Chapter 43—Tristan

I gaze out the kitchen window feeling like a lost soul.

We just got back to the house.

Nick was taken to the hospital before we arrived.

We discovered our security systems had been screwed with last night.

Screwed by Alfonse, a man I trusted. A man we all trusted. He betrayed us.

He betrayed me.

This whole crock of shit is my fault. It was me who told him I took Isabella, me who told him that we planned to eliminate Mortimer, and like a lovesick fool, I asked him to take Isabella back to Rhode Island. I asked him because I trusted him with her care, all the while not knowing he was a fucking spy. Kruv’ omertà.

That man has been in our lives for as long as I can remember.

No one questioned anything when Alfonse came into the house. The men on site didn’t know what Mortimer or Dmitri looked like, so they all came in and took Isabella easily. The only man who would have been able to do anything was shot with the intention to kill. And, if Nick hadn’t survived and told me it was Alfonse who took her, I would be none the wiser. I’d even contemplate the possibility of her escaping, although I would have thought it impossible because she wouldn’t have been able to pull it off with the place so heavily guarded.

Heavily guarded and look what happened.

What’s the point?

Alfonse did the very same thing Andreas did. He used his face to fool everybody. Just like Andreas, he walked in plain sight on the right hand of the devil without a soul raising any alarms because of who he was.

I can’t even be mad anymore because if I do, I’ll go on some rampant rage and destroy everything in my path, including myself.

Massimo and Dominic walk in, and I turn to face them. We hardly got to spend time with Candace when she woke up.

“Came to talk. It’s time,” Massimo says. His face is stern.

I don’t know what he has planned to say to me, but he’s right. It is time to talk.

I have one thing to say, but they won’t like it. The fucking plan to get Mortimer is a bust, and we now have nothing to hold over him. He has his daughter back, and I know he’s going to kill her because she helped us.

Alfonse is the only person who could tell him that. Mortimer will kill her for betraying him. I can’t let that happen to her. I promised her I’d take care of her. It was a promise made to be kept.

I kept saying I was the brother with nothing left to lose. I was wrong. When they took Isabella, they took the last thing from me. When I decided to let her go, it was different. It was so she could have a life. Freedom. Freedom is the only thing I would allow to have her over me.

Not bondage. Not death.

“I’m going to get her back,” I begin, and Massimo tenses. Dominic stares back at me, and I wonder what he’s thinking. The things he said about Isabella last night still don’t sit well with me. “Mortimer will know she helped us. I’m going to get her back, and I’m not asking you to come with me. The element of surprise is gone, so if I go in, I know I might not make it back out, but I’m going anyway.”

That’s all I have to say. I’m just going to head to the airport and get on the first flight out. I won’t even be as bold as to ask for the jet or anything.

“Tristan—” Massimo says, but I cut him off.

“No. You said to me not just a few days ago that I could be the one to give her her dreams back. My version of doing that was not this. Her father will kill her. So I’m going. I’m her hope. Her shot at hope. The man who will do everything to save her. If I don’t do it, no one will. Realistically though, the job is mine. I should do it because I love her.”

I move past them and head to the door.

“I’m going with you,” Dominic calls out, and I stop midstride.

I turn around and stare at him, thrown by the offer to help. “No, you shouldn’t.”

“You gonna tell me I can’t come too?” Massimo challenges. “Let’s all go. I wanted to talk about what we’re doing, but it looks like we know what we want to do.”

“I still think we have the element of surprise,” Dominic states.

“How so?”

“Mortimer won’t expect you to come for his daughter. He’s got the leverage now, so he won’t think we’ll do this, and since he’s already in the States, I see no reason to wait. We should leave tonight. That’s assuming they’re in Rhode Island. They might not be.”

“I’m checking there first. Nikoli’s house.”

“Rhode Island it is.”

“You’re sure? I know you have strong feelings toward her, and I understand why, but if anyone should have feelings for better or worse toward her, it’s me, and I’m past it.”

“I shouldn’t have talked about her like that. I didn’t mean it,” Dominic replies. “I think this could still work. I have the plan ready to go. If we leave in the next hour, we could be in Rhode Island by eight at the latest. Then we can gather the men together and head out by morning.”

“We’re gonna need to go in guns blazing. I want this finished. I want Mortimer out of the picture,” Massimo states.

“Then let’s do this,” I reply, and the three of us head out.

It’s time for the real war.