Page 84 of The Godfather’s Christmas Twins
"What the fuck?" Nic's voice goes razor-sharp. "How did?—”
“It looked like he was posing as her driver or something.” I swerve around a taxi, keeping the sedan in sight. "She seemed hesitant. He forced her into the car."
"I'm mobilizing everyone. Where are you now?"
I give him my location. I grit my teeth as the sedan slips through a yellow light just before it turns red.
"Shit!”
“What?”
“I’m stopped.” I hit my steering wheel. “He’s heading toward the tunnel… maybe… fuck!”
“New Jersey?”
“Maybe.” I inch into the intersection, not giving a shit that I’m about to cause an accident. I run the red light, horns blaring around me.
I keep the sedan in sight as Nic's voice crackles through my phone. “I’ll track her phone?—”
“You can try, but I’m pretty sure the phone he tossed was hers.”
"Fuck!" Nic's curse mirrors my own thoughts exactly.
Guilt has been a constant in my life ever since the night I spent with Gia six years ago. But it’s crushing me at this moment. If I'd just gotten out of my car sooner, if I’d come sooner… Fucking hell, if I’d stepped up like a man when I should have and not let her leave, she wouldn’t be in this situation. This is my fault.
"I should have been closer," I growl into the phone. "Should have taken him out the moment he approached her."
"Max, focus. This isn't helping Gia."
He's right, but the guilt churns in my gut anyway. I'd come back to New York to protect her, to make things right. Instead, I watched that bastard snatch her right off the street. Some protector I turned out to be.
The sedan is inching farther and farther away as traffic tightens. I’m going to lose them, lose her, and I can’t breathe from the fear of it.
“I’ll go get the twins from school,” Nic says. “Get them safe at my place.”
My heart clenches at the thought of my children in danger. "Let me get them." The words burst from my mouth before I can stop them. The need to protect them, to hold them close and keep them safe, surges through me. They may not know I'm their father, but the parental instinct roars through my veins all the same.
"Max, the school won't release them to you," Nic says gently. "You're not on their approved list. You're not family."
The truth of his words stings more than I expect. He's right. Legally, I have no claim to them. I'm just their mother's godfather, their uncle's friend.
I swallow hard and force myself to focus on the sedan ahead of me. "Yeah, okay." The words come out rough. "Just make sure they're safe."
But the knowledge that I can't be the one to protect my own children kills me. Another consequence of my choices, of putting duty before love all these years.
The line goes dead, and I refocus on saving Gia. Ricky makes another quick turn, and I curse as I fight my way to the corner. I turn and nearly run into a delivery truck. The driver gives methe finger. I have an urge to point my gun at him, but he’s not my enemy.
I whip around him and press down on the gas, but as I look ahead, I don’t see their car. I scan the area, but they’ve vanished. The feeling of failure is almost more than I can bear. I continue to drive, but it’s impossible. It’s the proverbial needle in a haystack.
Benny.
That fucker knows something. I know it. I make a beeline as best I can through the crowded city to the warehouse Nic uses to hold people. It used to be one of Gino’s trafficking locations. Nic feels it gives a sense of restitution to hold the guilty where his father once held innocent lives waiting to be sold.
I slam my SUV into park outside the warehouse. Rage propels me forward as I stride inside.
"Leave us," I bark at the guards. They scatter without question, recognizing the dangerous edge in my voice.
Benny sits chained to a metal chair, his face bruised from previous interrogations. His smug expression makes my blood boil. He knows something, I can feel it in my bones.