Page 124 of King of Omen

I tumbled, grabbing onto the hall table as it crashed with me.

I yelled at the top of my voice, hoping to alert Mauri.

‘Sorry babe, no hard feelings,’ a second voice sounded.

Twisting on the floor, I was just able to see through the mess of my hair and the sticky blood. My eyes fell on Linda standing over me—a bat in her hand and a shit-eating grin on her face.

The club lowered again, and on instinct, I rolled from it. It caught the edge of my temple as I descended into the depths of darkness.

Chapter 24

LORENZO

Iwas on a video conference with one of our clients in London when a call bearing Mauri’s ID came through.

With an impatient grunt, I swiped the incoming line to voicemail.

My hackles rose when he rang right after.

‘Un momento,’ I murmured to my client, placing him on mute.

I flicked the screen to take Mauri’s call.

‘Boss,’ he groaned.

I froze at his tone.

‘What is it?’

‘It’s Mia. She’s -.’ His voice trailed off, severe and tight with tension.

‘What’s happened, Mauri?’ I demanded, sharp with worry, the sound echoing in my study.

After sending a message to reschedule, I disconnected the conversation with London and held my breath, waiting for Mauri to continue.

His answer was slow, halting, as if he was trying to find the words. ‘She’s gone. She went into the rear of her place to grab her things while I remained outside. Next thing, shouting. I ran as fast as possible on my bust knee to her place. But something was off. The back door was ajar and tagged her lying in the hallway, unconscious, with blood on her face. I rushed to get to her, and they got me as well. They wiped me with a bat, perhaps, and I blacked out. When I came to, she and they were gone. We had the Mancini crew out front, and they must have known that, so they escaped through the rear lane.’

My heart pounded as I tried to process this shocking news. ‘They? Who were they?’

‘The kid Tony. He’s the only face I recognised before I blacked out.’

‘Where is she?’

‘No clue. Like I said, I woke up in her apartment, but all three of them had disappeared. I’m sorry, padrone, I -’

Mauri was injured. I tagged the pain in his voice and interjected, ‘You hurt?’

‘Just a concussion. Don’t worry about me; focus on your woman.’

I rose to my feet, my mind racing. ‘Fuck! We need professionals. What of your friends from the night of the shoot?’

‘They’re just a clean-up crew, not sophisticated enough for a search and rescue.’

‘The Mancinis?’

‘They’ve already proven useless given they were the front crew at Mia’s, plus they’re not trained like our crew in Naples.’

‘Cozza,’ I growled, thinking fast. ‘You stay put, mobile close by. There’s an angle I think I can explore. Alessio and I will drive to you, and we’ll go after her.’

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