Page 47 of Greed

I look around the room, first at my brothers, then Carlo, then the Riccis.

“This dumbass teamed up with Tony from the Shift-left to get his sister back,” Matteo says, pointing an accusatory finger at me.

“Juliano Russo swears by them and Joe, my boxing partner, is a friend of theirs. I thought I could trust them,” I say.

Matteo snorts. “Everyone knows you can’t trust a gang banger. You trust family, that’s all.” He sips his drink.

“I realize my mistake now. Now tell me what the fuck did you mean about Michael Russo?” I don’t drink my whisky. I stare at Matteo.

“I picked up your sister after she kicked his ass for trying to force himself on her,” Matteo says. “Something, I’d like to point out, I never did.”

“I’ll do anything to get her back,” I growl, finally sipping the amber liquid in my glass. It’s good.

Matteo snarls. “They’ve taken my fucking son. Now the Riccis and the Bianchis are going to work together to make this right. You’ll get your sister back, and I’ll get my son back, but that’s going to take both our families.”

I nod. “I know that. I’m willing to cooperate.”

“Didn’t he just say only trust family?” Lorenzo points out.

“Shut the fuck up,” Bruno snaps. “We need to teach the Shifty-left a lesson, and the Russos, and this Joe guy. No one fucks with family.”

I nod to Lorenzo. “We trust them. They have as much at stake as we do.”

Lorenzo falls quiet and sips his drink, but his dark eyes betray his anger.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

GIA

Ihit my head as the goons shove me into the car, and it almost concusses me. Half awake, I sense Gio fussing over me. He holds a hand to my head and whispers through his tears that I’m okay.

He sounds so worried. I know I should be comforting him, but my brain is scrambled at the moment. The car speeds through the city as the men laugh.

I close my eyes, feeling dizzy. Gio begs me to stay awake, telling me that he’s scared, and I force my eyes open again. The car finally stops, and the men drag us out.

They pull Gio away from me, and I’m too weak to hold onto him. They shove me from man to man, laughing, spinning me around, and it’s not helping my dizzy spell.

“What should we do with such a fine prize?” one of the men says, and the others laugh.

They describe some pretty horrid things they wanted to do to me, and I hope Gio can’t overhear. Then their leader arrives.

“Put them in the cell,” he orders.

I open my eyes and look at him. It’s Tony, that gang banger from the city my brother loathes so much. Why would my brother team up with him to rescue me?

Fuck, if he’d just left me alone for a little while longer, Matteo would probably have let me go.

The men drag Gio and me through a dirty warehouse and then along a short corridor to a cell, which they open with a key. It’s a large metal door; no escaping out of there.

They shove Gio in first, then me. The door shuts with a bang behind us. Gio runs to me and hugs me tightly.

“Gia, I’m scared,” he whines. “I want Daddy.”

“Daddy will come find us,” I mumble into his hair, hugging him back. “Nothing will stop him.”

I know it to be true, if not for me, then definitely for Giovanni. He is Gio’s entire solar system, let alone galaxy.

I look around. The cell is a bare room, with a concrete floor and walls. There’s a single barred window letting in light and, of course, the big steel door.