I was frantic, trying to get out of the hold, but whoever it was had trapped my arms to my sides. I slammed my head back, hoping to make contact with something, but all I hit was air.
“Quick,” Mom whipped out, darting forward. “Get her in the back.”
“Fuck,” the person who was holding me grunted. A man. It was a man. “I should have knocked her out instead.”
“Just get her in the damn car,” Mom hissed.
The man spun me around sliding us both into the back of a car. My head bounced off of the door frame, and I gritted my teeth as it resonated through my brain. I hadn’t stopped kicking and screaming, trying to gain the attention of anyone around, but where we’d stopped was a blind spot, and with that thought, I stilled.
My head lifted, anger fueling me. “You trapped me,” I ground out, my eyes focused on my mom who slid in next to me. “You fucking trapped me!”
“Shut up!” she screamed back, lifting her lip in a sneer. “Or I’ll let them knock you out.”
“You won’t be letting us do anything.” I snapped my head around, my stomach dropping. “Hey there, Luna. It’s been a while.”
“Stan.” I pulled in a breath, trying to jerk out of the man’s hold as the car pulled away from the curb. I had to get out now before they took me somewhere. Right then, I had the opportunity to get away, but it didn’t matter how much I fought, the man’s arms were like steel pipes wrapped around me, making it hard to breathe. “Let me go,” I warned through gritted teeth.
“Nah.” Stan winked at me. “You’re a means to an end. Right now you’re useful.” He nodded, a signal to the man holding me. “Keep it that way and I won’t put a bullet between your eyes.”
The threat did nothing to calm me. There was no way I was going down without a fight. I wasn’t letting him do to me what he did last time. I wouldn’t be doing a job for him. I wouldn’t pay off my parent’s debt.
I should have listened to Mateo. I should have left the chains broken in pieces on the floor. Instead, I’d picked them right back up at the thought of getting my mom back.
I’d let her fool me. Again.
“Keep still,” the man said in my ear, and I froze, my muscles so tense I wasn’t sure I’d relax ever again.
“Fuck yo—” He slammed something over my mouth and nose. I inhaled deeply, thrashing my head as hard as I could. I heard the crunch of something and then wetness on the back of my head. I grinned. I’d head butted him—finally. Now all I had to…do…was…
My limbs felt like Jell-O, my muscles easing like melting butter. Darkness echoed at the edge of my vision, and the last thought I had before everything turned black was: I need to stay awake.
* * *
MATEO
My fingers drummed on the steering wheel as I waited for Aida to get into the SUV. Today had been manic as I gathered my soldiers and got to work investigating the information we’d gotten on Saturday about Stan. All we had was a name when we started this morning, and when I left the command center to come and get Aida, we still weren’t any further ahead.
Lorenzo wanted to send out a message. Luna may have done the final action, but it was Stan who had set her the job. He’d strong armed her, not giving her a choice. The most important thing was that it hadn’t been a spur of the moment thing. Luna had told me on the ride home from the party that they’d given her a fob to get into Romeo’s car.
I didn’t know why I hadn’t thought about how she’d gotten into it before then. But it confirmed that Stan had planned it. Which made it all the more crucial to find out who he was, and show him what happened when you crossed us.
I only had an hour until Mr. Blue would be at the mansion, and I still had to fill Lorenzo in beforehand. He’d been stuck in meetings all day with Christian, and I’d been holed up in the command center.
My gut churned, telling me I needed to get back asap, so as soon as Aida slipped into the back, I didn’t hesitate to pull away from the curb.
“Whoa.” She clipped her belt in. “Someone’s in a rush.”
“Sorry,” I clipped out, grimacing. “I need to get back. We’ve got some stuff going on.”
She waved her hand. “I get it. Things are crazy right now.” She groaned. “To be honest, I’m not feeling too good.” She yawned, her body slumping. “I think I need to take a nap.”
