Alessio started crying once more and my rocking did nothing to soothe him.
Mrs. Falcone smiled at me. “You are Kiara Vitiello? And this must be your son?”
I clutched Alessio protectively against me, taking a step back. Images of what she had done to her sons formed in my head, stirred terror in my insides. “What do you want?”
She pointed toward a black limousine. “Head over there.” Her mouth twisted into a too wide smile. “Please.”
Quaking from fear, I moved toward the car then got into the backseat. Savio was shoved into a second car. Mrs. Falcone got into the passenger seat of the car I was in and one of the men took the steering wheel. Alessio’s cry rang out harshly in the small space.
I tried to wipe the gasoline from Alessio’s head but it clung to him. Rubbing his back, I began humming. Yet, Alessio kept wailing, his little face turning red.
Mrs. Falcone pursed her mouth. “Get him to stop.”
“Shhh,” I cooed against my son’s temple.
“Stop him.”
“I’m trying.”
“Stop him! Or I will!” she screeched, whirling around in her seat and staring at us with a wide-eyed expression.
I froze, my hold on Alessio tightening, but he, too, had become completely quiet, as if he could sense the danger we were in. I kissed his forehead despite the gasoline, never taking my eyes off Mrs. Falcone.
She nodded once, then turned back to the windshield. “I’ve been waiting for a long time for this moment.”
“Please,” I whispered. “Don’t do this. You can start a new life.”
She peered over her shoulder. “I don’t want a new life. All I want is to finish what I’ve begun, don’t you understand?”
The feverish determination in her eyes made me shudder. I pressed my cheek against Alessio’s head.
“You don’t have to be scared. I won’t hurt you or him, if my sons do what I say. He’s not Nino’s, right?”
I swallowed. “We adopted him.”
“Good, then you two can live.” All I could think about was the baby in my belly, Nino’s baby. What would she do if she found out I was pregnant with her son’s child?
I tried not to panic. It would only transfer to Alessio and make him cry again. Remo and Nino would figure out a way to save us.
NINO
We were on our way back home after four days on the road and without a trace of our mother. “Our wives and children need us,” I said again, because Remo was dangerously silent since I’d convinced him to return to the mansion for a few days.
I added, “We don’t have a lead, Remo. I want her gone as much as you do, but we can’t spend every second chasing her, not anymore, not like in the past.”
“Every moment that she’s out there is a moment where she can ruin everything. You know her.”
“I—”
The ringing of my phone stopped me from saying more. It was Kiara’s number. I picked up at once. “Did something happen?”
“Hello Nino,” a woman said and it took my brain a moment to recognize the voice and my insides froze over. “I know we haven’t spoken in a while, but I’m only calling you to tell you we have your Kiara and her baby. I don’t know if you care, but I think maybe you do, so if you want to see her alive, you and Remo come home now.”
Remo slowed the car, taking in my expression. “Nino?”
My mother’s voice went on calmly, “Tell Remo, Kiara and the baby are covered in gasoline and if he doesn’t behave, I’ll have to let them burn. We’ll be waiting for you.”
She hung up and I could only stare at my cell. Images from the past, of hungry flames eating away at the drapes, slithered through my mind, followed by the horrible realization that today it might not be I who burned, but worse, Kiara and Alessio.
“Nino, say something.”
“Our mother has Kiara and Alessio. She’s going to kill them if we don’t come home.”
Remo’s phone rang and he picked up, saying immediately, “Fabiano, what the fuck is going on?” My brother closed his eyes, his chest heaving. “Take Fina and the twins into the panic room in your mansion if you’ve got time. Maybe our mother doesn’t know about them.” Remo nodded. “Let them in. Don’t risk that she hurts Kiara or Alessio.”
Remo opened his eyes and looked at me. I was still clutching my phone in my hand.
“We have to save them,” I rasped. “Help me save them.”
Remo gripped the back of my head and hugged me. “You’ll never have to ask me for something like that. Never. We will save them, and if anyone burns today, it’ll be us.” He pulled back, his eyes harsh. “I know it’s fucking much to ask right now, but shove your emotions down as far as you can. If we want to save them, I need you to be the sociopathic killer, not the husband or father, got it?”