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“What?” he asks.

“We’ve got news, stuff that needs your urgent attention,” the burly, tanned man says.

Tony nods to someone to the side. “Take her back to the cell. Leave her there for now.”

The man Tony nodded to comes to undo my bindings as Tony walks to the two men. I listen as they talk.

“The Riccis carried out a raid last light on our main headquarters,” the man says.

My heart races in my chest.

Matteo.

Tony looks less than impressed as the man continues, “The Bianchis are also kicking up a stink.”

I want to know more details, but my binds are undone, and the guard doing it drags me by my arm back to the cell. Shit, that sounds like Andrea and Matteo are working together. There is hope after all. Between them, they will find Gio and me and save us. I know they will.

My heart continues to race as I think about Matteo. He’s probably just looking for Gio. I mean, why would he be invested in looking for me, but Andrea is looking for me. We’re both going to be saved.

I struggle in the man's grip, making it difficult for him, but he eventually manages to drag me into the cell. When he lets me go, I turn to him quickly.

“We need more water,” I say. “And toilet paper and food.”

He stares at me.

“We’re not animals,” I say. “The least you can do is treat us like human beings.”

The man sniffs the air and looks at our toilet bucket and nods before he leaves.

I stumble toward Gio, who gets up and runs to me, wrapping his arms around me. He holds on tightly, not wanting to let go. I hug him back before I carefully pull him off me and lead him back to the blanket to sit down.

Gio looks up at me and frowns. “Your lip is bleeding, Gia!” He looks so worried; no six-year-old should worry this much.

I smile softly and stroke his hair out of his eyes. “Don’t worry, it only looks bad. It doesn’t hurt that much.” I put an arm around him. “The important thing is I overheard that your dad and my brother are looking for us, so we need to be extra strong and brave right now until they come to get us.”

“Do you really think they’re going to find us?” he whispers. There’s a plea in his voice that breaks my heart.

I nod. “Of course, they will. There is no love stronger than family. Family always comes first.”

Gio snuggles into me, and I gently stroke his arm. I try not to think about how Tony touched and licked me. Instead, I focus on Gio.

He’s such an adorable boy, and I’ve really grown fond of him. He’s so smart for his age, and he’s so brave, just like his father. Matteo wasn’t willing to let us go without a fight, and Gio has that same fighter spirit in him. He will grow up to be handsome like Matteo.

Because Matteo is handsome, very much so. I shiver ever so slightly. Thinking about him makes butterflies flutter around my stomach. Maybe he is looking for me, too. After all, he was trying so hard to make me comfortable.

And Andrea won’t stop until he finds me.

Andrea.

This is all his fucking fault. If he hadn’t made a play in the big boy’s section with those casinos and the Russos, then none of this would have happened.

Fucking greed.

It’s always money that catches everyone out. Matteo at least had what it took to play for the casinos, but Andrea was ready to sell his soul, and I’m the one who paid the price.

I’m so angry at him, like seriously pissed, but there’s a small part of me, just a sliver, that acknowledges if Andrea hadn’t done this, I would have never met Matteo, and that thought makes me sad.

I would never have met Maria or Gio or Roberto. Yeah, I miss that giant, grumpy goon.