Page 136 of His Dark Demands
“Stop. Where are you going?” Fabio blocked my path.
“Where are they?” I yelled at him.
“Fuck, man. Hold it together. Cops are everywhere.”
“I can see that. Where. Are. They?”
“Isla’s been taken to the hospital. Remo and my right-hand man Ross are with her. Paolo’s been taken too. He’s badly hurt.”
“What about Pippa?”
Fabio stared at me like a deer in the headlights.
“What about my daughter?” I shoved him, because I knew. I just knew in my gut what he was going to say. All the air left my lungs.My daughter.
“She’s not here.” Fabio stared at me. “When I got into the apartment she was nowhere to be found.”
I squatted and grabbed onto my head. My world wasspinning out of control, and I couldn’t do a damn thing to stop the destruction. Isla would never forgive me. She’d hate me for the rest of her life when she found out Pippa was taken.
“I have men searching for her.” He put his hand on my back. “I’m sorry about this. If I’d gotten here five minutes earlier, things might have turned out differently.”
“Ciro!” Roman’s voice came from behind me. “Holy shit. Are you okay, brother?”
I stood and hugged him tightly. Before I left LA, I talked to him and told him what Courtney said about Cara Clemente. He and Luca were to meet me here. I’d thought I was overreacting but as it turned out, my instincts had been spot on. I needed my brothers now more than ever.
“Pippa is missing,” I whispered into his ear. “My daughter was taken.”
“Jesus,” he gasped. “Do you think Cara has her?”
“I don’t know. Could be Russians.”
“Where’s Isla?” Luca approached us, hands fisted like he was ready to fight.
I pulled away from Roman. “At the hospital and Paolo’s been taken there too.”
“Then why in the fuck are you here? You need to be with her!” Luca shouted.
“Be quiet,” Roman hissed and grabbed Luca’s arm. “Pippa is missing,” he whispered.
The blood drained out of Luca’s face. “What?”
“Listen,” Fabio said, interrupting us. “We got one of the Russians and he’s being questioned. Let’s get out of the way and take care of things on our own. I’ve already dealt with the cops. All this was a drug deal gone badly.”
I nodded and jerked my chin for my brothers to follow me to my rental car.
“Excuse me, sir.” A weak voice called.
I looked over my shoulder at an elderly woman.
“You’re the man who paid Roy to leave that one night.” She gave me a small smile. “That was nice of you.”
“Yes. That was me.”
“I’m so sorry about Isla.” The woman’s smile faded as she shook her head. “She was taken away in the ambulance. Her sister, too.” She sniffled, wiping a stray tear off her cheek. “That man went nuts. I’ve never seen him like that before. And poor Isla, that poor dear…”
My heart hammered in my chest listening to her. Roman’s hand went on my shoulder as if trying to keep me calm.
“Did you happen to see the baby?” I asked her. She seemed to be a nosy neighbor. Maybe she’d been watching everything through the peephole in her door.
