Page 49 of The Don's Prisoner

There was a rumbling noise coming from outside, and I went over to the window, wishing I could see out of it. The rumbling shook the walls, and after a few minutes, it seemed to move away. The shouting started up, and I realized I had heard these sounds before, I just couldn’t pinpoint as to where.

The shouting got louder and clearer, and I realized that whoever was speaking was coming my way. I tried calling out, but I doubted I could be heard over the loud noise. Engine noise, that was it. The noise was from an engine of some sort, something big like a dump truck or a backhoe.

Construction. There was a construction crew outside! I recognized the noise from when I was a kid. Our neighbors had added on to their house, and for a good six months, I woke up to the same sound every morning.

Where was I then if there was a construction crew outside? Was this Rex’s place? No, it couldn’t be. He lived in a condo just like me the last I knew. So where the hell was I?

“Are you sure this is right?” a guy called over the noise. The voice was a lot closer than I had expected. I called out again but didn’t get an answer. Either my voice was incapable of reaching a normal volume, or the machinery noise was too loud. Whatever it was, I wasn’t going to be successful in getting their attention.

Slightly defeated, I focused on listening to them. Maybe they would tell me more about where I was.

“Yeah, it’s right. Start down there and work our way to this spot,” a second voice said, a little farther away, but not by much.

“That’s a weird request,” the first guy commented.

“Yeah, but you know how people with money are. They get to do whatever they like. Besides, the client—”

“—is always right. I know, I know. Come on, let’s get the ball rolling. I’m betting if we start now, we can knock the whole place down by Thursday.”

“You’ve never worked on a demo site, have you?” the guy snickered, and they bantered back and forth, their voices retreating and fading into the background noise.

Knock it down? Demo? Did the guy mean “demolition”?

They were taking down the building I was in, and I knew without a shadow of a doubt that Rex had specifically asked them to take everything down starting from the far end and finishing with mine, so I would have plenty of time to stress myself out worrying about it until the whole place caved in around me.

Would I die in the wreckage? Would I be buried in it and suffocate on cement dust? Would something fall on me and crush me to death? Would it be quick? I guessed that would be the most humane way to go, but I didn’t want that at all. I didn’t want to die caged like an animal in a forgotten part of some building. I didn’t want the crew outside to find my body and wonder what had happened but never find out the truth, because I knew no one ever would.

What would they tell Vito? Would Gio at least find out the truth?

My head was filled with too much fear and too many questions. Not having anything else I could do, I sat down on the floor in the corner, pulled my knees to my chest, hugging them tightly to my body, and began to sob.

Chapter sixteen

Giovanni

I had Logan trace the call I had received, but it turned out to be a dead end. Either Rex was better at technology than Logan was, which was highly unlikely, or he had hackers on his own on his side keeping him blocked—the more likely scenario. Logan and his guys started pulling at any string in Rex’s web they could find, and I told him to keep me posted.

In the meantime, I went to my father’s place and attempted to talk strategy with him and his men. Mostly I listened because my mood was too unstable to hold a coherent conversation. I heard a lot of “we’ll wait and see” as well as “don’t make the first move”. That last one had me yelling at everyone because Rex had already made the first move by stealing Victoria from me.

“But she’s not your wife yet. She’s not a part of the family,” one of my father’s men said.

I leaped over the table at him, grabbed him by the throat, and beat his face in until I was certain I had broken his jaw. No one moved to stop me, not even my father. If they didn’t know how I felt about her, that was fine, but she was still my fiancée. She was mine, marriage certificate or not, and that meant something.

I left the crumpled mass of flesh on the floor holding his face together while I left the room to go for a walk.

I hadn’t intended to walk that far down the road, but I did. I must have walked about three miles before I had even realized I wasn’t on the property anymore. I was just so mad and frustrated. I felt helpless. I needed to find her. I had so much left I wanted to say to her, and I hadn’t learned nearly enough about her.

We were not done yet. We needed more time.

A car pulled up beside me, and the window rolled down. I stopped and looked in to see Robby, Logan, and Felix all sitting inside.

“Get in,” Robby, who was driving, ordered.

“I’m not in a very good mood, guys,” I admitted and started walking again. The car followed at a slow crawl, keeping pace with me.

“I’ve got us a lead, Gio!” Logan called out, which of course made me stop.

“Way to bury the fucking lead,” I growled and got in the back seat.

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