Page 83 of The Red Queen

“We have more information,” Vitto said swiftly, launching into an explanation without pause. “It looks like she stole a passport from a woman while shopping. She got away from us through the back door of another shop. From the surveillance footage we’ve got hold of, she made her way down to the dockyard and probably boarded one of the ships.”

“I want you to find out what ships were docked during the hours surrounding Desi’s disappearance. Find out where they stop and what flights are leaving from nearby port cities.”

Vitto nodded and left the office.

Giovanni’s eyes landed on his second-in-command. “Ready the jet. We’ll head toward Mexico but tell the pilot to be prepared for another destination if we find out she’s gone somewhere else. Prepare a strike team. If I’m right, then she’s on her way to her childhood home, and she’ll have a hell of a fight on her hands when the leftover Garza boys find out she’s back in the Sinaloa area.”

Dino stared at his boss, the light of battle igniting his dark eyes and giving him a feral look. “I’ll make sure she has the backup she needs, Signore.”

It calmed some of Giovanni’s fear. All they had to do was get to her before the dredges of Garza’s cartel came for her.

A few hours later, Giovanni was boarding his private jet.

Dino met him at the door as he climbed aboard. “I can confirm that your wife boarded one of the cruise ships in the Venice harbour. We’re unsure if she remained on the ship or if she used it to distract us. We do have activity on a stolen credit card that we think she lifted from another guest. She’s booked three flights: one from Venice to Edinburgh, Scotland, another from Dubrovnik, Croatia to Houston, Texas, and another from Valletta, Malta to Panama.”

Despite his anger and fear, Giovanni had to admire his woman’s intelligence. She knew he would be on her tail as she fled back toward her homeland. She was trying to throw him off.

He pulled up a map of Mexico on his phone and found her hometown, the place he thought she was most likely to visit. Houston was closest, but she could as easily fly into Panama and take another flight the rest of the way.

“She’s still on the ship,” he decided. “She’ll likely disembark in Croatia in…,” he checked the time, “a few hours.”

“Should we direct the pilot to land in Dubrovnik?” Dino asked, half turned toward the cockpit.

Giovanni paced and thought about his options. By running away Desi was trying to tell him something. She’d been arguing for her autonomy and independence from the beginning. In leaving him, she was making it clear that she couldn’t accept the way things stood between them. As much as it pained him not to pick her up as quickly as possible and ensure her safety, he had to listen to what she was telling him with her actions.

“Tell the pilot we’re heading to Culiacan, Mexico.” It was the closest international airport to Desi’s hometown that his jet could land. They would charter a helicopter to take them the rest of the way.

They should arrive in Mexico with more than enough time to secure the area for her arrival.

Chapter Thirty-Six

Desi approached the house slowly, nerves hammering at her. When Mateo had tortured her, cutting off her finger, she’d refused to scream. Under Nico’s harsh tutelage, she’d stayed strong, never broken. But when it came to seeing her mom for the first time in twenty-five years, she was a nervous mess.

“She’s just one person,” Desi muttered to herself, her feet planted at the end of a short walkway.

Still, doubts plagued her. Desi was well known in Sinaloa as Nicolas Garza’s ruthless second-in-command. What if her mother hated her for the things she’d done? What if she rejected Desi?

The house was cute, more taken care of than Desi remembered. The steppingstones to the front door were free of weeds and there was a small flower bed under a picture window. Desi had worried that she wouldn’t remember how to find the house after over two decades’ absence, but she’d found it easily.

Flashes of her childhood played through her mind like a long-forgotten movie. The house had been grey and dilapidated, but was now painted white with blue trim and there was a new-looking car in the driveway rather than the junker her mother used to drive.

A multitude of feelings collided inside Desi. She was happy that her mother had a seemingly good life, from what little Desi had seen so far, but she was also sad that her mother had moved on without her.

Of course she had. She couldn’t mourn a lost child forever.

Desi took a deep breath and finished walking the path up to the front door. The sun was descending in the sky, casting a faint glow across the landscape. The houses were lit up in pinks, purples, and blues. It was lovely. It felt like… home.

Desi lifted her fist to knock on the door but froze. The hair on the back of her neck stood up, like she was being watched. Carefully, casually, she dropped her hand to the holster underneath her jacket. She’d tapped one of her old contacts and picked up the weapon shortly after landing in Houston.

She turned on the spot, surveying the street.

Everything seemed quiet, no people in sight.

Then she realized what was wrong. This street used to be filled with children playing and families barbecuing and visiting. Now it was like a ghost town. There were no children playing in the streets, tossing a ball, or chasing each other. No nosy neighbour chatting across the fence, curious about the stranger wandering up their street.

It was all wrong. Felt like an ambush.

She should’ve talked to Giovanni, told him where she was going. He’d warned her she had enemies, and she’d recklessly brought herself and her unborn child into this situation.

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