Amplify (19 page)

"What’s that?" she asks.

I slide off the edge of the bed, toe my shoes on, and finger-comb my hair. "You’re right."

She just looks at me: confusion, surprise, disbelief all a part of her expression.

I reach for my purse, taking out my keys. "Thanks for the reminder," I tell her with a light-hearted laugh. "And thanks for the indulgence," I say, patting her cheek much the same way I did the day she walked in on us having oral sex. Her hands curl into fists and I smirk.

Do it. Just give me a reason, bitch.

"Be well, Serafina," she mutters as I make my way down the hallway. I pause only to leave the key on the entrance table. Déjà vu... only this time, I won’t be taking it back. Not now that I know his reasons for being with me. Duty.

I key in the code and walk out the front door, not bothering to re-enter it. I merely look at the guard. "Might want to reset that," I tell him, then head for my car.

The wall around my heart that had been rebuilding is now solid—titanium solid. I am, once again, finally, blissfully numb.

I pull my car out of the gates and dial Irene.

"Irene McPherson."

"Serafina Manzini."

"Wow, that’s twice in two weeks. You
must
be bored," she says.

"And then some. Do you have anything anywhere exotic or out of the way? I need to get away from everything going on, from everyone—even Cage. No one can know where I’m going but Lucy or Jesse, Irene. I’m pulling out the confidentiality clause here," I say, leaving no room for objections.

"Fair enough. There is this one job." She goes on to fill me in.

"That sounds perfect. When does it start?"

"In two days. Can you get there by then?" she asks.

"I’ll swing by and sign the contracts on my way to the airport."

"Are you sure this is what you want to do?" she asks.

"Model clothes on a tropical island where I know I’ll get more downtime than worktime? Oh yeah, I’m positive."

"That’s not what—"

"—I’m positive."

––––––––

R
unaway Baby by Bruno Mars

Wherever You Will Go by The Calling

Won’t Go Home Without You by Maroon 5

––––––––

M
Y PHONE RINGS AS I WALK
out of the meeting and I nearly silence it. I’m glad I don’t when I see it’s Joan.

"What’s wrong?" I ask.

"It’s Sera."

I immediately go on alert. "What’s happened? Is she alright?"

"I don’t know, Cage. She was supposed to meet me for lunch. I was running late and when I got here, all I found was her key on the entrance table," Joan tells me, worry evident in her tone.

Shit. That’s not good. Not good at all. "Did she know you were going to be late?" I ask, signaling my men to bring the car around.

"I left a note on the refrigerator. I’m sure she saw it because I found it on the table."

"Alright. I’m on my way home. We’ll figure this out, mom."

"Oh Cagey, I just know something is terribly wrong."

"I have the same feeling. But we’ll fix it."

"G
iovanni," I greet when he answers.

"What’s wrong?" he asks.

"I’m not sure." I explain the situation to him.

"I’ll meet you at your home. We will put an end to this sooner rather than later."

W
E WATCH THE SECURITY TAPES
. Tedious, boring, then there she is. God, she’s beautiful. Hesitant and unsure, but beautiful. We watch her movements, and my heart softens when I watch her inhale my scent from my pillow before settling down to sleep.

"You still haven’t fixed this?" Giovanni asks.

"I’m working on it."

"Work faster."

I grunt.

"Son of a bitch," I shout when I see Carina snuggling up to the guard at the door.

"Ernesto," Giovanni says, "we will need to keep track of these names. They will all be dealt with. No traitor will be left breathing."

"No. None will breathe again," Ernesto agrees, his tone menacing, reminding me of the time he threatened and killed my father.

We watch Carina enter the house after the guard enters the code and uses his own key.

"Nickels," Ernesto begins.

"Yeah."

"I’ll handle that guard personally."

"Thank you but this one is mine." I normally don’t get my hands dirty, but this fucker is going to die and he’s going to suffer.

Ernesto nods.

"Fucking bitch!" Giovanni shouts as we watch Carina walk toward Sera with a small knife in her hand. She mimics slashing Sera’s throat and I clench my hands into fists.

"I’m going to take great pleasure in killing her," I tell them.

"You don’t kill," Ernesto reminds me.

"This time, I do."

"Serafina gets first choice," Giovanni announces and Ernesto and I merely nod.

Damian walks in and hands me a piece of paper. "Here’s the list of names of everyone on duty today."

"What the fuck?" Damian asks when he sees Carina standing over Sera.

I nod. "My thoughts exactly."

Sera wakes up and they start talking.

