“I can’t fucking stand this, D,” I snap, pacing up and down the corridor. “We need to be out there doing something, not sitting around waiting.”
“Doing what, Max? Lorenzo has a team of men ripping Monique’s house apart. Dmitri has half his army scouring the city. I got all my tech guys searching every traffic camera for Monique’s car. But our best lead is in that fucking room having his chest sewn back together.” He nods in the direction of the operating room. “This is where we need to be. But if it makes you feel better to be out there busting some heads open, you go do that.”
I glare at him, hating him for being right. “It’s been six fucking hours, and nothing.” I rake my hands through my hair. My ability to think logically or rationally has fled. I’m consumed with rage and terror. My girl is out there somewhere, and they could be hurting her right now. They could be—
A woman in scrubs steps into the waiting room. “Mr. Moretti?”
Please, fuck, let Ash have made it.
Dante steps forward. “Yes.”
“Your friend is out of surgery and he’s stable. He’s in recovery.”
Thank whatever god or devil is responsible for saving that lucky fucker’s life.
“When can we talk to him, Doctor?”
She frowns. “He’s had major surgery. He needs his rest.”
“I understand that, but I need to speak with him. I assume you’ve been informed of our particular circumstances?”
She winces. “I have.”
The Morettis pay for this hospital’s discretion and cooperation in the form of millions of dollars in donations each year. This nurse knows she’s unlikely to work in another hospital in the entire tri-state area if she refuses to comply.
He lifts his eyebrows. “So when can I speak with him?”
“You can wait in his room and speak with him when he wakes,” she says reluctantly.
“Which room is he in?” I ask.
“Follow me.”
Ash is hooked up to a dozen machines, but he looks pretty good for a guy who was shot earlier today and almost died.
“Please don’t wake him. You won’t get any sense out of him if you do. He should start coming around in about half an hour when the anesthesia wears off.”
Dante thanks the nurse and she leaves us alone to stare at Ash, lying motionless in the hospital bed.
I cough, breaking the long silence. “What now?”
Dante takes a seat in one of the bedside chairs. “We wait until he wakes up.”
With a deep sigh, I sit next to him and stare at Ash, willing him to wake the fuck up and hand us the key to finding Joey.
“Why the fuck would Monique drug her?”
“Money,” he answers without hesitation. “You know her mom has all but burned through what her dad left them?”
“I figured as much.”
“I knew though. I should have seen it, Max. It should have been a huge fucking red flag. I know people like her. They will do anything for money.”
“So, she what? Delivered Joey to Viktor Pushkin? Why?”
“Because Monique is his girlfriend,” Ash croaks.
I jump out of my seat. I could fucking kiss him. “Ash, you tough-as-nails son of a bitch!”
Nodding, he winces.
“What else did you hear?”
“Not much. I was in and out … wherever he’s been hiding … they’ve taken her there.”
“If she’s his girlfriend, why did she help him take Joey?” Dante asks with a frown.
“Revenge,” Ash answers, coughing.
“No.” I shake my head. “The guys who took me said their boss was furious with me for touching his girl. They very much implied she belonged to him. He took Joey because he wants the Italian Mafia princess he was promised. He wants her to be his wife.”
“Twisted fuck,” Dante says with a snarl.
“This is good news, D. It means that Monique is dispensable, but not Joey.”
“You know my sister though, right? Never backs down from a challenge. Never runs from a fight. She will run her mouth as soon as she finds out what the fuck is going on. He’ll kill her.”
“No, she won’t. She’s smarter than that,” I assure him.
“I fucking hope so.”
I take Ash’s face in my hands and kiss his forehead, making him groan with disgust.
Everything’s falling into place like a puzzle that I just found the last, most important piece of. “I fucking love you, but we have to go to Racine.”
“Why are we going to Racine?” Dante asks.
“Because I know where his place is.”
“What? Where?”
“Above a sex club called Elena’s Erotic Arena in Racine.”
“How the fuck do you know that?”
“I’ll explain in the car. Now, can we please go get my fucking girl?”
He turns to Ash. “Get some rest, buddy and thank you.”
“My pleasure. Tell her I’m sorry I let her down,” he whispers as his eyes close.
“You didn’t, Ash,” I tell him, but I doubt he heard me.
I call Lorenzo and bring him up to speed while Dante drives as fast as possible to Racine. When I’m done, I tell Dante how a complimentary tin of breath mints is going to lead us to his sister.
