Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 55263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 276(@200wpm)___ 221(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 276(@200wpm)___ 221(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
I took a giant step back, my breaths shallow from his proximity. “I just wanted you to know. I’m fine,” I said and took another step back. “Shaken but fine.”
He studied my face like he didn’t entirely believe me. Enzo was a man who knew fear when he saw it, and I practically radiated with it.
That night, I lay in my bed staring up at the ceiling as the moonlight played on the branches outside my window. I knew there was a present danger when I took this job. Hell, it was why I’d taken it instead of giving it to one of my nannies on staff. But the danger had always been theoretical.
Today it became real. Brutally, achingly real.
My heart was still racing and my palms were damp to the point of almost being soaked.
This wasn’t imagined danger. This was real.
And it was only the beginning.
Chapter 14
Enzo
Iwas already holding the phone when it buzzed and Luca’s name flashed on the screen. “What did you find?” I held my breath as I waited for him to tell me who on the inside of the DeRossi organization had betrayed me. And my family.
There was a long pause on the other end of the call. It was heavy and eternal, and this time it wasn’t just Luca pausing for dramatic effect. Something was really wrong.
“For fuck’s sake, Luca.”
He let out a rough exhale. “Some dumb fuck drove a truck right up to our fish processing plant.”
I swallowed. “The one in downtown L.A.?” It was a profitable business on both fronts, providing seafood to half the city while giving us the perfect way to move product in and out of the country.
“Yeah, that’s the one. Goddamn thing exploded in the early morning hours. Half a dozen casualties, way more injuries. The plant might be a total loss, Enzo.”
Fuck. Shit. “Might be?”
“The firefighters are still in there fighting the fire, so I won’t know for sure for another twelve hours or so.” Luca sounded so pissed off by that fact that I couldn’t help but smile. “If it’s a loss, what then?”
“We’ll move it to Long Beach or maybe San Diego. What I want to know is how the fuck they knew how important that place was to our drug operations.” On the outside, it was nothing but a smelly old fish processing plant, and we took great pains to make it appear as such, which only sharpened my suspicions about internal betrayal.
There was another long silence before Luca put a voice to exactly what I was thinking. “The call is coming from inside the fucking house.”
His words settled in my gut like a stone, heavy and gut-churning. This feeling wasn’t entirely unfamiliar, but I hated feeling out of control. I leaned back against the desk with my legs crossed at the ankles and stared outside at the setting sun. My adrenaline spiked the way it always had when danger surrounded me. “Any news on that front?”
“Not yet. I was focused on making sure your location was locked down,” Luca answered with an annoyed grunt. “I handled it myself, and no one else knows where you and Mattie are.”
“I trust you, Luca.” That wasn’t the problem at all. It was clear that someone who knew the inner workings of my organization was talking out of turn. “You think this was the Russians?”
“Seems highly fucking likely,” he grumbled. “I guess we’ll see if they try to hone in on our territory while we get the fish shit settled.”
I could almost imagine him scrubbing a hand over his face. “Get some product moved up to whoever needs it in the area to make sure there’s no fucking void for them to fill.”
“Will do.” Luca paused and then asked what we were both thinking. “Who do you think it is?”
“I don’t want to think it’s anyone, but because I’m not there, I can’t fucking say for sure.” I had my suspicions, though. “Who do you think it is?”
Luca laughed. “You know I won’t say until I have proof, but yeah, I have a name or two in mind.” Despite our decades-long friendship, Luca would never speak against a DeRossi without evidence to back it up. “As soon as I confirm it, you’ll be the first to know.”
I nodded because I knew that. “I just keep thinking about that question Ren asked me. What does threatening a child accomplish? I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it because it’s an anomaly.”
“The Russians kidnap people all the time.”
“Yeah, but they just do it; they don’t threaten to do it. And they haven’t asked for anything in exchange for leaving Mattie or Ella alone. Why?” The bombing made sense, a lot of fucking sense. They wanted to hurt our distribution so they could move in and take our salesmen. That would put a dent in our bottom line—not enough to take us down but enough to annoy the fuck out of me.