Chapter Twenty

Damon

“What the fuck do you mean, they aren’t there? Where are they?”

“Boss, I’ve been calling Luigi’s phone for the past twenty minutes, but he’s not answering. I even tried Jillian’s phone, but she’s not answering either. Miss Lina said they left her house in plenty of time to be here by now. I’m headed back to Fort Lee now, backtracking the whole way to try to find them.”

“I’m leaving the Council building right now. I’ll do the same from this end. Keep your eyes open, Paulie.”

“Don’t worry, Boss. If there’s a hair from her head out here, I won’t miss it.”

We disconnected, and I immediately called Marco to alert him to Jillian’s disappearance. He assured me he’d be on my tail within minutes to help find her. Though part of me didn’t want to accept it, I knew there was only one explanation for why neither Jillian nor Luigi answered their phones after repeated calls. My gut feeling was spot-on once again.

Geno had never left town. He’d simply bided his time. Probably made a few new friends. Or worse, he hired several thugs to be his new friends.

Piecing together everything I knew up to that point, the wedding shower had run way over the expected time. That wasn’t unusual, though. Once the Marchetti women got together, they enjoyed the company too much to give it up early. As I predicted, there were too many gifts to fit in Luigi’s car, so Paulie took them in the van. He said he’d left Mama’s house before Jillian was ready to go. She’d mentioned she had to make a plate of food for me—because she’d promised she wouldn’t forget it. Mama said Jillian and Luigi left about twenty minutes after Paulie did.

“So Geno made his move after she left Mama’s house and before she reached our house. Well, that narrows it down to about a twenty-five-mile stretch. Real fucking helpful.”

Speeding through red lights and stop signs, weaving through traffic moving way too slow for the panic rising in my throat, and cursing Geno with every breath should’ve been Olympic events. I would’ve won triple gold.

When my phone pinged with a message, I felt my blood boil in my veins. The attached video showed Jillian with her hands bound and black tape covering her mouth. Rivers of tears created streaks down her beautiful face. Black mascara had run underneath her eyes and dried there, only to be smeared even more when her tears resumed. But when I realized she was calling my name, the fiancé in me faded to black and the notorious hit man fully emerged.

I’d have Geno’s fat, ugly head on a spike before the night was over. That much was for fucking sure.

And I’d have Jillian back in my arms, safe and sound.

“Carrie. Track the burner phone and Geno’s phone. He has Jillian.”

“Oh my God. I’m on it, Damon. Give me two minutes to get the program running. What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to kill him and anyone with him.” First, I brought my sister up to speed on what I knew so far. Then I rattled off the burner cell phone number when her computer finished booting up.

“Okay, Geno’s phone isn’t pinging anywhere near the burner phone, so he must have turned it off after he grabbed her. The burner phone shows they’re in Ridgewood. I’ll text you the address of the approximate location. You’ll have to search the entire area around the address I send you, Damon. I can’t pinpoint it exactly with this phone.”

“Just get me close, Carrie. By the time I’m finished with that neighborhood, they’ll welcome a hurricane.”

The text with the address came through as soon as we hung up, so I forwarded it to Paulie and told him to meet me there. Marco was already behind me, and Carrie was alerting the rest of the family. Geno wanted to start a family war? He had one hell of a fight coming his way, but he had no idea what he’d started or the way his life would soon end.

The only outcome I’d accept was one that included a happily ever after for Jillian and me.

When I arrived in the area where the burner phone signaled, my gut said we were on top of them regardless of the shitty location services a prepaid phone provided. The abandoned farm had a “For Sale” sign at the driveway. The chain link gate across the drive had a brand-new padlock keeping the two panels closed. The house was set back off the road, secluded by a cluster of trees and a bend in the long driveway.

I continued past the driveway and parked on the side of the road, close enough to the next house on the road that it appeared I was visiting there. If Geno’s goons patrolled the area, they were more likely to dismiss my vehicle. Marco took my lead and pulled off the road next to another driveway.

Dad called just as I got out of my car. “Son, we’re on our way. You’ll have backup there in less than five minutes.”

“Just follow Geno’s screams begging for his life.”

“You two be careful and watch each other’s backs.”

“Always.”

A large white utility van approached us, and I flagged Paulie down. Before he’d stopped the van, I jerked the door open and told him to get in the back and be ready for a firefight. Marco read my mind and jumped into the passenger seat.

