Page 84 of Savage Claim

“We’ll find them,” Damian assured me. “Let’s just get her back first.”

I couldn’t agree more.

CHAPTER 55

Lorenzo

The ride to Grand Central was tense. We had looked at all of the possible trains that were going out of New York, and it was a race to get to the station before any of them left. Luckily, the air tag was designed to lead us directly to wherever the tag had been placed, not just the building or general area.

If Isabella had it in her pocket, I would be able to get to her.

We had just made the corner—the Station was right up ahead—and the tag said that she was inside that building. But then I saw Isabella on the sidewalk, a half block in front of us.Fuck, the tag had been dropped.

A tall man had a grip on her arm, and he was trying to tug her into a van. My fear was that if we got close in the car, they would take off. “Stop,” I commanded, and as soon as Damian slowed enough, I jumped out and started running.

My feet pounded against the pavement as I ran, weaving around the people on the sidewalk that barely seemed to be reacting at all to the young, pregnant woman who was trying her best to resist being kidnapped.

A hand clamped around Isabella’s mouth, and they managed to finally drag her into the van. I tried to put on more speed, but I knew that I was going to be too late.Fuck, move faster, I told myself. Before the man who had dragged Isabella to the van could get into it, someone leaned out, shoved something into his hand, and then sank a blade into his chest. He dropped to the sidewalk, scattering the people who had been watching in horror and doing absolutely fuck-all about it, and then the van peeled off.

Santino was the man on the ground. His face looked worse for wear, and he was clutching at the bleeding wound on his chest. His eyes went round when he saw me. A part of me wanted to stomp on his face with my boot, turn him into a splatter on the ground.

But I was going to need him.

Damian pulled the SUV up to the curb, and I picked Santino up. He groaned in pain and panic, trying to push me away, but it was like all of the strength was draining out of him.

The hatch door opened, and I threw Santino inside and climbed in after him. “Head in the direction of the van,” I instructed Damian. “Elio, toss me the first aid kit, and then call in reinforcements. Tell them that we’ll have an address for them soon. Half will go there; the other half will pick up Artem Volkov’s closest friends and family. The dossiers should be in the shared drive.”

“Right,cugino.”My cousin handed back the kit, and I yanked the collar of Santino’s shirt until it ripped enough that I got a look at the wound. He tried to shove at my hands again, but I pressed on the wound, digging my fingers in, and he screamed and tried to get away from me, but there was nowhere to go.

Whatever Santino had been holding onto flew from his hand: it was a cell phone. I grabbed it and unlocked it. The screen was open to a livestream. Nothing was happening, but the set up sent a chill through me. It was a white room with an operating table. Medical tools were laid out, ready for use.

I held it up for Santino to look at. “What is this?” The man shook his head, mumbling nonsense, and I dug my fingers into his wound again, sinking the tips of my fingers into the torn meat. Santino screamed again. “What. Is. This?”

Still, he said nothing. The wound was bleeding heavily; if I wanted to keep him conscious to get any answers from him, I was going to need to stop it. I opened the first aid kit and grabbed the medical stapler. I held the edges of the wound together and put in a dozen or so staples. With each press of the firing trigger, Santino screamed and I contemplated stapling his lips closed to shut him up but I needed information from him.

“Boss, I can’t tell if I’m still following that van anymore or not.”

Goddamn it. I glanced at the livestream. The room was still empty, but I couldn’t wait until Isabella was on that screen. I needed Santino to sing like a canary now. “Talk.” Santino glared at me, his breaths coming in pants, but still defiant. “Fine,” I said. “Elio, pass me the bolt cutters. I’m sure losing a finger or two will loosen your tongue.”

Thatseemed to wake him up. “Artem is obsessed with you. He doesn’t think you’ve earned your place, like he has. He’s worked hard for what you were given for free.”

I couldn’t care less about that. Whatever made Artem want to take on the Cosa Nostra didn’t matter to me. It wasn’t his motives that I was after. “Where is he taking Isabella?”

A look came over his face that made me press on his wound again, the skin tearing around the staples, until he squealed. “By the time we get there, it’ll be too late,” Santino said through gritted teeth. His eyes flicked to the phone in my hand. “The baby is near term, right? Plenty viable.”

A hollow pit formed in my stomach, but I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of seeing me panic. Why would it matter if the baby was viable? I bit back the question: we didn’t have time for the details. “Give me the address,” I said.

“No.”

The bolt cutters appeared over the side of the seat without my having to ask for it. The color drained from Santino’s face. “You’re going to tell me where she is,” I told him, “or I am going to start taking off appendages. Do you know how long it would take to bleed out once I cut your cock off?” I waved the bolt cutters in front of his face. “Days, if you don’t end up with sepsis first.”

Santino screamed the address like I’d lit his ass on fire.

CHAPTER 56

Isabella

Itried digging my heels into the tiles beneath my feet, but my shoes couldn’t get the traction I needed as I was dragged along. The man gripping my arm so hard that I could feel my bones rubbing together had stabbed Santino in the chest. That knife was shoved into a sheath at his hip, blood was staining it and his jeans.

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