They entered the elevator and rode it down together with the bodyguards. Dario was waiting, leaning against the wall, looking bored, just inside the lower parking garage. His gaze slid over Valentino and then Emmanuelle. There was no expression on his face whatsoever, but Valentino felt the little shiver that went through Emme. She knew Dario almost as well as he did, and she knew something was up. He was going to have to tell Dario that his bored indifference tipped Emme off to the fact that something was wrong.
His phone vibrated. Emme’s must have as well. She pulled it from inside her jacket as she stepped close to Valentino, under his shoulder, but not so close he couldn’t get to his weapons. He liked that about her. She had always been aware of the space between them in public. He had put it down to taking care not to let others know they were a couple. Now he realized it was more than that. Emmanuelle was just as careful as he was about being in a position to utilize all weapons.
One last piece of information before Marge died. She witnessed Miceli meeting with Marco Messina on two occasions.
That was bad. Really bad, if Marge confirmed Marco met with Miceli on two occasions. Valentino couldn’t imagine Marco, the youngest son of crime boss Tibberiu Messina, setting up and carrying out a large human trafficking ring that had to encompass more than just the Saldi territory. The rot had to have spread to other families. Marco would need his father’s backing. Going to war with Tibberiu was next to impossible. Valentino didn’t have the manpower. Not yet. Maybe never. Even with the Ferraro family as allies, he couldn’t touch the Messina family. He stopped the flow of traffic in his own territory, but he wouldn’t be able to cut off the head.
He swore softly, his eyes meeting Dario’s. He and Dario had sworn a blood oath. Even Giuseppi didn’t understand their full commitment to stopping Miceli. For Giuseppi it was a matter of a traitor going against the famiglia. Worse, Miceli was his brother. Giuseppi was now convinced, as Val had been all along, that Miceli was behind the car bombing that killed their youngest brother and his wife. It was important to stop him, but for Val, the most important thing was to crush the human trafficking ring at the very heart, to cut off the head. If that head was the very powerful Messina family, they would not do so easily or soon.
He felt Emmanuelle’s eyes on him and steeled himself to meet her gaze. Dario had sent her the message as well. Her family would have to check out the information and could do so much faster than Valentino could. That meant he would have to allow her to go without his protection. He knew that would become the scenario over their years together. His woman was so unafraid of risk, while he would always be terrified when she was out of his sight. He knew she felt the same for him.
“We have to go, Val. We can’t take a chance that Angelo and Miceli will move those kids. It’s rare for both the female and male children to be held together,” Dario said.
“Take all the men with you, Valentino,” Emme said softly. “Demetrio and Drago are here, and I’ll be leaving to meet my brothers and cousins shortly.”
Val knew she was right. As much as he wanted to leave his men to protect her even for those few minutes before Stefano sent word where she was to meet him, they couldn’t watch her disappear into the shadows without some kind of explanation. He cupped the side of her face, ran his thumb over her cheek and nodded.
Abruptly, he dropped his hand. “Let’s go, Dario.” He indicated the cars. They would tell the drivers the location once they were close to it. They weren’t going to take chances that Miceli or Angelo would move the children before they could get to them. Valentino had an army moving on the location, but he was sending his men there from various sites.
All drivers were sent to the highway in the general direction that could take them anywhere. If they had a traitor among them, he had no chance of tipping Miceli off that Val’s men were coming for him. In the meantime, Stefano and his crew could get there first and hopefully stop them from leaving should they be forewarned.
The neighborhood was old and run-down. Emmanuelle could see why Angelo had chosen to hide the children here. No one would care in this desolate place if they heard the sound of children crying. It was a common sound, along with adults fighting and women screaming from the beatings they took. The smell of alcohol was prevalent, along with urine and rotting garbage.