Chapter 163

LORENZO’S P.O.V.

I knew the exact moment that Isabella left the house. I always had one eye on her even when I was doing things. I knew where she went as well because Mac was giving me updates every half hour. What I didn’t know was what the last message was meant to be. It seemed like it was typed in a rush or it was an accident- I wasn’t sure which I wanted it to be.

It said “jelo, oertr.”

I had no idea what that meant but I was determined to find out because Mac hadn’t sent me my next half hour update. I went with Matteo who tried to assure me that everything was fine but I couldn’t shake my gut feeling that there was something else going on.

The café was packed as per usual and I saw their car parked out front but when I got inside, I saw Mac slumped forward over the table while Isabella was nowhere to be seen. I cursed and rushed over to him, he was breathing but he was unconscious. Matteo wasted no time before grabbing him and dragging him out. I could feel eyes on us but people knew better than to record.

I looked around wondering what the hell was going on and who I was going to ask when a girl walked up to me. She has short brown hair and kind eyes. “You are Lorenzo DeLucia, right? I saw you on TV a while ago.”

“Listen, I don’t have time to answer any questions or sign-”

“There was a woman earlier,” she cut me off and I stopped to listen the moment I heard the woman. “She looked a little high out of her mind if you know what I mean. She grabbed my arm and told me to find Lorenzo DeLucia. I thought she was bat shit crazy but you are here now and I am guessing it is not a coincidence.”

“No, it is not,” I mumbled running my hands through my hair. “How long ago was this? Describe the woman and tell me who the man with her was.”

“It happened maybe ten minutes ago?” she checked her watch and shrugged. “She is African-American, very pretty and scary looking. She was with a police officer. I don’t know his name but I have seen him around. The nepo baby, his dad used to be-”

“Peter,” I cut her off. “Thank you for your help and do not tell anyone about what just happened.”

I walked out of the café before she could say another word and took out my phone. I dialed Dante’s number and just as I was getting into the car, he picked up. I didn’t give him the chance to speak. “Peter has Isabella, to hell with the plan, I am going to find him and I am going to kill him.”

“If you do that, you will go to jail. He isn’t stupid, he probably rigged the entire place with cameras. Even I will not be able to keep you out if you do that.”

“He has my pregnant wife,” I snarled. “I don’t give a fuck about going to jail. I will make sure he dies a slow and painful death. If you want to help, then work on disabling the cameras before I get there.”

He was quiet for a second. “You know where they are?”

“Yes, after Leo went missing, I gave Isabella a bracelet that she never takes off, it has a tracking device on it. I will send the live feed to you, you better make sure the cameras are dead by the time I arrive.”

“Lorenzo, listen to-” I hung up before he could speak and tuned to Matteo who was watching me with worry and concern in his eyes.

“You can either come with me and we leave that one in the car or I can drop you off on the side of the road and you find your way home. I am not turning this car around.”

“Let’s find, Isabella first.”

Even I didn’t realize how grateful I was going to be for that response.

We drove in silence as I carefully followed the red dot on the map. It led me toward an old part of town that used to have a lot of factories. We parked a distance away so as not to alert Peter of our presence and followed the rest of the way on foot until we were standing in front of an old water board. I tried to think about if it held any connections to Peter but I kept coming up empty.

“We cannot just go in,” I explained to Matteo. “We need to go around and figure out if we can see them.”

“I know this place,” Matteo said and I raised a brow. “There was an entrance at the back that kids would use to sneak in. If we are going to survey, that would be the best way.”

I nodded and allowed him to lead me that way. It felt weird not being the one to take charge but I trusted Matteo with my life. When push came to shove, he was always on my side and he would never betray me.

We tried to do a survey but we couldn’t see. It was too dark. We were going to have to risk going in by ourselves. It wasn’t an ideal situation but it was what it was. I decided to take the lead. If anything were to go wrong, I wanted to be at the forefront.

We had barely gotten into the building when I heard the click of a gun. I stilled and turned to face Peter. He had a gun aimed at my face. “Drop it.”

“You first,” Matteo shot back and he smirked.

He pressed a button and a screen lit up. I could see Isabella sitting chained in a room. “IF I push one button, it will release poisonous gas into the room and she will choke to death. Put the fucking gun down, now!”

I knew he wasn’t bluffing so I nodded to Matteo and slowly placed my gun on the floor. Matteo gritted his teeth but did as I had asked. Once we were unarmed, Peter laughed.

“You are going to die, Lorenzo DeLucia and I am going to have the joy of being the one who finally puts you in a coffin. I will be a hero and you will be a-” His sentence was cut off my tires screeching to a halt outside and anger filled his features. “Who is that?”

“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “I came alone.”