I chuckled, but it wasn’t my usual laughter. It was a sound to fill the space as I whizzed back to the mansion. Something was eating at me. Something I couldn’t put my finger on. Why hadn’t we found anything? Why hadn’t the name Stan come up once?
Each one of us had called our contacts on the streets. And no one knew a damn thing.
I dragged my hand down my face as I pulled to a stop at a red light. It wasn’t adding up. It just didn’t make any damn sense.
“Mateo?” Aida called from the backseat. I glanced at her in the rearview mirror. She pointed ahead. “The light is green.”
“Shit.” I slammed my foot on the accelerator. I wasn’t paying attention. Fuck. I couldn’t afford to be distracted, not when I was responsible for Aida’s safety.
I pushed everything to the back of my mind, keeping my wits about me until we got to the mansion. As soon as I pulled into the gates, I drove to the front door, and switched the engine off.
We both exited the car and entered the mansion at the same time, but neither of us said anything as we split at the bottom of the stairs. If I would have been my normal self, I would have asked Aida if she was okay, but my mind was already full to the max.
I clicked the code into the keypad and let myself into the command center. Romeo, Rafael, and Mario were sitting around the table, papers scattered on the entire surface.
“Anything?” I asked them.
Romeo stood, stretching his arms over his head. “Nope. Not a damn thing.”
I jammed my hands into my pockets, pacing the room. “This isn’t right. Who the hell doesn’t know a damn thing about a local dealer?” I let my head drop, looking up at the ceiling, and halting in the middle of the room.
“Unless his name isn’t actually Stan?” Mario said.
My shoulders stiffened. “Holy shit.” I turned, looking at each of them in turn. “His name isn’t Stan.”
I sprinted toward the table, spreading documents out and seeing if any names looked unfamiliar. Whoever it was had to be a new guy. We knew everyone in our territories, but not this guy. Which meant he’d turned up out of the blue. And if he was using a fake name, it meant he was hiding something. Something he was determined to keep on lock down.
“There.” I jabbed the paper, reading the name. Tanner. “That’s the only name a few people have mentioned that we don’t know about.”
Romeo pulled the paper toward him, frowning down at it. “My contact told me about him.” He pulled his cell out. “I’ll call him. Find out more information.”
He turned, walking toward the other side of the command center, and I blew out a breath, relief washing through me. Finally, we were getting somewhere.
CHAPTER 17
LUNA
My head thumped like someone had been playing basketball with it. My mouth was drier than the Sahara, so I smacked my tongue against the roof of my mouth, but it didn’t make a difference. I tried to open my eyes, but it felt like they were glued tightly shut.
I didn’t have a couple of seconds where I wondered what happened. No. I knew exactly what—or should I have said, who, happened.
I rolled my neck, taking stock of my body. My arms and legs were stretched out, and when I finally pried my eyes open, I realized I was tied to a bed. The mattress was missing, the slats of the bed digging into my back and making me wince.
It was quiet, the silence almost deafening, but it gave me time to wake up fully. I needed to put a plan in motion. I needed to figure out what they wanted from me. I tried to grasp at my thoughts, but every time one would start to formulate, it would disappear again, not staying long enough for me to do anything with it.
I needed time. But as a door creaked open, I realized I’d run out of it.
“Hey there, princess.” I refused to look at Stan. Refused to acknowledge him. “Playing the silent game, huh?” His footsteps neared and the bed shook as the sound of his boot kicking metal rang out. “I like games.” He sounded happy—too happy for my liking. He was probably high.
“Fuck off,” I ground out, my throat burning at my words.
“That’s not nice,” he said, his tone flipping on its head. He almost sounded sad now. The frame dipped as he sat next to me, and with lightning quick speed, his fingers grasped my cheeks and snapped my head around to face him. He squeezed, causing my lips to purse from his bruising grip. His eyes were clear, telling me he knew exactly what he was doing. Maybe he wasn’t high after all. “Did your mother never teach you any manners?”
“She was too busy getting high,” I spat back, feeling my hackles rise. It was her fault I was here, and I had no doubt my dad was hanging around somewhere too. He was probably in the background, letting her run the show yet again.
