I clenched my fists so hard my knuckles almost tore out of my skin.
“What’s it going to be?”
I was silenced by the gravity of the situation. If it were anyone else, I would make the trade. My sister was my family. Nothing was more important than family. But Muse was carrying my baby. She had a little Barsetti inside of her. There was no right answer. And I didn’t want to make the trade because I couldn’t afford to lose either of them.
I loved them both.
He chuckled into the phone. “It’s a difficult decision. I’ll give you a few hours to decide. Just remember, whoever I get will be raped and tortured until I get bored with her. So you need to decide who you love more…your sister or your whore.”
I left the bedroom and stormed into my office without saying a word to Muse. I only had five minutes before she figured out something was wrong.
I had to make those minutes count.
Depending on when Knuckles captured Vanessa, he could still be in Milan.
There was a good chance he was.
Vanessa still had a fiery attitude, so she couldn’t have been captive for long. Like all prisoners, her spirit would eventually break down. The fact that she still talked back was a good sign.
She wasn’t taken that long ago.
So yes, he was still in Milan.
This was entirely my fault, so I wanted to shield my family and not get them involved. I didn’t want to worry my parents, to make them terrified of losing their only daughter. But I knew this situation was too important for my arrogance.
I made the hardest phone call I’d ever had to make.
My father answered, in a good mood. “I hope you don’t mind, but I told your mother about the baby. You have no idea how happy she is.”
I couldn’t bask in my mother’s happiness, not when I’d never been this scared in my life. All the joy I’d just given my parents was about to be yanked away. “Father…I need you and Uncle Cane to get on a plane here as quickly as possible. I don’t know how to say this, but since I don’t have much time, I’ve just got to blurt it out. Vanessa has been taken by an American crime lord named Knuckles. He’s been obsessed with Sapphire for the last year, and now he wants to make a trade. Sapphire for Vanessa. He’s given me a few hours to decide.”
Instead of screaming into the phone or asking a bunch of questions, my father remained calm. He remained so fucking calm that I couldn’t wrap my mind around it. “Do you have any idea where he is?”
“Milan.”
“You’re certain of that?”
“He took Vanessa not too long ago.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because she’s still being a smartass in the background.”
Still calm as ever. “I’ll be there in forty-five minutes with backup. Take Carter with you into Milan. Bring guns.”
“Alright.”
“Do not make that trade, Con.”
I was shocked he said that. “Don’t?”
“No.”
“But Vanessa…”
“Sapphire is family now. We’ll get them both back.”
I didn’t know much about my father’s past, but listening to him speak with such confidence gave me a small sense of calmness. “Alright. I’ll head to Milan with Carter. I’ll try to put a tracer on the phone to figure out where he is.”
“You can try, but it won’t work. You said Vanessa was in the background?”
“Yes.” How could he talk about my kidnapped sister without skipping a beat? I definitely wouldn’t tell him the last thing Knuckles said to me.
“How close was she?”
“I don’t know…I could hear her pretty well. Why?”
“Grab your security team and take them with you. Next time he calls, listen to her. I told her what to do if this ever happened. She should give us a clue. What did she say when you heard her in the background?”
“She told Knuckles to fuck himself.”
“Alright. That means she’s in transit. She doesn’t know where she is.”
“So I should still head to Milan?”
“Yes. I’ve got to go, Con.”
We were both running out of time. I blurted the first thing that came to mind. “I’m sorry…I’m sorry about all this.”
“I’m gonna get your sister back. And that’s a promise.”
“Con, what’s going on?” Muse followed me to the front door.
I was carrying two semiautomatic rifles with a pistol on each hip. I was strapped with enough ammo for a war. “Knuckles called me. He has Vanessa, and if I don’t trade you for her…he’s going to kill her.”
Muse halted and covered her mouth with both hands. Tears sprung to her eyes immediately, her reaction quicker than anything I’d ever seen. “No…”
“My father is meeting me in Milan. Carter and I are leaving now. We think she’s still there.”
“Do you know where she is?”
“No. But we’ll figure it out.” Once Vanessa was safe, I’d put a bullet in each of his eyes. He’d tortured Muse long enough, and now he was going to pay the ultimate sacrifice for laying a hand on my sister. He’d unleashed the ferocity of the Barsetti family.