It would take us at least three hours to reach Minneapolis and probably several more hours to figure out where they kept Adamo. The Darknet connection would begin in fifty minutes. I took my phone again and dialed Dante’s number. He rejected the call.
“Fuck him,” I rasped. “Call our pilot. The plane better be ready in twenty minutes or I’ll kill him.”
Nino made the call and we set out toward the airport. Fabiano stayed with Kiara, whom he was taking to a safe house with Leona. I’d alerted every fucking soldier in Las Vegas to be vigilant.
The plane was ready on time, and we started almost immediately. I tried to call Dante again, but he didn’t pick up.
“It’s his game this time,” Nino murmured after a while.
Savio had his face buried in his hands.
“It is,” I agreed. “And he’ll win.”
Nino raised his eyebrows.
“I’ll allow him to put me checkmate.”
“Remo,” he began, but I smiled grimly and indicated the laptop. “It’s time to turn this on.”
I pressed the blade against my palm when Adamo appeared on the screen. He was slumped forward on a chair.
When they started cutting him, Adamo’s scream filled the airplane, blaring from the speakers mercilessly, and fuck, they were the first screams in forever that got under my skin. The first since her screams. I cut into my palm, deep, drawing blood. Savio gripped the armrest of the seat, his arms shaking. Nino was behind me, one hand digging into my shoulder.
Danilo was next and took out a lighter. I jumped to my feet, shaking with rage … so much rage, it threatened to rip me apart. Adamo’s eyes widened. Fuck, he was a kid. He wasn’t like us. This was supposed to be me. I was supposed to burn for them.
Danilo touched the flame to Adamo’s skin, and his screams got louder. I reached for my phone again, knowing that Dante would reject my call like before and hating this fucking sense of helplessness. I was supposed to burn for them, for him, and I would.
“Enough!” a female voice rang out, and my eyes snapped back to the screen as Serafina threw herself in front of my brother, protecting him. I froze, unable to trust my eyes, to believe that the woman who haunted my nights was really in front of me.
Nino and Savio stared at me, as if they waited for me to lose my shit completely.
“Fuck,” Savio murmured, shaking his head.
She hadn’t returned to me like I’d thought she would.
She hated me more than I’d expected, and yet she protected Adamo. Because he wasn’t the one she wanted to see suffer. She wanted to see me bleed. She would get her wish.
“Remo?” Nino said in a cautious voice.
I raised the phone to my ear, waiting for the inevitable, but this time it didn’t come. He finally answered my call. “Dante, I’ll give you what you really want. Tomorrow morning I’ll be in Minneapolis and exchange myself for Adamo.” He didn’t need to know we were already on our way, but maybe he did.
“Remo,” he said coolly. His eyes focused on the camera for a moment before the screen turned black and Serafina and my brother disappeared from view.
“It’s me you want to see burn, not my brother, and you will get your chance.”
“Tomorrow morning, at eight. If you’re late, your brother won’t be recognizable as your brother anymore, understood?”
“Understood.”
“I’ll have someone send you the details, Remo. I’m looking forward to meeting you again,” he said coldly.
I hung up.
“They will kill you, Remo,” Savio said.
“They will cut me, skin me, burn me, cut off my dick, and then maybe they’ll kill me,” I said quietly. And all I could wonder was if Serafina would watch them do it.
CHAPTER 26
SERAFINA
They allowed me to stay with Adamo, and I crouched at his feet, feeling sick to my stomach from what I’d witnessed and even worse thinking about what was to come.
“Remo will exchange himself for you,” I whispered. “Tomorrow, you will be back in Vegas, and Nino will treat your wounds.”
Adamo tilted his head, dark eyes bleak. “Remo is Capo. He won’t die because I’ve been stupid enough to get myself captured. I’ve been a disappointment to him since I was born. He will use this chance and kill Dante instead of handing himself over.”
I lifted soaked fabric from his burn, and he groaned deeply. His wrist and nose were broken and his shoulder dislocated. He must have been in horrible pain, and there was nothing I could do to help him. Playing the guilt card forced my family give me this small freedom. It didn’t convince them to call a doctor though. They would have probably kept torturing Adamo if I hadn’t refused to move away from his side.
“You’re wrong, Adamo. Remo will protect you. He doesn’t fear death or pain. He will take your place because you are his brother and he cares for you. He’d do anything for you.”