“Carter, I’m disappointed in you. I had such a high opinion of you…but now I know you’re just a thief.”
I tried to think of a plan. The first thing I would do was contact my father and uncle. Griffin would be next. I would need to organize as many men as I could if I hoped to match Egor as an opponent. I wasn’t letting this man hurt my family—not again.
“Have you nothing to say?”
I couldn’t hold my silence forever. “I’m willing to settle this like a man.”
“Really?” he asked. “Good. I was hoping you would say that. If you’re an honorable man, you will return the stolen good—along with the boy.”
Over my dead body. “I’ll do you one better. I’ll buy her from you.”
“How can you buy something from me when I don’t have it?” he countered. “And we both know that’s not what I want.”
“A hundred million,” I offered. “And we’re even.”
“Oh, we’ll never be even, Carter. I expect you to pay a fee for your actions—in addition to giving her back to me.”
Never. “Egor, that’s not gonna happen. You know that.” I would rather die than let him take my wife and son. I would take a bullet in the heart to spare them. “I say we find another compromise.”
“Carter…be very careful.”
A stretch of tense silence ensued. His threat was audible, but I had no idea what it meant.
“This is your last chance. Give Mia back to me, along with her son. Or there will be consequences you can’t afford to suffer. Trust me on that…”
The fact that he wouldn’t tell me specifically what it was terrified me, but there was nothing more terrifying than giving up my family. “I don’t want to fight you, Egor. I want to settle this. But I’m not going to—”
“That is your final decision?”
Fuck.
“Carter?”
“Yes…it’s my final decision.”
“I figured it would be. Alright, then. Let me tell you a little story…”
I wished I had another phone to call my father and relay all this to him.
“I’m sitting in the back seat of a black car. I’m in Florence. There’s this beautiful woman walking down the street, brown hair, green eyes…gorgeous figure.”
No.
“If you won’t give me Mia, then I’ll take something else—your sister.”
“You fucking piece of—”
“Goodbye, Carter. When I fuck her, I’ll think of you.” Click.
I dropped the phone as I launched to my feet. I snatched it back off the desk and pulled up my father’s number. My hands were shaking so much that I nearly dropped it again. I finally got the phone to start ringing and placed it against my ear. “Pick up!”
It rang twice before my father answered. “Son—”
“Egor is going after Carmen right now. He’s in Florence. She’s walking. He sees her. We’ve got to do something.” Words tumbled out of my mouth like vomit. I probably didn’t make any sense over the phone.
But my father got it. “I’m leaving now. Stand outside your front gate. Crow and I will pick you up on the way.”
“Hurry.”
Click.
20
Carmen
Bosco had to work that night at the casino.
Apparently, Ronan needed the night off.
Just one night without him was torture. I couldn’t wait until the casino was officially in the past and he wouldn’t be gone during the night anymore. No more cigar smoke, tits, and Ruby.
It would be a quiet life for the two of us.
And I loved the home he’d bought. I wanted to see the inside of it, but I didn’t want to get ahead of ourselves. My father still didn’t like him yet.
I’d been skipping work a lot lately, so I decided to get a ride down there to do some bookkeeping. The guys dropped me off, and I looked through my paperwork in the back. I tallied up all my expenses for tax purposes, and a few hours later, I left.
I decided to pick up a pizza from my favorite local place a few blocks away, and it seemed pointless to call for the car, so I walked the few blocks and turned left. I pulled out my phone and called the order in, getting a Margherita pizza with extra cheese.
I liked extra cheese.
I got a call from one of Bosco’s men when I was done.
“Hello, Carmen,” he said in a professional tone. “Are you still in the shop?”
I must have slipped out in the two seconds they weren’t watching.
“The lights are out.”
“I walked a few blocks over to pick up a pizza. You can meet me there if you want.”
There was so much panic in his silence. “We’ll be right there. Bosco gave us very specific orders not to let you walk around at night alone.”
“Well, I’m two blocks away. I’m sure I’ll be fine.” I hung up then kept walking. I turned right again and made my way up the quiet street. There was no traffic except a black car that passed in the opposite direction. The windows were completely blacked out. It made a U-turn and then came up behind me.