Page 53 of Fall
18
Antonio
I grit my teeth as I approach my guys that I left to work the front security gate. My chest tightens like there's a vice around it at the sight of one of them in the distance with his arms up, waving at me in a panic. This couldn't be good. I know that myphone died on my way back from Philly after that long detour to drop off the boss and return to the SUV. It couldn't be helped. The boss took the car charger with him when we switched cars. Besides, I was only unreachable for an hour, tops, and only Romano himself knew I'd be delayed.
My mind races, trying to anticipate what the fuck he wants to tell me by ruling out all the possible disastersthat could’ve happened.
The property is still secure in front of me, so I dismiss that right away.
It can’t be the boss. He’s out of harm’s way now, and I’m the last person to see him.
I doubt it’s Nonna Romano. She should be perfectly safe among her people in Italy. After all, it’s her first cousin who has put Romano in the center of this shitstorm.
Natalia.
Fuck.
Natalia was with Vinny. There’s no one I trust more to keep her safe. Her flight should be taking off any minute now.
Fuck.
If anything happens to her on my watch…
My guy runs over to my SUV while it’s coming to a stop and pounds on the window with a fist. My entire body goes tense. This can’t fucking be happening. My hand is shaking as I hit the button that rollsthe window down, anxious to find out what the hell has gone wrong now.
“What the fuck happened?” I ask before the window is halfway down.
“We were trying to reach you and the boss,” he shouts, and goes off into a long winded update that’s making no fucking sense.
“Take a breath and calm down.” My order is harsh and cold, but my men can handle it. I stick my dead phone outthe open window and call to the next guy. “Get someone to find me a charger for this,” I tell him, then snap at the first, “Who is this about?”
"There was a problem… at the private airstrip. Vinny got a message to us. He tried to reach you."
Dread bolts through me at his mention of Vinny's name, but it's the fact that he's said nothing about Natalia that sends me in a panic of myown. "Is Miss Romano secure?"
I see the answer flash across his face before he can say a word.
“Where is she?” I demand in a threatening growl. “What happened to Vinny?”
“We don’t know! I’m sorry. The plane was ambushed before it took off. Someone took her.”
“What?” My pulse is pounding in my ear, my stomach hard like a stone as my brain is going a mile a minute, refusingto accept what I’m hearing. “Where is she? How the fuck did this happen?”
“We don’t know.” He inches to one side, scrambling for words when the other guard brings the charger over and hands it to me. “Vinny and Rodrigues were both shot. Vinny managed to send us a message… but we haven’t been able to get a reply back yet. He just stopped responding. Five of our men are on route to the airportright now. They took the last two SUVs in the fleet.”
"Vinny… he was shot?" I listen to the words roll of my tongue and can't believe them myself. The image that flashes across my mind is the day I went to his middle school to make good on my promise. I'll never forget it, or what he did for me. It was six weeks after the shooting accident involving our abusive old drunk of a foster father.The asshole fucking died from that gash in his head. But Vinny came through for me. He told the cops his version of what happened. I'd be in prison somewhere if it weren't for him. And Romano smoothed it over by dealing with it from the inside.
This can’t be happening. But I can’t afford to lose my shit right now. I’m the one my men are looking to for directions.
I shove the chargerinto the nearest port and hook up my dead phone. "Have three of them dropped off at the airstrip to secure the location. Instruct the other two to split up with the SUVs. I want them back here. Fuel up the vehicles and have them waiting here, ready to go. And put some men on the phones. I want one of them to call all the hospitals close to the airstrip. Keep one listening for the house line too,in case there's any ransom demands or any updates from other sources about Miss Romano. Also, try to track down the boss's tech hookup. He has the know-how and the gear to trace Natalia's phone GPS. And keep trying Vinny's phone too. He might've passed out after he was shot."
“I’m on all of it,” he confirms. “There’s one more thing. Romano’s mother. She’s been calling the main house andsecurity gate nonstop.”
“Does she know about Natalia?”
“No. There wasn’t much to tell. We wanted you to be in the loop first.”
“Good,” I say, relieved. “When did she start phoning?”
