Page 139 of Forsaking All Others

I quietly punched the code into the alarm before slipping out the side door, ducking the guard patrol easily enough because I’d long ago memorized their schedules. I didn’t take one of our cars, not only because of the added noise, but because they all had tracking devices. I couldn’t even tell Luigi and Stefan about what I planned because they were part of the Family too. Even though I trusted them, they could be killed if they took part in my scheme and it backfired. I owed them more than that for keeping me safe and keeping my secrets all these years.

Hank picked Cerberus and me up on his Harley-Davidson three blocks down from Edgemont House. I helped my Doberman into the sidecar before I got on the back of the bike, and Hank took off toward Near West Side Chicago.

The Church of Santa Maria was on the outskirts of Chicago’s Little Italy, a forgotten building tucked between an equally run-down string of townhomes and an empty lot that was waiting for construction permits.

The perfect place to keep someone without scrutiny.

Hank and I parked two blocks away and parted with a hug after putting earpieces in. Finn, Elijah, Akira, and Walter were already in position, closing in on the building from all sides, except for the two latter men, who were waiting in vans for a quick getaway close by.

Thanks to a call from Petyr, I knew Felipe had hired the Russians for extra security, but only at the home he’d rented in the Gold Coast. Whoever was patrolling the church was from some other organization entirely.

I waited behind an overgrown row of hedges with a perfect view of the front of the church as a black-clad smear in the night climbed the steps and knocked on the door. A moment later, light spilled into the street, illuminating someone who looked as if they were dressed in priest’s robes.

I took the opportunity to sprint toward the side of the building, pressing myself to the wall as I slowly worked my way around the perimeter to the back. Cerberus’s dark coat blended perfectly with the shadows, and he didn’t make a noise as he followed me without hesitation. Hank and his boys had done some recon earlier that day and discovered there was a storm hatch beside the rear stairs, which is where I was headed, ready to pick the lock on the chained doors.

My heart hammered even though I knew the guys would be focused on taking out the guards.

It was an old, rusted padlock that closed the chains, and my picks couldn’t quite click into place through the oxidation. I rolled my lips between my teeth and worked the metal picks deeper. Walter had taught me how to pick a lock years ago, and since then, I’d become more than proficient, so a stupid old padlock would not keep me from saving Dario.

We could always storm the place, but there was a danger in drawing enough notice to have the cops called, and none of us wanted that.

There was a flicker of changing shadows in my right periphery, and a deep snarl erupted from Cerberus a second before someone clamped a strong hand over my arm.

I had to swallow around my cry of alarm and almost choked.

“What the fuck do you think you’re fucking doing?” a familiar voice said in a tone I didn’t recognize.

Pure blade-sharp fury.

Luca.

I closed my eyes in relief even as he pressed tight against my back to rasp in my ear. “You think you can fuck me into a sleep so deep I won’t wake up when the woman I’ve just told I fucking love slips out of bed for a midnight fucking rendezvous in the middle of nowhere?”

I bit my lip, uncertain how to handle this complication.

Beside us, Cerberus pressed into Luca’s leg contentedly, tongue lolling out in a happy doggy smile.

Traitor.

“Someone is keeping Dario here,” I confessed finally, baldly. If Luca was behind this, it was too late already.

“You want to tell me how the fuck you know that?” he demanded.

“Not particularly.”

“Now is not the time to be cute, Fiammetta,” he said, using my full name like a furious parent.

“Someone from my past brought me information about Dario, claiming he was in Sicily being held by Felipe, which seemed to align with what Joey told you. But when I was looking at the photos, I realized the church wasn’t in Palermo. It’s here,” I said, softly lifting the padlock still in my grasp.

“And you didn’t share this with me but instead went off half cocked by yourself to what? Stage a rescue so Dario would fall in love with you in gratitude for saving him?” His words cut me like a thousand slices with an ice-cold blade.

I shivered under his hold but forced my voice not to waver. “It’s not half cocked, my friends are out here watching my back.”

“But not me,” he said in a dead voice and then, incredulously, “You think I organized the abduction and fucking torture of my own twin brother?”

I didn’t answer, which was answer enough.

Somewhere in the night, there was an echoing bang like a metal door shutting.