Page 19 of Auctioned Innocence
As I watch, a text appears:WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?
Ice slides down my spine. Marco doesn’t panic.
Ever.
“I need to take this,” I say, already standing.
Mario’s face is grim—he recognizes the look too.
The look of a man receiving news that’s about to shatter the peace.
“Go,” he says quietly. “We’ll be here.”
I step onto the terrace, the cool night air doing nothing to ease the tightness that’s suddenly over me.
I hit redial, preparing for business problems, territory disputes, maybe even a betrayal by a lesser family.
What I’m not prepared for is the raw anguish in Marco’s voice when he answers on the first ring.
“She’s gone.” His voice breaks, barely recognizable. “Someone took her, Dante. They took Sofia.”
The world tilts sideways.
My vision narrows to a pinpoint, blood rushing in my ears.
For a moment, I can’t breathe, can’t think, can’t process the words.
Then training kicks in, walling off emotion, focusing on facts, on action.
“What happened?” My voice sounds distant to my own ears.
“She called me. Said someone was in the house. I heard—” Marco’s voice breaks, and the sound of my oldest friend so devastated cuts through me like a blade. “I heard her scream. By the time my men got there…”
Ice floods my veins.
I’m already moving, instinct taking over as I check my weapons, checking what I have, what I’ll need. “Signs of forced entry?”
“Professional job. They knew the security system, knew when she’d be alone. She said the security feed was on a loop.”
Papers shuffle in the background. “Found this in her room.”
A photo appears on my phone.
My mouth dries.
A black business card, blank except for an ornate golden key—the Calabrese family crest.
But not Anthony’s personal symbol.
This one has a subtle difference, a small “D” worked into the design.
“Dominic,” I growl, the name like poison in my mouth. “Taking revenge for his brother.”
“The timing’s not a coincidence,” Marco says, his voice steadying as he focuses on the facts, just as I have.
It’s what we do, how we survive. “Anthony’s appeal was just denied last week. Now suddenly his brother’s making moves?”
My mind races through implications, possible scenarios, each one worse than the last.