“Respect,” Stan murmured. “You clearly have none.” My nostrils flared, my arms pulling at the binds on my wrists, but they didn’t give. “It’s lucky you’re of use.” He dug his fingers in harder, making my teeth ache. “I know who you are.” I frowned, not understanding what he was saying. “Luna Caputo.” My breath stilled. “Wife of a captain in the Beretta Mafia.” My eyes widened. “Ahhh, she gets it now.” He leaned down, his face centimeters from mine. “You got us what we wanted last time, now we’re gonna use you to get what we want…them.”
“No,” I croaked out, trying harder to fight against the rope holding me down. I needed to get out. They could do whatever they wanted to me, but I wouldn’t let them touch Mateo.
“But first…” He let my face go with a push. “We’re gonna have some fun.” He stood, gripping my hair and pulling me up. My shoulders screamed in pain, my body threatening to break with the position he was holding me in. “This face of yours…it’s too pretty.” He winked, his grin flashing me his disgusting teeth, and a second later, his fist connected with my nose. The crunch of bone and sinew echoed off the walls, the pain blinding as blood spurted out of my nostrils. “That’s better,” he sighed out.
He pulled my hair, my scalp burning, then dropped me like I was nothing. Like I was worthless. And maybe I was, but he’d brought me here because he needed me. I clung to that last thought, determined to figure out what it was and use it against him.
I tugged my arms, testing the bindings for what felt like the thousandth time, my instinct to cover my face kicking in, but there was nothing I could do but lie there with blood trickling down my cheeks, into my ears, and over my hair. Gravity was pulling it down toward the floor.
Stan’s footsteps banged against the floor, the door squeaked open, and he announced, “Your turn.”
A sound clicked in the room, but I didn’t get chance to figure it out or get my bearings as someone ran into the room, heading right for me. The flash of hair and snarl on her face told me who it was, and then her fists were pummeling against my face, making my nose bleed harder. She caught my eye with the ring on her finger—the one I’d given to her when I was eleven. She’d been clean that Mother’s Day, one of only three I could remember where she wasn’t high.
“It’s all your fault!” she screamed.
I opened my mouth, wanting to ask her what was my fault. But I wasn’t quick enough. She jumped on top of me, her knees hitting my chest and knocking the breath out of me. My head spun, the edges of my vision blurring as breathing became harder.
She didn’t stop. Punch after punch. In my face. My stomach. The middle of my chest.
This woman was meant to love me, but right then, all I saw was hate. Pure hatred.
A sound clicked from across the room and I heard Stan chuckle. “That’ll get their attention.” I tried to make sense of what he said, but my head was spinning, my brain trying to stay alert as my body shut down.
* * *
MATEO
My leg bounced up and down as we waited. Romeo paced near the door. He jumped back as Lorenzo and Christian came inside. But I didn’t move from my usual seat. I was listening intently to Romeo’s side of the conversation, trying to figure out what information was being passed to him.
Lorenzo took his seat next to me with Christian on the other side of him. “Anything yet?”
I shook my head and opened my mouth just as Romeo ended the call. I raised a brow, but he shook his head, silently telling me that he hadn’t been able to get any more information.
Fuck.
I clenched my hands on the table and turned my head to face Lorenzo. “We think Stan isn’t his real name.” Lorenzo leaned back in his seat, doing his usual analyzing face. He always saw things that everyone else missed, so maybe if I explained it from the top to him he’d spot what we might have missed. “Luna said that she’d never seen him before that day.” I stretched my fingers. “She also told me he had a fob ready for Romeo’s car.” I reached into my pocket and placed it on the table between us. “And he knew the numbers on the bags.”
He raised his brow at the fob, but didn’t move to pick it up. “So he’s been watching us.” It was the only explanation that he’d know what the numbers were because the only other people who knew were sitting in this room right now. Lorenzo rubbed his finger across his bottom lip. “And it was planned.”
