I see a table turned over with a vase on the ground busted. Matteo is on the ground groaning.
“Matteo. What are you doing down here?”
Lo and I rush to help him up.
“I haven’t seen anyone in a while. I started to get worried. I thought Sofia would be back by now.”
“What do you mean?”
We help him into a chair in the meeting room as the other men get back to their posts. We are all on edge today it seems.
“I was doing my physical therapy and decided to take a walk around the halls. I overhead her and Luca talking. She got a phone call. She was really upset. She was on the phone with Gina. Heard her say her uncle was hurt. She begged Luca to take her to see him and Luca agreed. I thought that was suspicious so I stepped out to stop them.”
He looks down guiltily then.
“I know I should have called you, but she asked me what if it was my mom’s or my sister? That hit home for me. I let her go. Do you know where she is? I’ve been worried.”
“She’s missing. I suspect Luca kidnapped her.”
His face pales and he looks ready to pass out.
“You need to get back upstairs and rest. We will find her. You just helped a lot.”
“No. This is my fault. I knew something was wrong with the situation. No guard of yours would ever allow her to disobey you without calling you. I am an idiot. Let me help you find her then you can punish me however you see fit.”
I rub my hands on my face.
“It’s not your fault. It’s mine. I trusted that fucker. I assigned him to her.” I let out a sigh. “No need in thinking about that now. Let’s just find the girls and get them home.”
“Girls? Wait, Mia and Izzy are missing too?”
“Yeah.” I say to him before turning to Lo. “Find Gina. Trace her steps. We need to find them now.”
Lo nods then picks up his phone to make a call.
“Who do you think did this, Don Bastiano?”
“The ex and someone from capo Fillipo crew. That’s all we have now.”
“Wait. You said Fillipo?”
“Yeah, why?”
“A couple months back, right after your father died, some guys from his crew came around asking questions. I thought they were either testing me or looking for support for Fillipo to make a play for Don. I shut them down quick, vowing my loyalty to you and they left me alone. They talked to Luca too. Luca talked to me later and told me they asked him the same thing.”
It was like pieces were all clicking into place suddenly. Fillipo definitely had something to do with this and once I got proof, I am going to put a bullet into his head.
“Bash.” Lo grabs my attention. “Gina is gone too. Tony hasn’t seen her. They had a fight about Sofia earlier and she disappeared. He thought she just left him. I didn’t tell him what was going on, just that I wanted to talk to her.”
“Where the fuck can they be?”
“I think I might have an idea.”
Matteo says.
“Back before I started running for the Queens crew, I did a stint with the Staten Island crew. I didn’t like the way Fillipo ran things so I eventually asked for a transfer, claiming it was because I wanted to be closer to my family, who live in Queens. It was granted. Before I left though, Fillipo had started obtaining land in New Jersey. I didn’t know why, just that we would be assigned to go and make trouble to drive the property value down so he could get it at a better price. If Fillipo really is involved, I bet she is at a property there.”
I feel a weigh slightly lift.
