Abducted By My Father's Best Friend (Taken)

I glance around, scanning everyone at the party. “I think he might be. I’m going to see if Mario knows about Sebastian Cain, see what he says about everything.”

Mia’s mouth opens, words failing to come out. Her eyelashes flutter like a hummingbird’s wings. “Do you think that’s a good idea?”

“Mario’s never met the real me before. I’ve never had to deal with this side of the business. I mainly launder, remember?”

Mia glances at Marion and then back at me. “Ok, good luck. I’ll keep working Enzo.”

I lean in, but not too much to make it look weird that a father can’t keep his hands off his own daughter. “Be careful.”

Mia smiles. “I always am.”

“We need to get to Rome.”

“The whole reason you came here is to pretend to see how his operation is ran. You need to stay and look around, get to see how he does business. Maybe I can go,” Mia says.

“Absolutely not.” I want to wrap my arms around her and stake my claim, but I know I can’t do that with all the eyes of the party on us. If our cover is blown, then this is over, and Mario will find out who I am.

And he won’t be happy that we lied to him.

Mia steps closer. “We need to make sure we find him. We can’t let him slip away. If he catches word we’re here, he’ll leave and we’ll never find him again.”

“You’re right, but there’s no way you’re going alone.”

“I can go with Enzo.”

I narrow a brow. “Absolutely not.” Is she crazy? I will never allow that one.

“What if we do a romantic getaway? You and Lucia and Enzo and me.”

I cross my arms. “They’ll never buy that.”

“Well, I’m not letting you leave without me.” Her lips turn down into a pout, and I inwardly growl at the sight.

“Don, come meet a few of my men.” Mario pulls me away from Mia and I follow him across the house toward the back door.

Now’s my chance.

“Mario, let me ask you a question. Did you hear the news about what Sebastian Cain did?”

Mario’s smile drops. “That fucking man is dead if I ever get my hands on him.”

I straighten my tie. “What have you heard?”

“I’ve heard he’s stolen a lot of money off the top of the whole organization.”

“But how?” This is what I can’t put my finger on. My books are always meticulous and triple checked. Georgio knows every aspect of what I’m doing, and he also knows I’m loyal as fuck. I may be a criminal, but I’d never betray my own. Ever.

“Well, Sebastian is in charge of all the laundering for the whole shebang, so he has access to every penny.”

I rub at my chin. “Ah, I see.”

Mario leans in closer to me and lowers his voice. “I think my son, Oliver, was helping Mr. Cain.”

“Why do you think that?”

He stares at me for a moment and must decide he’s said enough. “It’s not important. Oliver is just always getting into shit. And this is some pretty big shit.”

I’ll say.

We step out onto a terracotta-tiled patio filled with hanging lanterns illuminating a soft yellow glow throughout the space. There are a few couples enjoying the view of the rolling hills of the vineyard, and I imagine myself with Mia out here. Me holding her close.

Her staring at me like she’s never wanted to look anywhere else.

Me looking at her just the same.

I need to stop these feelings, but I can’t whenever she’s around.

“This is Tony. He runs the operations in Rome,” Mario cuts me off with his introduction of a tall, lanky man.

I smile.

Wide.

Finally, a fucking in.

“That’s great. I’d love to see your place. See how you run things in Rome. Bring my daughter there maybe?”

This is the perfect opportunity to get us to Rome to find Oliver.

Tony shakes my hand, nodding and smiling. “Absolutely. Yes, we’d love to have you. You can stay with me and my wife.”

“No, that’s not necessary. My daughter and I can get a hotel.”

“No, no. I insist.”

Mario smiles, bringing a glass of wine to his lips. “I think it’s a great idea. We work closely with Tony. After we get the goods from China, we send it to him, and he runs all the distribution.”

“Ah, you head up the distribution. Very nice.”

“Yes, and what is it you do exactly, Mr. Sabatini,” Tony asks.

It’s a simple question, but suddenly I feel offended that this man doesn’t know the made up man Georgio and I created to keep ourselves one step away from the whole operation.

I smile big, like I own the world and then I lean in like I’ve got the biggest fucking secret on the planet. “I make sure everyone is doing their jobs correctly.”

Mario laughs, slapping me on the back. “Exactly. Donovan Sabatini is the enforcer.” Mario’s obviously drunk and finds most of this conversation amusing.