TWO. SIX. FUCKING TWO.
“If you insist,” I croaked finally, sick to my stomach about my own manufactured tranquility.
“Here she is,” Tiernan said gleefully.
I heard a soft groan, followed by my wife clearing her throat. “Sorry, love. Rain check on that steak I was going to make for you tonight.”
Gia.
She sounded even-keeled. Blasé. Put together.
I loved her, even more than usual, for that. She was playing the game. Fucking with Tiernan’s mind, having him second-guess the card he held in his hand. Tears pricked my eyes. I couldn’t recall crying since Andrin killed my rabbit, but I came close now.
“That’s okay. I had a big lunch.” I fought to keep my tone conversational. “Are you hurt?”
“A mild head injury, I think.” She paused. I heard her take a slow, deliberate sip from a bottle. “Otherwise, I’m just terribly inconvenienced. He only has Aquafina here,” she added regretfully. “Would you mind negotiating for Essentia Alkaline? There’s really no need for these inhumane conditions.”
Exhaling through my nose, I bit down on a smirk. What a badass. I couldn’t wait to have children with this woman. “Consider it done. I’m sorry for this, sweetheart.”
“Uh-huh. Very touching. Anyway.” Tiernan cut the conversation off. “How about what I asked for? The territories I want from the Ferrantes. Put a dent in that yet?”
I shot a glare at the three brothers. Their faces were blank. We had discussed it after my visit to Callaghan, and Luca and Achilles said they’d take care of it. Unfortunately, both sides secured their collateral at the same time. If Tiernan had just waited a few hours, none of this shit would have happened.
“You’re not getting an inch of their land, but we can negotiate not having your sister’s throat slit by a high-profile billionaire mogul with a taste for violence,” I answered.
“You can’t get to Tierney.” Tiernan laughed. “I made sure she was far away from harm before I came for your wife.”
“Is that right?” I mused.
“Yes,” Tiernan said with conviction. “She’s in an underground bunker in an undisclosed location.”
“She was in a rural Colorado basement in your buddy’s vacation house.” Achilles barked out a laugh. “Forget organized crime, Tiernan. I see a bright future for you in fiction.”
The elevator dinged and slid open, and the four of us barreled toward my Escalade.
Achilles snapped his fingers. “Oh. By the way, we have her now.” His rusty laugh grated my nerves like nails on a blackboard. “Your precious Tierney.”
The silence on the other line told me what I already knew. We had hit a nerve.
“No,” Tiernan said finally. “No.”
“Yes,” I countered, unlocking my vehicle and sliding into the driver’s seat. “And unlike Gia, she actually has a lot of interesting information about your less than kosher antics. I wonder what’d make her sing…” I revved the engine, clucking my tongue. “Or purr. Let me assure you, I can beverypersuasive when I want to be.”
“Where is she?” Tiernan spat out.
I yawned in his ear by way of an answer.
“I’m going to slit your wife’s thro—”
“Relax there, buddy. No one’s going to harm anyone. You know damn well the minute you give Gia as much as a paper cut, I drain your sister, then make a nice high-end sex doll from her deflated corpse. We both have too much to lose. So how about we cut to the chase?”
“How do I know you’re not lying?” he demanded.
I sighed, flipping through my phone gallery while shaking my head. I hadn’t started driving to Tierney’s place of hiding yet. “Because unlike you, my word actually means something. Here.” I hit Send with my thumb.
A second later, I could hear the video Achilles had taken of Tierney playing in Callaghan’s background.
“Today is March fifteenth, and I can confirm that I, Tierney Callaghan, am in the hands of the Ferrante family. I’m safe, in good health, and well.” She was made to follow a generic script. “Stop this shit now, brother.” Her voice did not waver, did not break. “Enough is enough. There are other ways to conquer the world. If they touch me, if something bad happens to me…” She obviously veered off script, which was just as well, because it entertained the shit out of Achilles when he took the video. “I’m going to murder them and thenyou. Fix this shit now, Tiernan.”