I turned the van around and floored the gas pedal. We burst through the gate like it wasn’t there and barreled down the bumpy dirt driveway until the structures came into sight—a dilapidated house, a barn, and a two-story cinder block garage. Using the van to block the only way out, I angled it between two trees. No way around it. No way through it.

Complete darkness in the house ruled it out immediately. The barn and the garage were both closed up tight, and she could’ve been in either, but I closed my eyes and replayed the images of her tied up again. They were as clear as if I’d watched it on the big screen. Cinder blocks.

“She’s in the garage. His men could be anywhere, though. Leave no one alive.”

“Got it, Boss.” Paulie screwed the suppressor on the end of his gun before moving silently through the night in front of us, headed toward the garage but watching all around him as he went.

“Keep your head on straight, brother. We don’t know what we’ll see when we bust the door down.” Marco’s concern was valid but not one I could fathom at that moment.

“I hear you, Marco. But I can’t make any promises.”

His lips formed a thin line and he nodded, understanding I wouldn’t be in control if Jillian was dead. The level of savagery I would resort to in that case had never been seen before, and likely never would be again.

We started for the garage with our silenced guns at the ready, taking opposite sides of the drive and checking behind every large rock, tree, and bush along the way. Paulie waited for us with his back against the building, ready to engage anyone who dared to step out of the shadows and into the moonlight.

“And just where do you think you’re going?” The cool metal of a semiautomatic handgun pressed against the back of my head. If he thought I was intimidated, he was fatally mistaken.

When I turned my head to look at him, he took a step away from me. No doubt the deadly intent shone in my eyes, even in the darkness. He opened his mouth to issue another threat, but I raised my gun and silenced him forever. The crackle of his two-way radio caught my attention, so I pulled the cord to his earpiece out and grabbed the handset from his belt.

“Curtis! Answer me! What do you see? Is Damon here?” A panicked voice asked repeatedly in a whispered shout.

I lowered the earpiece and strained to locate where the other soldier hid. Then he made the mistake of leaving his post and moving closer to Curtis, and I had him dead in my sights. Literally.

The muffled sound of gunfire from my right meant Marco had taken another man down. Hearing the shot, another man stepped out and leveled his gun on me, but that didn’t break my stride. A double tap later, and even dental records wouldn’t identify him. The bastards were dropping like flies around us, but I was still looking for one specific fucker.

When Marco and I reached the door, I realized why Geno had chosen this structure. The metal door was impossible to kick in and could only be locked from the inside. With no locking mechanism on the exterior, we couldn’t pick the lock to get inside. But he only thought he had outsmarted me. I had other news for him that could only be delivered in person.

Keeping in line with the rest of the structures, the outside of the garage was littered with discarded items and pieces of plastic or metal that used to be useful tools. I grabbed part of an old metal file and a thick rock and removed the pins from the door hinges. Within seconds, I’d removed the last barrier between Jillian and me. The men inside that room didn’t count because they were already dead, they just didn’t know it yet.

Two of Geno’s goons were positioned on either side of Jillian, their guns aimed at my chest as I stood in the doorway. Geno stood behind Jillian with his gun pressed firmly against her temple. But I wouldn’t be intimidated by that motherfucker, so I walked straight at him without acknowledging his bodyguards. The experienced hit man in me surfaced without a hitch. The terror in her eyes would’ve swayed my approach if I allowed myself to think about it. So I couldn’t. I had to push it aside. If I showed a millisecond of weakness, Geno would exploit it and tear my world to pieces.

“Dad and the rest of the family just pulled up. This is over, Geno. There’s no way you walk out of here alive if she’s hurt. Let her go right now.” Marco stepped into the room and moved to my side.

“If she didn’t want to be a target, she shouldn’t have tracked my money. Your fucking sister shouldn’t have stolen it from my account. The Marchetti family ruined my life, so I’ll take your world away while you watch. Now, say goodbye to your girl and your baby, Damon.”

“Babies.” With an even and calm voice, I corrected him.

“What?” He scrunched up his face and drew his brows downward.

“Not baby, you fucking moron. Babies, plural. She’s pregnant with twins.”

“What the fuck does that matter?”

When he asked the question, he raised both hands up in front of him. Some stereotypes were accurate. As with any typical Italian, he talked with his hands, making big gestures to amplify his point. In the split second the gun was away from Jillian’s head, I aimed and fired at his head, putting an end to the pseudo-threat that was Geno Sanfratello. Marco and Paulie fired immediately after me, taking out the two extra dead weights.

