Page 178 of Possessive Sinner
Before I can answer my own question, I'm already reaching for my phone. Damiano picks up on the first ring.
"Keep the kid close," I snap. "Do not let him out of your sight."
Damiano doesn't hesitate. "What happened?"
"The Collector knows exactly who he is."
Damiano's voice drops. "You think he's coming for him?"
I stare at Salazar. At the blunt truth in his eyes.
"No," I say slowly. "I think he already did."
I take a deep breath. I will not lose my nephew. I will not fail Catarina again. "Keep an eye on him. Take them somewhere safe, now."
"On it," Damiano doesn't ask questions. He knows the tone.
Without warning, the phone explodes in my hand with notifications, texts, and missed calls, lighting up the screen like a fucking fireworks show. Before I can make sense of it, the basement door slams open.
Kale storms in, face pale, breathing hard. Blood on his shirt.
"They killed Brick," he calls. "They have Audra."
The world stops. Everything—Salazar, the Collector, Catarina's kid, the story, thegifts—vanishes. All I hear is Audra. They have Audra.
My Audra.
Rage and terror slam into me at once, so hard my vision tunnels. My chest caves in like someone took a sledgehammer to it. I can't breathe. Can't think. The only thing left in my head is her face this morning, soft, flushed, looking up at me while I told her I loved her. The way she kissed me before I left. The way she saidBe careful.
And now she's gone. Taken. While I was down here listening to fairy tales from a dead man walking. Damiano's voice crackles from the phone I'm still clutching. "What the fuck is going on? Gabe?"
I don't answer him. I can't. My hand is shaking. Actually shaking. I hang up on him without a word, shove the phone in my pocket, and look at Kale.
"Where?"
My voice doesn't sound like mine. It's raw. Gutted. Kale starts to explain, the bloodbath upstairs, the shootout in the casino, Louie turning, but I'm already moving, gun in my hand, blood roaring in my ears. They took her. They fucking took her. Whoever did it is going to die screaming for it. I don't care if it's the Collector himself. I don't care if it costs me everything. Audra is mine. And I'm coming for her. Right fucking now.
Kale's words are still ringing in my ears.They killed Brick. They have Audra. When my phone starts vibrating in my pocket like it's trying to drill through bone, I yank it out, expecting Damiano or one of the floor teams. The number is unknown. Blocked. I answer anyway, my voice ripping through the air like a blade. "Who the fuck is this?"
A low, ugly chuckle comes through the line. "You don't know me, but I have someone who I've been told means something to you."
The video feed flips on. My screen fills with her. Audra. Tied to a metal chair in some filthy back room, blood on her lip and cheek, eyes wide and frantic. She sees me and screams. "Gabe—no! No, don't come! They'll kill you—please, don't do this!"
Something inside my chest rips open. Louie's hand cracks across her face on the feed, hard. Her head snaps sideways. Fresh blood blooms on her lip. I lose it.
"AUDRA!" The roar tears out of me so raw it scrapes my throat bloody. "Touch her again, and I'll skin you alive, you piece of shit! Let her go right fucking now!"
She thrashes against the ties like a wild thing, screaming until her voice cracks. "Gabe, please—don't! Don't come here! They'll kill you!"
Tears are streaming down her face, mixing with the blood. She's yanking so hard at the zip ties that they cut into her wrists. My vision tunnels. The basement around me disappears. All I see is her. All I feel is the black, bottomless terror that she'sgoing to be taken from me the same way Catarina was. Bloody, broken, gone.
My knees almost buckle. The love I confessed to her this morning slams into me like a freight train. I told her I loved her. Twice. And now some worthless piece of shit has her bleeding and begging me not to come. I will burn the entire fucking city to ash. The asshole's voice cuts back in, calm and mocking. "One hour, D'Amato. Come alone, or she dies screaming. Your choice."
The line goes dead. For one frozen second, the basement is silent except for the ringing in my ears. Then I explode. The phone explodes against the concrete wall. I don't remember throwing it. My fist follows, slamming into the cinderblock hard enough to split skin and leave blood on the wall. Pain doesn't register. Nothing does except the image of her face, terrified, bleeding, begging me to stay away. I can't lose her. Not her. Not after I finally had her. Not after she came back to me on her own. Not after she let me inside her this morning like she was choosing forever.
"Gabe—" Kale sounds wary. Holding out a spare phone. My men know me well enough to keep one handy. This wasn't the first one to find a rough end against the wall.
Kale turns the phone on. The second it's done booting up, it rings. I already know who it is and answer in an icy voice, "You're dead."
