet left, but I don’t need it. I can see the lights from the limo ahead. I take a deep breath as I remove the gun from my shoulder holster. He’ll assume I’m carrying, and I want to show him that I’m not armed. I just want her back safe. He can do whatever he wants with me.
I come a stop and turn off my car, but leave my lights on, needing as much visibility as possible. We’ll lose light very soon.
“Where is she?” I ask, slamming the door shut.
He stands there with his arms crossed over his chest and legs spread wide. A guy I know by the name of Donatello stands next to him. I should have killed that fucker that night at the chapel. I take a quick look around. The limo is the only other car out here.
“Pat him down,” Rossi orders his man.
I yank on my shirt; the buttons go flying. I shove the shredded material off my shoulders and toss it to the dirt. Throwing up my hands, I turn in a circle so he can see I’m not packing. When I turn back to face him, I demand, “Where the fuck is she?”
He looks over at Donatello and nods.
He walks over to the limo and opens the back door. He bends down reaching inside and pulls her out. My chest tightens when I see her. She’s wearing a fitted white lace dress that looks like a wedding dress. Her wrists are duct taped behind her back and a piece is over her mouth. Her face has bruises on it and blood runs from her nose, over the tape and onto the once white dress. It’s dirty as though she’s rolled around in the dirt since she put it on.
“Haven …” I step toward her.
Rossi pulls his gun out and holds it up at me.
I stop and throw my hands up. “Let her go!” I shout.
“You know, you two are like Romeo and Juliet.” He muses with laughter. “And we both know what happened to them.”
“Let her go!” I scream at the top of my lungs.
The smile drops off his face. All humor gone. He reaches over, grips her hair, and yanks her to him. She cries out behind the tape. He shoves her to her knees, yanking her head back, then places the gun to her temple.
“Stop! Stop!” He’s going to kill her and make me watch. He’ll kill me last. He may even let me live a few days after he throws her in the grave that separates us just to make me suffer. “What do you want?” I find myself asking even though I know the answer. I just need to keep him talking while I wait for my backup. They’re not far behind me.
“What I want is to shoot you dead, throw you in the grave, and then bury her alive with you!” he shouts. “What I want is for her to suffer for your family’s sins.”