My mom was sobbing quietly on the couch as my father placed his hand on her shoulder. After the encounter with Sebastian at the park, I’d headed straight home, hoping for some good news, but so far there hadn’t been any. Aaron had gone off with Marco so they could figure out if Sebastian was lying about everything to distract us. “We’re going to find him, Eleonora. I promise.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t fulfill.” She raised her brown eyes to his, tears smearing her makeup.
“I’m not... I...” My father sighed. “We’ll turn over every stone to find him. At least that’s something I can promise.”
She swallowed and gave him a brief nod.
“I’ve got something!” Dylan said, as he typed something on one of the laptops. I immediately rushed over to him, just like everyone else. “I tried to trace back Tony’s steps based on the meeting spots he mentioned in his conversations with Sebastian. They were at one of the clubs in the free zone that has cameras. Look.” Dylan brought up a video and showed two slightly blurry and dark figures, but as they walked closer to the camera, I could recognize my brother and Sebastian. “Sebastian leaves, and Tony stays for a while longer.” Dylan fast-forwarded the video, and I glimpsed an image of Sebastian kissing my brother against the wall. “Then he leaves too, and goes right down this street. There are two surveillance cameras, but Tony appears only on one. He never makes it to the second one.”
“So there’s a gap somewhere? Another street, maybe? An alley?” I asked.
“No, there aren’t any alleys or anything, and I don’t think Tony had gone into one of the buildings, but... the street’s long, and there’s a blind spot in between the cameras where someone could’ve taken him if they were following him and planned their attack right.”
“Sebastian knew where Tony would be. He could’ve arranged this.” Michael scratched his chin.
“Don’t know,” Dylan said. “But look at this car.” He pointed at a black SUV with tinted windows. “It appears on the second camera almost a minute later than it should, just around the time Tony disappears. I think these are the people who took him.”
“Can you trace the plate number?” my mom asked.
Dylan shook his head. “It’s too blurry and probably fake anyway.”
“So how are we going to find Tony?” I asked.
“I’ll make some calls,” my father said. “Someone might know which gang’s members were going through the area at that time.”
“Can you figure out in which direction the SUV went?” Michael asked.
“No, there aren’t any cameras I can access after it leaves this street,” Dylan said. “And it didn’t resurface on any other cameras in nearby areas. I think they knew exactly where they should be going so they wouldn’t be seen by anyone.”
“If we ask the other families, it’s likely they won’t tell us anything if they’re in league with whoever took our brother,” Michael said.
“If Sebastian Viteri has him...” my mother started to say, her face darkening.
“I don’t think he does,” I said, going for my phone. “But I can check with Aaron to see if there are any updates.” My phone vibrated in my hand, startling me. Aaron’s number flashed on the screen and I immediately answered. “Aaron?”
“I don’t know what Sebastian’s real intentions are, but he seems to be looking for Tony,” he said. “He’s been going around and checking a lot of bars and clubs. I suppose he’d been there with Tony before. Maybe he knew we’d be following him, but... he’s not really taking precautions as he used to, and now everyone knows he’s in town. His guards are with him, and no one made a move to contact him, but I wonder if someone might’ve figured out the nature of his relationship with your brother.”
“You mean whoever took Tony might have taken him to get to Sebastian and not to my family?”
“I don’t know. It’s possible, but maybe someone figured out they could take care of two birds with one stone.”
“But who would do such a thing? I thought no one wanted to risk us coming after them, and to have both the Ferraras and Viteris after them... Who could withstand an attack from both of us around here? Unless someone was growing an army right under our noses and we didn’t notice because we were busy fighting Roberto.” That was highly unlikely, though. My family had spies everywhere. We would’ve known about something like that, unless a few families banded together or someone from nearby areas was trying to extend their reach.
“I don’t think whoever’s behind this is doing it on their own. And I finally got my hands on the official will. Sebastian is the heir.”
“Shit. What are you going to do about him?”
Aaron was saying something to someone, probably to Marco, but I couldn’t quite hear what it was. “Marco just came to tell me Sebastian sent a message asking for help with finding Tony. He’s offering a temporary truce and then negotiation. I guess he’s tried everything, or thinks I know the city better and will be able to find your brother more easily.”