"Turn that up," Giovanni tells me but I’m already reaching for the dial.

With each word that comes out of Carina’s mouth, I vow she will suffer greater pain.

"There," Giovanni says, pointing to Sera.

"What?"

"Rewind and watch."

I do and then I see it. Her tell. Fuck.

"Up until the flicker of her eyes, she didn’t believe her." Giovanni tells everyone what I already know.

"Does Sera know Carina’s under investigation?" Damian asks.

"No," I answer.

"And you know why, Damian," Giovanni tells him. Damian nods.

"I want to cut that bitch’s heart out," Damian seethes.

"Get in line," Giovanni tells him.

I lean back in my chair, running my fingers through my hair, and tipping my head back.

"This is so fucked, Gio," I mutter. "I can’t blame Sera for believing her. How the fuck did she know all that? She told her everything but how often we—" I growl.

"One person at a time. That’s how we get to the bottom of this," Giovanni begins. "And while we do that, we also try to find Serafina."

I bolt upright. "What do you mean ‘find’ her?"

"She’s not here, Cage. I called Luciana and I was
told
by my insolent granddaughter that my
other
insolent granddaughter put her running shoes on today and no one but Luciana knows where she ran to," Giovanni tells me, frustration lacing his words.

"Let me guess. Lucy’s not going to reveal that location."

"No. She is not."

I growl again. "We start tonight," I announce.

"Damian and I will gather the rest and secure a location," Ernesto tells us.

"Let us know where," Giovanni answers.

Damian and Ernesto leave the room, and Giovanni and I sit in silence watching Sera kiss then hug the key close before setting it down on the table.

"How big of a ripple will Carina’s death cause?" I ask.

"Minimal. She doesn’t do much lately, if anything. She has others doing her job," Giovanni says with disdain.

"Likely so she can fuck her way into places and situations she doesn’t belong. I know we couldn’t act on it until she became a direct threat, but she
is
working with the Manzini’s. The evidence was clear on the security tape from when Sera walked in on them fucking in the green bedroom. Jesus, think of how close of a call that was. Emilio Manzini in my fucking house. He could have killed her right there, Giovanni. In my house because of that fucking bitch," I shout, then stand, my chair falling over backwards as I do so.

"That hasn’t escaped me. We have to do this the right way, Cage."

"I know. I have to find her, Giovanni."

"We will find her and you will go after her. You will not come back until you have put that ring on her finger, you idiot. What were you waiting for?"

"I wanted it to be special. She deserves so much more than a half-assed proposal in a hospital bed," I tell him.

"I don’t know, Cage. I think, for our Serafina, that was the perfect way to do it. You asked without thinking so she knew you meant it from the heart—until you didn’t give her the ring you told her you had and Carina sank her claws into our girl. We will fix this."

"We will." We have to. I will never, ever fail Sera again. I’ll die first.

H
AMMER. KNIFE. DRILL.
Nail gun. Pliers. Scalpel. Box cutter. Torch. Lighter. Branding iron. Pruning shears. Ice pick. These are just a few tools of choice for Damian, Ernesto, and the other enforcers.

Giovanni and I sit in the shadows, watching, listening, learning.

"You," Damian seethes as another man is brought forward. "I knew you were a shady fucker."

"Damian, I didn’t do shit. She just sucked me off, that’s all. She asked a lot of questions and I didn’t have any of the answers. She was fucking pissed she let me blow my load down her throat when I didn’t have shit to give her," the guy says, straight faced, no sweat, no shift of the eyes.

"What did she want to know?"

He repeats most of the questions, same as the others, only this guy was loyal. I look at Giovanni and he nods. This man will live.

Damian and Ernesto turn around to face us, blood coating the plastic suits they’re wearing.

Giovanni and I both lift our index finger. Index finger means life. Middle finger means fuck off and die. And they do. At the hands of the band of men before us tonight.

Damian unties the man and his head hangs in relief.

"D. You didn’t really think I was shady, did you?" he asks.

Damian smirks. "No. But you ever neglect your watch to get your cock sucked, you’re done. I don’t care who she is or how good she is. Got me?"

"I got you."

"What’s his name?" I ask.

"Noel," Damian tells me.

I nod. "Noel, I once did exactly what you did. Learn from this mistake. Because you were loyal, we’ll reward you accordingly when the time is right."

"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir."

I nod my acknowledgement and he walks away. Giovanni chuckles softly.

"I remember the exact day that not only did you get your dick sucked, you also fucked her right out in the open. Young, dumb, and fucking stupid."