Page 245 of Breaking Rosalind
My smile fades when I remember this was the time Matty Galliano first reached out with text messages, wanting to talk. He wasn’t so pushy back then because his other children were still alive.
“They made us go through withdrawal at the academy, too,” she murmurs into my chest. “Only there was no naked man on call to help me through the symptoms.”
I tighten my arms around her and press a kiss into the top of her head.
She trembles. At first, I think it’s another wave of withdrawal, but then hot tears spill on my chest. I cradle her closer, my fingers threading through her damp hair.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper into her ear. “We’ll get through it. She’s a lot stronger than you think.”
“You don’t understand,” she sobs. “Gunther is furious about what we did. What if he takes out his anger on Miranda?”
My jaw clenches. That thought has also been racing through my mind. We reduced his power base into a smoking crater. “He wouldn’t dare, knowing you have powerful allies. Miranda had to grow up fast. She’s a survivor.”
The locks on the door click, breaking our moment.
“Don’t move,” I whisper.
Not waiting for her to nod, I rise off the mattress, making sure to cover her with the sheet. As far as the Galliano family knows, Rosalind is still under the influence of a tainted batch of benzo.
Matty walks in, holding Rosalind’s phone, flanked on either side by a pair of armed men in black suits. He’s dressed in a tan safari suit buttoned up to the neck with a white cravat identical to his brothers.
“Cesare, you look so beautiful naked.”
Disgust ripples through my gut. I step back, resisting the urge to cover my junk. “What kind of fucking comment is that?”
“That Moirai bastard still has my Miriam,” he says. “He could be doing anything to your sister.”
A shudder runs down my spine at the chilling image, but I keep my face neutral.
“Tommy told me she wasn’t of strategic importance.”
Matty presses his lips together, his jaw tightening. It’s the same expression he made when I told him Tommy ordered my assassination along with Benito and Roman. The more discord I can create between the brothers, the better chance Rosalind and I have to take them down.
“Tommy doesn’t get to make decisions about my children,” Matty snarls.
I nod. “So, we’re getting her back?”
His eyes soften. “Will you help me make the handover?”
My chest squeezes at the thought of putting Rosalind in danger, but it’s in line with what she wants and part of my plan to free Miranda while taking down the Gallianos. Sucking in a deep breath, I draw out the tension.
“I’ll help, but we’re going to need something to eat, as well as our phones and clothes.”
He turns to the larger of his men. “Gio, pick her up and put her in the back of the car.”
Gio swaggers toward Rosalind, but I step in his path. “Clothes first, and no one touches her but me.”
An hour later, after Matty insisted that I give Rosalind another dose of Dr. Cortese’s ruined batch, I’m carrying her out of the mansion and into a courtyard surrounded by low shrubs.
A full moon hangs high in the cloudless sky, illuminating the swathes of rolling hills surrounding the mansion. We’re in the middle of nowhere, and the only route out of this deserted location is by car.
Matty leads the way with Gio at his side, their cowboy boots clicking on the gravel.
A bearded asshole named Nino shoves a gun at my back. “No funny business.”
“How would you like me to stick that gun up your ass and fire?” I growl.
Matty’s feet make an abrupt stop. He turns around, his features hardening into a mask of fury. “Cesare is my son, and you will give him his due respect.”