Chapter Twelve
It was noon and he still had not heard from Celina.
This is not fucking good.
Ariano checked the Vizcaya Gardens, some of her usual haunts and anywhere else he could think that she may have disappeared to, but as the day dragged on, the sense that she was in trouble had grown into an almost sickening panic.
I have to tell Giovanni, he thought, the idea only fuelling his dread.
His mind racing, he picked up his phone to contact Celina’s father, but before he could hit the numbers, he paused. He had another idea and he dialed Alex once more.
“Holy fuck, Ariano. I’m working. You have a crush on me or something?”
“Tell me again what happened last night when you saw Celina leave.”
There was a long silence.
“You really can’t find her?” he asked, unable to keep the gloating note from his voice. “The boss is going to be pissed.”
“Which entrance did she go through into the condo?”
“Uh…the back entrance.”
“What time was that?”
“I don’t fucking know, puttana. You tell me what time she got off her knees for you.”
“Alex, if I have to come down there – “
“Midnight maybe? One? I don’t fucking know, Ariano. Fuck off.”
The line went dead and the hairs on the back of his neck rose.
Pulling an abrupt U-turn onto Killian Drive, Ariano raced back toward the condo building.
There’s one way to find out if Alex is lying to me, he thought, screeching into Celina’s visitor lot.
Ensuring he had his gun in his waistband, he ran toward the front entranceway, his heart pounding.
“May I help you, sir?” the concierge asked and Ariano cringed, realizing how old the man was.
“I need to see your security tapes from last night,” he explained without preamble. “I need to know if Celina DiMarco came home last night through those back doors.”
The old man blinked at him and Ariano reached for his weapon but before he withdrew it the guard shook his head.
“I’ve been working since six last night. Harry called in sick this morning, so my replacement should be here right away. She left around seven and never came home. I’m sure of it.”
Ariano wasn’t about to take his word.
“I need to see those tapes,” he insisted and the man shrugged.
“I’m not gonna argue with the mob,” he grunted. “I knew the day would come when one of you guys would come here looking for that girl.”
Ariano let his comment slide and waited for the ancient man to pull up the footage from the previous night.
“What time?”
“Anytime after eleven,” he replied, peering over the counter to stare at the screens.
He watched as the frames at the back door showed Alex’s Mercedes coming and going but there was no sign of Celina.
At seven a.m., his own car appeared and Ariano sighed, his head beginning to throb.
“Thank you,” he said, spinning away.
“Hope you find her,” the concierge called after him. “She’s a nice lady, even though she’s the daughter of that man.”
Ariano paused and glanced at him.
“She is a nice lady, isn’t she?” he replied quietly.
“Last year she gave my wife an anonymous gift of fifteen thousand dollars,” he answered gruffly. “So she could get a hip replacement. Medicare only covers so much, you know?”
Ariano stared at him.
“She did that?” he choked.
“She’s a nice lady,” the guard said again. “I hope you find her.”
Ariano nodded slowly.
“Oh, I’ll find her,” he promised. “Bet on it.”
He raced out to the car, trying to piece together what he knew.
Celina left my house, she took an Uber and Alex knew about that…
Sighing, he leaned against the car, shaking his head.
But how did he know where to find her? Then the thought struck him out of the blue. He tracked her cell phone. That’s how he knew where she was. And the bastard is just crazy enough to take out his anger on her, too.
Ari knew that Alex had been getting into more and more trouble at work lately. His frustration at not securing the promotion was showing, and he had started taking stupid risks, trying to impress the boss. Just a few days ago, Giovanni had had to pull Alex in to ream him out for another unprotected shipment that had been taken.
Then his mind travelled back to the day Giovanni had given him Celina’s detail, the way Alex had looked at her as if he wanted to devour her, right in front of their boss. A heavy dread settled in his chest as he thought about what Alex could do to her.
He’s angry at me, he wants Celina…did finding out we were together last night send him even farther over the edge?
Ariano knew he didn’t have time to wonder. He just needed to find Celina; dead or alive.
The idea that he had failed her filled him with remorse. How could have let her leave his place alone last night? It was literally his job to protect her. He should have known that Alex would threaten her somehow. He refused to succumb to the anxiety threatening to slow him down.
If she’s hurt, I’ll never forgive myself, he realized, wondering if that wasn’t what Alex had in mind all along.
Yet Ariano realized that for once, his first concern wasn’t for himself and what would happen to him if Celina got hurt. For the first time in his life, his main concern was for someone else. He didn’t care that he would be taken out if Celina was gone, all he cared about was that she was okay.
He would never be able to live himself if he had let something happen to her.
Hang on, baby, he called out to her silently. I’m going to find you. I swear it. And I’m going to make Alex pay a hundred times over for any pain he’s caused you.
“Woah, what the fuck, Ariano?”
“Get on your computer and track Alex’s GPS yesterday. All day.”
Carmello backed out of the entranceway as Ariano stormed in, kicking the door shut behind him as he kept the Beretta firmly on the hacker.
“Are you crazy? I can’t track his – “
“Just fucking do it!” Ariano yelled. “Celina is missing and I think he took her.”
Carmello’s face shifted, concern filling his eyes.
“Are you sure, Ari? I mean she always – “
“He told me she came home last night on his watch but she never did. He lied. And now she’s gone.”
Carmello looked shocked, and then panicked.
“Jesus!” he cried. “He called me yesterday. Asked me to…”
He trailed off and Ariano watched as guilt flooded his features.
“He…asked me to track her phone,” he confessed. “I gave him the address.”
“I know,” Ariano growled. “Now track his fucking car’s GPS. We’re wasting time.”
He nodded quickly and hurried toward his computer desk, digging through a pile of papers to find the proper account.
Carm nodded slowly, tracing his finger along the map to show him.
“He started at Celina’s condo last night, moved into a restaurant downtown and then drove around for a while until he ended up in Little Havana again but that’s the address I gave him to find her.”
Ariano glanced at the techy soldier, wondering if he had any idea that the address was Ariano’s apartment. But Carmello didn’t seem to notice.
He’s never been to my place. He has no reason to make the connection.
But Ariano didn’t care if he had. All that mattered was Celina’s safety.
It’s going to come out that she and I were together, whether through Alex’s mouth or another way. It doesn’t matter.
“He ended up going from that address back to the parking lot at the restaurant. Did you go there? Maybe that’s where she went.”
“Where did he go from there?”
They watched as the light made its way south toward Kendall and stopped for a time.
“What’s that address?” Ariano asked, his skin prickling with the need to act. He thought he knew the location. “Is that one of our warehouses?”
“Yes,” he replied worriedly. “I can’t imagine what he was doing there with Celina.”
“I can,” Ariano replied tightly, whirling to run from the house. “But I really hope I’m wrong – for his sake.”