It was a little hard for me to believe Sebastian would care about Tony that much, but if this whole thing wasn’t a ploy to get close to Aaron and trick him into stepping down peacefully and not disputing Roberto’s will, then maybe Sebastian wasn’t like his half-brother. “Are you going to accept? Does this mean Sebastian doesn’t know about the will?”
“I don’t know. If he knew Roberto had left him everything, he would’ve seized it all already. Or maybe he doesn’t want to do it so abruptly. He wants to come to my family’s residence, but I won’t agree to that. I don’t want him to snoop around and find support against me so quickly. I don’t know much about him and I’m not about to serve him everything on a platter.”
“What are you going to do then?”
“I’m going to meet with him after I deal with my father’s men. A group of my father’s most loyal are here and want to speak to me about something.” He groaned. “I’ll listen to whatever they want from me as quickly as possible and then I’ll check with Sebastian to see what he knows. Unless you want to contact him first. He gave me a number to call him. It’s untraceable, but if you have some questions for him, and this meeting with my father’s men takes too long...”
“Okay, send me the number.” I squeezed the phone tighter in my hand. “But can’t you just tell your father’s men to come at another time because you’re busy? I mean, they’re your men right now, as far as they know. They should obey you, and if not, you should make them.”
“I know, but I’ve already been postponing a meeting with them and they’re the ones who have the power to rally everyone else against me. I want to keep them happy for now. They probably want something in return for supporting me, and I’m going to need that now more than ever. I don’t know how long we can keep my father’s will a secret.”
“Do you think they know Sebastian’s here too? If they want you to hand over everything to him...”
“I don’t know, but I’m going to find out. I can handle them.”
“Okay. Call me later.”
“Sure. I’ll send you Sebastian’s number.” The line went dead and my phone beeped, announcing Aaron’s message had arrived. I turned toward my family. “Should I call Sebastian and try to talk to him? It looks like he really cares about Tony and wants to find him as badly as we do.”
“You can’t trust that man,” my mom said.
“I know, but... maybe he noticed something that could help us. Someone had to be watching them while they were meeting at clubs.”
“I already searched the club for any suspicious faces on cameras,” Dylan said. “Didn’t find anything. And if Sebastian knew something, he would’ve already followed the lead. Of course, that’s if his intentions are true.”
My father’s phone rang and he strode off into the hallway, yelling something I couldn’t hear. When he came back a few minutes later, his brow was furrowed.
“What happened? Did you find out anything?” My mom was at his side immediately, her eyes inquiring.
“There are rumors that other families have been meeting in secret. It seems like they’ve decided to ally against us. We’ll probably be hearing from whoever has Tony soon. They’re all plotting something, but they don’t know what they’re getting themselves into. Just because we were in a war not that long ago doesn’t mean we don’t have enough forces to rain down upon them.”
“Which families are we talking about?” my mom asked.
“Pretty much everyone went to a meeting with someone in the past few days, but two of our spies were caught, and the rest couldn’t get close enough to get more information. It’s possible some were just regular business meetings, but not all of them.”
“Do you think they’re trying to provoke us into attacking them?” Michael said. “If we don’t find out anything about Tony and no one contacts us with demands, then we’ll have no choice but to search other areas, and if all the families deny us entrance... If Tony’s d...”
“Don’t say that!” my mom snapped.
“I’m just saying... If we enter someone’s territory by force and it turns out they don’t have Tony... they could get everyone’s support and move against us. Hell, they could even blame us for faking the whole thing, especially if someone’s planning to return Tony to us right after we attack or make a move.” Dylan rubbed his arms.
“But it’s all just speculation,” Michael said.
“We’ll keep looking for information,” my father said. “We won’t make any moves against anyone until we’re sure they have Tony. I’m also going to send Jason to investigate. He has his own contacts and might be able to find out more.”
I pressed my lips into a tight line. We needed all the help we could get, but I hoped my brother wouldn’t get his own ideas again. “You should send someone with him to keep an eye on him.”
“Don’t worry, Princess. I talked some sense into him. It’ll be fine. He won’t repeat his mistakes,” my dad said, and I hoped he was right.