“I don’t know, G. Maybe to get back at us.” Angelo held me in his arms for a few seconds, glancing over his shoulder at Sonny. “Get your keys. You’re driving us up there.”
The entire ride to New Jersey Angelo sat in the backseat of his car with me, while Sonny navigated the roads. Angelo clasped my hands between his, attempting to calm my nerves. Every time I thought of what we might find, waves of nausea almost knocked me out. All this time I was worried I would lose Angelo because of the Mafia wars they had going on between crews and families. I never expected my father to be one of the casualties.
When we found the construction site, my heart rate sped up so fast I had trouble breathing. I opened the door, and my legs felt like mush when I tried to stand on my own. Adrenaline shot through my veins, setting my body on fire, the heat brushing my cheeks and chest enough to make me feel like passing out.
Angelo followed me out of the car with a pair of bolt cutters in his hand to cut the lock from the fence. He gave my hand a reassuring squeeze. “Let me look. If it’s bad, you shouldn’t see your dad like this. I don’t want that for you.”
I nodded. “I can’t believe this is happening. My dad’s a businessman.”
“So am I,” Angelo said in a serious tone.
“If you say so.” I gave him a look like he was crazy. “My dad wasn’t part of any of this.”
“He’s tied to Enzo and his crew. Your dad’s a lot more invested than you think.”
“Why? He has nothing to profit from men like Enzo.”
“Men like me,” Angelo adds.
“You know what I mean, babe.”
“No, I don’t. I’m exactly like the men you talk badly about all the time. We’re all cut from the same cloth. Mine’s just a little nicer.”
His comment made me laugh, even though it wasn’t supposed to be funny. This was not a time for laughing. I had a habit of not acting in the appropriate manner when I was under a lot of stress.
I followed Angelo and Sonny, keeping a safe distance until we found my father’s BMW coupe parked at the back of the lot along the barbed wire fence that encased the entire property.
Angelo pushed his hand out behind him and touched my stomach. “Stay here, G.”
I did as Angelo asked and watched as Sonny and he inched toward my father’s car. With each second that passed, sweat dotted my brows. Bile rose from my stomach, choking me. My head spun from al
l the possibilities running through my mind.
“He’s alive,” Angelo yelled over to me.
I ran as fast as my feet could carry me, stopping at the driver’s side door where Sonny was helping my father up from the seat.
“Daddy!” I threw myself at him and hugged his middle. Like Angelo, he was tall, his bulky frame much larger than my five foot nothing.
My dad wrapped his arms around me and kissed my head. “Gianna, I knew you would find me.”
I glanced up at his face, covered in tiny scratches, dried blood, and dirt. “What happened to you? I looked everywhere for you.”
“I was walking out of City Hall and to my car. It was dark in the garage. I turned to open my door, and someone hit me on the back of the head with something.”
“Did you see anyone?” Angelo asked.
My dad shook his head.
“Did they talk? Did you recognize any of their voices?”
“No. I woke up in my trunk, disoriented and with a concussion. They pulled me out of the trunk and tied my hands to the steering wheel. I never saw their faces, they never spoke a word to each other.”
“Wiseguys,” Angelo said under his breath to Sonny.
Sonny nodded in agreement, keeping his mouth shut. They either knew something or had their suspicions. Most of the time, Angelo and Sonny spoke in code around me. I hated being kept in the dark when I was in as much danger as them. It was clear by my father’s disappearance that someone was after my family. What if I was next? The idea haunted me at night, forced me to check every door and window.
“How come you didn’t drive home?” I asked my dad.