“Yeah.” I blew out a breath. “Not one of our contacts knows who the hell he is. And then we realized if he didn’t want people to know who he was—”
“Then he’s pretending to be someone else,” Christian supplied.
“That’s what we’re thinking.” I moved my attention over to Romeo. “But even who we think it is we can’t find anything about him. Either people don’t know, or they’re scared to talk.”
Silence fell over the room, and I knew they were all trying to work it out, just like I was. It just…didn’t make any fuckin’ sense.
“Mr. Blue is here,” Romeo said, cutting through the tension building. He stood, letting him in from in here, and we all waited. If anyone would have answers, it would be him.
“You thinkin’ what I’m thinkin’?” Lorenzo asked Christian.
“That it feels like a setup?”
I frowned as I heard the buttons on the keypad click, and a second later, Mr. Blue sauntered in. He strolled to the only empty seat in here, and sat, not saying a word.
“Yeah,” Lorenzo replied to Christian. “Someone is trying to get an in.”
Christian’s eyes narrowed. “It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
They stared at each other for a beat, a silent conversation happening between them. And just as suddenly as it started, it ended.
“Mr. Blue.” Lorenzo interlaced his fingers and rested them on the table as he leaned forward. “Tell me you have good news.”
Mr. Blue’s eye twitched. “Depends what you consider good news.” He placed a briefcase on the table, the same one he’d carried the equipment to listen to the FBI in. Things had been quiet on that front—too quiet. And I couldn’t help but wonder if it was all interconnected. “The man you’re looking for is named Tanner Priest.” He pulled out a folder, closed his briefcase methodically, then placed it on the table. He was a businessman, one who didn’t rush when it was important. That told me more than anything else he showed us would. This wasn’t a quick drop off of equipment, or a rundown of where security was lax.
He handed each of us stapled pieces of paper. On the front was a man, his lifeless eyes and pockmarked skin telling me that he was an addict. Figured.
“Tanner Priest.” I rolled his name over my tongue, getting familiar with his picture.
“Yep,” Mr. Blue replied. “Tanner priest is a lieutenant for the Brimstone Crime Syndicate.”
“The who?” Lorenzo growled.
Mr. Blue slowly turned his attention to Lorenzo. “I’m about to give sen
sitive information. If there is anyone in this room that you don’t trust, then ask them to leave.”
A muscle in Lorenzo’s jaw twitched, his frustration clear. “If I didn’t trust them, they wouldn’t be in here.” He threw the paper down onto the table, done with looking at it. Whatever Mr. Blue was about to tell us wasn’t on there anyway.
“The BCS,” Mr. Blue started, placing his hands flat on the table. “Are the crew that has been trying to take your territory.”
I froze, unblinking as I stared at Mr. Blue. Stan aka Tanner was part of that crew. Which meant this was connected. This wasn’t a random hit on us. This wasn’t a local dealer trying to get free drugs to sell on the streets. This was more than planned, it was a tactical move against us.
“Who runs the BCS?” I asked, finally getting some words out.
“That, I haven’t been able to find out.” Mr. Blue’s nostrils flared, the first time I’d ever seen frustration on his face. “Whoever it is has covered their tracks. They know what to do to make just enough noise, but not to be in your face.”
My cell buzzed in my pocket, but I ignored it.
“Find out who they are,” Lorenzo barked at him, standing. “I want to know every fuckin’ thing there is to know about them.” He pushed his hand through his hair. “Doesn’t matter the cost.”
Mr. Blue stood, apparently finished. “I’ll be in touch.” He nodded at me but I didn’t do anything back. I was still trying to figure it all out. It was a mindfuck, but I didn’t have time to sit here and put everything in its rightful place. We were under attack this whole time and had no goddamn idea.
I wasn’t sure how long I was sitting there, frozen still, but when I heard the door clicking closed, I turned to face Lorenzo. His face was just as confused and frustrated as mine. But the darkness in his eyes promised that he was about to go to war.
Mateo Caputo: Unseen Underground Page 19