Page 43 of Queen of Misfortune (Shadows of Redemption)
"Give him the details." Niko’s voice is tense.
“The FBI has been monitoring an organized crime site on the dark web. Lucia’s name has come up.”
My heart stops in my chest.
Liam moves to a tablet, his fingers typing across the keyboard. A website pops up, and he hands me the device. On it I see Lucy’s face. It must be five or more years old. She doesn’t necessarily look younger. She looks less hardened. Less guarded. More innocent.
"Christ," I mutter, bile rising in my throat.
"It’s a dark web auction site." Liam takes the tablet back. "Starting bid… half a million dollars."
"Half a—" I can't finish. That's my Lucy they've put a price tag on. A goddamn commodity for sick bastards with too much money.
"Does it have a time frame?" Niko's question slices through my spiraling thoughts.
"No, but bids are coming in. It won’t be long before Giovanni thinks there’s enough to take the bid and close it down.”
Rage is seething, dripping from my pores. “He can’t do that if he doesn’t have her.”
"Find the host server, track the source." Niko ignores my comment.
"Already on it."
“The fucking gall.” I run my hands through my hair.
“Apparently, Giovanni thinks Lucia’s widowhood makes her his again.”
“Like fucking property. That man would sell his wife…” Liam doesn’t finish the sentence as something on the screen catches his eye.
“This reeks of desperation,” Niko states. “I think our time of waiting is over.”
“No shit,” I blurt out. “He can’t sell Lucy. Not again.”
Niko arches a brow at my outburst. Liam looks up from his tablet. I’ve probably tipped my hand.
“It would crush Elena,” I add, hoping it hides my personal attachment to Lucy.
"That’s why we won’t let it happen. We'll turn Giovanni’s desperation against him," Niko says.
“He’s worse than we’d imagined,” Liam says as he goes back to the tablet.
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“To his family,” Liam says.
I look at Niko, wondering if he’ll enlighten me. “Elena is lucky I stole her when I did. But Lucia…”
“Lucia what?”
“His daughters were never family to him. Hell, I don’t think he sees them as people.”
I’m about to pull my fucking hair out. “What does that mean?”
“Giovanni wanted to get into trafficking… women.”
Bile threatens to come up. “Lucy?”
“When it appeared that she wasn’t as pure as snow, he sold her to Conti,” Niko explained. “Ruined his plans to make her his first sale as a sex slave.”