Page 158 of Made for Sinners

An hour later,the war room was full.

Rafe. Luca. Leo. My top men. All of them standing around the table as I paced like a caged animal.

“She used the tunnel,” I said, pointing to the map. “The old one beneath the chapel. She found it. She got out.”

“Alone?” Luca asked.

I nodded. “She needed air. She didn’t tell me.”

Luca swore under his breath. “And they were waiting?”

“They knew,” I said. “They knew she’d come out. They knew she’d be alone. This wasn’t random. This was planned.”

“Inside job?” Rafe asked.

“Maybe,” I said. “Or maybe they’ve been watching longer than we thought.”

I turned to the tech at the far end of the room.

“Trace the phone that sent the video,” I said. “I want a location. I want names.”

“Yes, sir.”

I looked at Rafe. “Get me Valentina.”

“She’s in Milan.”

“Then get her on the phone.”

Rafe nodded and stepped out to make the call, already barking orders into his phone. The room buzzed with tension, a low hum of voices, rustling papers, and the occasional clink of metal as weapons were checked and rechecked. But I couldn’t hear any of it.

All I could hear was the echo of her voice in my head.

Except there was no voice. Just silence.

Because they’d gagged her.

Because they’d taken her.

Because I’d let her slip through my fingers.

I gripped the edge of the table, knuckles white, jaw clenched so tight it hurt. My mind was already moving at a thousand miles an hour, calculating, planning, killing.

They had my wife.

And I was going to make them regret it.

Luca was the first to break the silence.

“We need to check the perimeter footage again,” he said, pacing like he was trying to keep himself from punching a wall. “If they had a car waiting in the woods, they didn’t just stumble onto her. They knew exactly where she’d come out.”

I nodded. “They knew about the tunnel.”

Rafe leaned forward, arms braced on the table. “Which means someone told them.”

“Yeah,” I said coldly. “And when I find out who, I’ll make them wish they’d never been born.”

The tech at the far end of the room raised a hand. “Sir. We traced the number.”

---