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Tony lifts his gun at me. “I already have,” he says.

I stop. He turns and walks away. He gets into his car, just as his men close the car doors on Gia and the boy. My anger flares hot again as I watch them drive off.

Matteo groans and struggles into a sitting position. He rubs his head, then gets unsteadily to his feet.

“Gia! Giovanni!” he calls.

“They’re gone,” I say, my voice hollow.

He stumbles down the street after the cars, holding his head. “No!”

I watch him, scared of what he’ll do to me. This is all my fault. “They’re gone, Matteo. The Shift-left gang has them now.”

Matteo shakes his head and groans, stepping back toward me. My men move toward us, their guns still drawn.

“How the fuck did this happen?” he rasps, wiping his hands down his face.

He’s clearly distraught about losing his son. Fuck! Guilt gnaws at me. The kid didn’t deserve to get wrapped up in all this. He couldn’t have been older than five, maybe six years old.

I run my hand through my hair, then grip it tightly, shaking my head. I bend over double as the reality of the situation hits me. Tony has my sister and Matteo’s kid, and that man is fucking unstable. Who knows what he’ll do to them.

Lorenzo comes over and pats my back. I shrug him off.

“It’s my fault,” I say with a rough voice. “Fuck, everything is my fault. I only wanted to rescue Gia, but Tony double-crossed me.”

Matteo stands in front of me now. I can feel the glare; I don’t need to look up. It’s the same way Gia glares at me when I piss her off.

“He said they’re worth more to him than handing them off to me. He’s going to try to broker a deal in exchange for them, I think.” I say.

I stand up and swallow the lump in my throat.

Matteo starts to pace up and down. “How could you let this happen?”

“It’s going to be okay,” Lorenzo tells me, ignoring Matteo.

Francesco steps forward. “We’ll get them back, don’t worry.”

Matteo glares at them as well, as if they’re the biggest shit talkers ever. There’s no love lost between our families, and it’s clear Matteo puts all this on me.

“If you hadn’t kidnapped Gia to begin with…” I start to point out.

“She was clearly safer with me than you,” Matteo snaps. “I didn’t send her to Russo to be raped.”

“What?” I ask.

Before Matteo can reply, sirens sound in the distance. Someone must have called the cops.

Matteo points a finger at me. “We need to discuss this. Follow me to my home.”

He goes and gets in his Jeep, shutting the door. We pile into our car and follow him back to his mansion. He pauses at the gates to speak to the guards, who then wave us in.

This place is huge. I see what Francesco meant by it being difficult to take. There are guards everywhere. Even with the Shift-left gang, I doubt we could have come out on top.

Matteo waits for us at the front door, his phone against his ear as he barks orders at someone. He hangs up and leads us inside and into a large study.

I’m taken aback by how much like mine it is. We clearly have similar tastes. An older Italian lady brings in glasses and two bottles of fine whisky and leaves everything on the table. Matteo starts to pour and hand out drinks as two men arrive, clearly his brothers.

“This is Bruno and Cosimo, my younger brothers.” Matteo waves in their direction. “They’re going to help us get Gia and Giovanni back.”