“It matters a lot.”

In two strides, I knelt in front of Jillian and pulled the tape off her mouth while Marco cut the ties off her wrists. As soon as her hands were freed, she threw her arms around my neck in a death grip and cried into my neck.

“Are you hurt anywhere, doll?”

She shook her head, and I barely discerned a muffled “no” coming from the general area where her face was still pressed against me. I slid one arm under her knees and the other around her back then stood while cradling her.

“We’re going to the hospital to have her and the babies checked out.” I didn’t bother to stop and talk to my father as we passed him.

“Go. We’ve got this covered, son. Call me when you know something.”

Despite my near sprint all the way from the farmhouse back to my car, I didn’t feel like I’d exerted any effort at all. The adrenaline that flowed through my veins was more than enough fuel to keep me going for days on end. If we got an all-clear from the doctor, then I’d slow down. Until then, I couldn’t and wouldn’t rest.

When we reached Columbia Medical Center, I was so relieved to find Dr. Bowers was on call and already in the hospital. He met us in the labor and delivery triage area and gave Jillian a thorough examination.

“Everything looks and sounds fine, but I’d like to keep you here the rest of the night for observation. I don’t know exactly what all has happened to you, but I can tell you’ve been under a lot of stress, my dear. I’d feel better if we put a fetal monitor on you for the night and just kept tabs on the babies’ heartbeats and movements.” Dr. Bowers moved close to Jillian on the rolling seat, studying her features and committing every sign and symptom to memory.

He wasn’t Matteo, I got it. But his scrutiny made me uncomfortable.

“Observation sounds great to me, Dr. Bowers. I just want to make sure my babies are healthy. I’m fine, physically. Just a little shaken up.”

“I’ll have them put you in one of the delivery rooms for the next several hours to monitor all three of you. These nurses are great—they’ve worked with countless pregnant women. Sometimes I think they know more than I do.” He laughed good-naturedly, taking their expertise in stride and putting Jillian at ease. “And I’ll be around if you should need me for anything. I’ll put the order in now, and one of the nurses will move you out of the triage area and into your room in just a few minutes.”

We thanked him as he left the room, and I released a long, tired sigh. The events of the day and night were catching up with me, but until we had the answers we needed about the health of our twins, I’d remain on guard.

“Jilly.”

When she met my gaze, tears immediately filled her eyes. “Damon, I was so scared.”

“I know you were, doll. I’m sorry I wasn’t there to protect you when you needed me. I wish I could take that fear away from you. If I could bear it for you, I gladly would.”

“Geno said he’d set up an ambush to kill you here when he realized you weren’t in the car with me. He bragged about how his goons were the best and you’d be too busy hunting for me to realize you were the one being hunted. I was so afraid he was right, because I knew you wouldn’t stop until you found me. He knew you’d come for me. He even said you’d find me within minutes of realizing I was missing. He picked a place that would be fast and easy to find so he could get to you. How did you find me anyway? Geno trashed my phone.”

“Dad had heard a rumor about Geno moving to Vegas, but we knew better than to believe it at face value. I hid a burner phone under the liner in your purse this morning. Call it a sixth sense or intuition, whatever, but I knew something was coming. Anyone who grabbed you would get rid of your smartphone, but they wouldn’t take time to look under the lining. Carrie was able to track the burner phone to a general area. From that location, I knew exactly where you were from the video text Geno sent to me.”

“Geno must have counted on me having some sort of tracking device other than my phone. You saved me again, Damon. You’re always rushing into dangerous situations to help me out of them.”

“And I always will—no matter what the situation is. Remember that warning I gave you a long time ago? That still stands. You go, I go. Simple as that.”

“Would you think less of me if I told you I’ve had enough scrapes with death over the past year, and I’m okay with waiting until my nineties for the next one?”

“No, doll, I wouldn’t think less of you at all. I’d be so fucking relieved, you wouldn’t believe it. If you’ll put that in writing right now, I’ll let you be the boss at home for the rest of our lives.”

The sound of her laughter was music to my ears. “Damon, I don’t want to be the boss at home.”

“Oh? So you want me to be the boss at home and at work?”

“No. You can be the boss at work. But at home, we’re a team. Deal?”

“Deal, my love. That is the deal of a lifetime, and I’ll take you up on that starting right now.”