"You working with him? Is that why you’re pretending to help us, so you can betray us to Freddie?" Luca closes the distance to him and grabs his collar. "If there's something you haven't told us, then I suggest you do so while you can still speak,stronzo!"
The man opens his mouth, and ends up choking.
"I suggest you loosen your grip on him so he can speak," Adrian offers.
Luca must do so, for the man draws in a breath, then coughs. "I... I overheard him talking on his phone to someone." His chin trembles. "He mentioned how the Sovranos had betrayed him by taking all of the credit for the kidnapping of the Seven, when he was the mastermind. Then, one of you infiltrated his gang, and that was a blow to his ego. He seemed very upset, and swore he wouldn't rest until he's killed every last one of you."
For a moment, none of us have anything to say, until Luca breaks the silence.
"If you're lying, I’m going to pound your face into the earth, you understand?"
"I’m not lying. In fact, I’m telling you this so you know I’m on your side. This is my family's future at stake, and I know you guys are my only chance to save them," the man says in a firm voice.
Luca glares at him for a few seconds more, then releases his grip on the man's shirt.
"Cazzo."I rub the back of my neck. "Remind me why we haven’t managed to track him down yet?"
"Maybe it’s because the lot of you have been too busy falling in love, getting married, and getting pregnant?" Luca says in a tone indicating just how good an idea he thinks that is.
"You should try it; you might find you like it," I retort mildly.
"No thanks," he scoffs. “Marriage is for pussies. No offense."
"None taken." I exchange a look with the guy in the chair, who looks vaguely amused by Luca’s outburst.
"You," I jerk my chin in the intruder's direction, "what's your name?"
"Ricardo," the man replies.
"Ricardo, I’m going to untie you," I declare.
"You are?" he says at the same time as Luca.
I move toward Ricardo, pull a knife from my pocket, and slice through his restraints. He shakes off the ropes, and I turn to Massimo and Luca. Both of them are watching me with varying degrees of incredulity.
"You sure about this?" Massimo asks slowly.
I raise a shoulder. "I have an instinct about this; one I don’t want to ignore."
"You’re pussy-whipped." Luca rolls his shoulders.
"Maybe." I half smile. "But I’ll wager this gets us to Freddie faster than anything else, and the only thing I want right now, is to shut down the bastard before he does something else to hurt one of us."
Massimo cracks his neck. "Okay, so I guess we’re going to the fucking source to smoke this rat out."
"We are."
"You?" Luca stabs his finger at me. "You get back to your wife. Leave this one to Massimo, Adrian and me."
EPILOGUE
Elsa
"She’s so cute." Karma blows a raspberry on Avery’s stomach. My daughter giggles, then bursts into laughter. Karma glances at her, an adoring expression on her face. "You gorgeous little thing." She rubs noses with Avery, who grabs at Karma’s hair and tugs.
"She’s a handful. Once she gets hold of your hair, she’s not going to let go of it easily," I warn.
"And I’m not going to let go of you, either, am I?" She blows another raspberry, and Avery giggles. She babbles words in her own special language.