Sold to the Capo-Chapter 108: WHERE IS SHE?
VINCENZO’S POV
The silence that followed was heavy and weighed down on all of us as they all stared at me, confusion swirling in their gazes.
The doctor came, and I sat in silence, ignoring the sharp pain that made me clench my fists, my nails digging into my palm as I struggled to concentrate on anything else apart from the feeling of being poked. He had suggested anesthesia but be damned if I was going to be knocked out in times like this; the pain wasn’t that bad either way; I had certainly learned to endure gunshot wounds over the years.
After he was done with his job a few hours later of listening to Master LaRosa bark orders at his men and still yielding the same reports, we all just stood there, silent.
I had already sent my men after Grace after they had confirmed that she wasn’t in her quarters. It didn’t make any sense to me because I couldn’t understand why she would do something like that. Was she working for Henry? Grace was a nice person who was willing to sacrifice her life for people who meant something to her but I would have thought that if she had ever sensed bad energy from someone, she would have said it to me.
Over the months that she had spent with me, she had always relayed her problems and fears with Valentina so if Henry had been trying to get her to do this, she would have said something, right?
Henry.
A bitter chuckle escaped me as I thought about him, a smirk tugging at my lips.
He should have one single prayer. I should never find him.
Finally, Salvatore broke the silence. "Vinceㅡ"
I didn’t allow him to finish that statement; I grabbed him by the collar and punched him hard with an audible crack, making him stumble, shock in his eyes as he clutched his bleeding nose. My father didn’t flinch, but I could feel Val stiffen beside me; I didn’t care about their relationship; she wouldn’t say a word. She knew how the system worked.
"I deserved that." He struggled to breathe, wiping his nose without so much as a wince.
Pointing a finger at him and trying to ignore the familiar feeling of rage in me, I spoke up. "You don’t get to call me Vincenzo anymore. It’s Don Enzo and you sure as fuck don’t talk to me unless I ask for it, got it? You’re lucky I haven’t put a bullet into your head, Salvatore, and trust me, the only reason I’m refraining is that I don’t want Val to hate me or I swear to god, I would have put a bullet in your fucking head"
The anger in me was gradually reaching a level that I wouldn’t be able to hold it in anymore. The fact that I had found out that he had been my father’s snitch after I thought I had found an ally still pissed me off to an extent but a part of me didn’t want to kill him also because he didn’t tell my father about the Haven and Adriana neither did he say anything about Grace despite knowing that my father would pay good money to hear about Grace. But then Henry didn’t say anything about Grace to my father, which meant he had probably been wanting to use her, so he didn’t want her dead; hence, he didn’t tell my father about her.
"He also had something tㅡ," Valentina finally said, evidently referring to my father, but I cut her short in time.
"I know what type of man my father is, and unfortunately, it seemed that I didn’t know what type of man Salvatore was," I said to her, glaring at her.
My father didn’t seem to care that he was the bone of contention here, he simply leaned against the wall and started speaking. "So the bitch has my ledger, and she and the bastard are missing; what now?"
With a sigh, I flexed my fingers and looked at him. "I still have my men combing her room, if there’s anything we’ll know."
"Does that mean we can cross Justin off the list?" Valentina suddenly asked.
My father looked confused but it wasn’t his place to know. It was never his place.
"If he were in on it, he wouldn’t still be at the mansion because there’s every chance they’ll tip us off and make us kill him, so probably not," I replied.
Salvatore was still nursing his nose, but he didn’t retaliate or try to say anything snarky, or I would damn Val’s feelings and kill him. Also, Adriana would be really disappointed if I killed him. I knew that much from Adriana’s personality and if there was anything that made me queasy, it was disappointing Adriana. I would rather put a gun to my head and kill myself than make her mad at me. That was so much worse. I never wanted to be the source of her pain.
Not again.
I already had enough years to regret those years of high school.
Speaking of Adriana... I excused myself and went to the hallway leading to my father’s room and pulled out my phone, aware that none of them could listen to me and I could see them coming if they chose to follow me. When I was satisfied, I pulled out my phone and dialed Michael’s number.
A few rings and the man picked up. "Yes, Vincenzo?" He sounded almost bored but there was an undertone of urgency that immediately made the hair on the ends of my skin rise.
"What’s up? I’m having issues here" I informed him, my voice low.
There was a slight pause then he cursed. "How bad?"
"Scale of 1-10..." I paused. "An 11. I’m literally talking to you with a gunshot wound"
He cursed more prominently in the background and that was something that made me frown visibly. He wasn’t the type to curse for no reason and that made me know that something was wrong. "So basically not safe to come over to that place, am I right?"
I adjusted uncomfortably, the pain in my arm becoming worse. "Terrible, not sure anyone would want to get through this shit right now. That’s not why I called. How’s my wife?" I asked, not wanting to prolong this conversation for any longer than I had to.
Another pause. "Ah well, she’s good. You know you never told me she was that persistent or...sneaky"
He paused, and I could hear someone in the background saying something, but it was too muffled to make out, but it sounded like "still nothing." Micheal must have covered the mouthpiece because I suddenly couldn’t hear anything for a few seconds before he came back on.
"Micheal, is everything okay there? Is there something wrong with the Haven? Is everything seriously fine with Adriana?" Fear began to grip me and threatened to squeeze life out of me.
"Ah yes, everything’s fine. Just some minor...discomforts, I should leave you to your work now. You must have a lot to do" he said, clearly eager to end this call.
Before he could hang up, I quickly spoke up, my voice harder now. "Don’t you dare do that, Micheal. Tell me what the hell happened. Give Adriana the phone" I ordered.
"I don’t have to follow your orders, you know, right? I don’t answer to you and iㅡ"
"Don’t. Fuck. With. Me. Give the fucking phone to my wife" I said through gritted teeth, my anger palpable in my tone despite the growing sense of unease that I felt.
The way he went silent made me run cold as I began to piece things together. "Micㅡ" that was as far as I got before I spied Valentina coming to me, the look on her face already telling me everything that I needed to know. She had something urgent to report. "Stay on the fucking line. I’m putting you on hold" I growled into the phone and then put the phone on hold, hoping to everything Micheal prayed to that he didn’t hang up or Adriana may never meet her father.
I dropped my hand to look at Valentina. "What’s it?" I asked almost impatiently.
"The men just finished searching Grace’s apartment and they found her laptop in her work room. They were able to bypass the security, and they saw an email dating to a few hours before the attack," She said almost breathlessly.
"What did it say?" I asked, my curiosity piqued.
"It was from Michael’s email" Valentina lowered her voice, confused. "It said to meet her with the book"
My blood ran cold at that.
Michael’s email.
Yet... something didn’t add up because I knew it wasn’t Micheal who sent that email.
"I’ll be there in a minute," I said to her, keeping my face passive despite the inner turmoil inside me.
She nodded and quickly left to join the others while I put the phone back to my ear, putting him back on the line, my eyes cold with a steely determination, murder warring with determination in my eyes.
"Done?" I heard Micheal say as soon as he saw that he was back on the line.
I didn’t have time for this. "Micheal. Don’t fuck with me, I know Adriana isn’t there with you. Now answer me, and don’t you fucking lie to me, especially not when it’s about my wife. Where. Is. She?"
