Page 25 of Deal with the Devil
“If nobody’s seen her, there must be a reason why,” he answers simply in his usual monotone. “Who else is good at making people disappear but someone like us?”
“The Tucos,” I say slowly. “You think they could’ve had something to do with this?”
“It wouldn’t be the first time they’ve targeted her.”
I stroke my jaw, slowly nodding along as I try to think.
It’s hard after the day I’ve had. Rather than feel composed and strategic and on my A game, I’ve been the exact opposite every step of the way.
Blacking out and losing some of your memory will do that to you.
But the more I mull over what Maurizio has said, the more I’m wondering if that could be the case. If somehow the Tucos could be involved.
I sent Portia away to protect her. It broke her heart when I encouraged her to take the job in DC, but it was for her own good. She was getting too close to discovering the truth, which would open Pandora’s Box and cause a host of issues for everyone involved. It would complicate things not only for me, but it would put her in irrevocable danger like never before.
She would become the biggest target of both the Belluccis and the Tucos, and I’m not sure I could even protect her anymore. That I could prevent Don Vito from interfering.
Could the Tucos have caught wind of my trip to DC and interfered somehow? Did they pull something last night?
It’s a version of events that’s easier for me to accept than the other possibility. Than the version that’s had me disturbed with myself all morning long…
“Find out,” I say at last. “If the Tucos are involved—if they’ve taken Portia—the gloves are off. There are no more rules. I will make them suffer in ways they can’t even imagine.”
7
RAFAEL
Days into Portia’s disappearance,I’m a man that’s been pushed beyond his breaking point. I’m not sleeping. I’m barely eating. All other matters fall by the wayside as I fixate on finding her.
My men conduct round-the-clock searches for her, both DC and Newport.
Little to no new info is uncovered. Every so often we get an eyewitness that emerges claiming to have seen her on the street buying a coffee or being shoved into the back of a car by mystery men, but they all turn out to be false leads. Dead ends that go nowhere.
I’ve settled on Maurizio’s theory. The Tucos are involved somehow. They’ve taken Portia.
It’s their latest move in an ever-escalating war between our families. Though we’ve been dominating this feud, taking over the street with our products like Nectar, the Tucos have refused to go down quietly.
Kidnapping Portia is exactly the kind of revenge they’d take for the things I’ve done to weaken their operation.
In the span of six months, Titus Tuco has been forced to replace three of his capos thanks to me. The latest being Sergio Sacrimoni, who I tortured to death.
Dario Cortese is the latest soldier to be promoted through the ranks to take on the job. He’s in his thirties, a Tuco loyalist from a young age, and a no-nonsense sharpshooter by all accounts.
In other words, he’s exactly the type who would want to make a big statement by hitting me where it hurts.
“What’s the latest?” I ask first thing in the morning. My penthouse apartment is empty except for Mara flitting around to get the coffee made and my overnight security stationed at their designated posts.
Maurizio has just arrived to brief me on any updates. “No sightings. No new leads. We surveilled the Tuco compound on the south side of the city and nothing.”
“Women don’t vanish into thin air. Someone somewhere knows where she is. Someone somewhere saw something and is lying.”
“We can return to DC and comb the area again,” Maurizio suggests.
I take the mug of coffee Mara hands over and give it some thought, walking toward the floor-to-ceiling window opposite the kitchen. It overlooks the financial district of Newport, providing a generous view of some of the tallest skyscrapers in the city.
At this early hour, the morning sun reflects off the glass buildings and creates prisms of light.
“It’s time to address Cortese,” I say finally. “Enough investigating and tearing the city apart. I want to know what cards he has to play. If it reveals our hand too, that’s just collateral damage I’m willing to accept.”
