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Chapter 152
The following day, Antonio and Cynthia visited the hospital to see Matilda.Mathilda rested on clean white pillows and when she saw them, she gave a small smile—just enough to ease Cynthia’s tension.“You’re getting better,” Cynthia said in relief. "Antonio and I brought you to a safe place. We hope you recover quickly and are strong enough to leave the hospital soon.”Mathilda’s fingers tightened around the pendant that rested against her throat. It was a filigree of silver with a tiny stone in the center that caught the fluorescent light and turned it into a sliver of winter sky. Cynthia hardly took it off.Even now, clasped in her fingers, it seemed to soothe her.Cynthia sank into a chair, watching Mathilda with a kind of awe. “Tell me more about the pendant. And those who gave it to you,” Cynthia said.Mathilda’s expression shifted. For a moment, she seemed to travel back into a memory lined with both warmth and fear. She looked at Antonio and Cynthia. “That pendant belong
Chapter 151
The underground men Antonio had attacked fevered panic. Elias lay dead while the rest of the men who had thought themselves untouchable were nursing broken bones and bruised egos. The underground men who had hired Elias gathered in a windowless room behind a shuttered tailor shop. They were furious in a way they rarely allowed themselves to feel—hot, personal, animal. Nobody in their circles had been humiliated like that. Antonio had walked into their trap and undone them like a child untying a knot.“It’s not business!” the scarred leader, Leo, bit out, slamming a fist flat on the table until the maps and receipts fluttered. “It’s an insult!”The way Antonio had moved had made their training look clumsy.Reinforcements, someone suggested and the scarred leader agreed. If Antonio was to be stopped, it would take a level of coordination they had not yet needed. He picked up the phone and started calling names that made the other men go pale—leaders of operations from towns two
Chapter 150
The next morning, Elaine headed for the closest grocery store to her house which was just two blocks away.As she stepped inside the store, the scent of fresh bread and citrus greeted her.She reached for a basket and began picking items—milk, bread, a packet of rice. After a while of picking things, she noticed a tall, elegant figure turn into the same aisle. It was no other than Florence.Elaine’s grip tightened around the basket handle. The memory of seeing Florence near Antonio the previous day burned in her chest like fire. Her eyes narrowed with disgust, and she gave Florence a look of contempt.Florence noticed Elaine immediately and s smirk curved her lips.Without hesitation, she walked toward Elaine, her heels clicking softly against the tiled floor.“Hey, Miss,” Florence said, her voice dripping with amusement. “What a surprise.”Elaine said nothing as her jaw clenched tight.Florence tilted her head, her smirk widening. “Although you don’t deserve my explanation, I’ll
Chapter 149
The man obeyed without question. At the leader’s bark he lurched forward with his boots thudding on the rotten boards as he vanished into the inner room.Seeing the man move to carry out his leader’s instruction, Antonio moved like a shadow. The moment the door opened for the man to enter, Antonio slipped in between him and the doorway.With one hard shove, he knocked the man aside, sending him crashing into the broken chairs.The other kidnappers barely had time to react before Antonio was already inside.Cynthia’s face was a pale oval in the dim light with her eyes wide with a terror that spooled into relief when she recognized him. The warehouse reeked of oil and old cigarette smoke and the air hummed with the rustle of weapons being raised.“You’ll regret this,” the leader hissed from the doorway.Within seconds, two men lunged.One of them fired with the gun spitting flame and lead but Antonio snapped sideways with the bullet tearing a hole through the plaster where he’d been a
Chapter 148
What Antonio did not know was that Elias, one of his men, whom he thought was an ally, was the one orchestrating this from the shadows. Elias had been whispering into the ears of these underground men in Ravenport for days, feeding them Antonio’s patterns, weaknesses, and motives. He had told them exactly how to set the bait, how to use Cynthia as leverage, and most of all, how to force Antonio into submission.They wanted Antonio broken—fearful enough never to stand in their way again.The kidnappers, under Elias’s guidance, believed they could frighten Antonio into retreat. They had seen men crumble before their reputation. They had burned villages, seized families, and shattered warriors into obedience. If Antonio saw their might, they believed he would fold.But Elias only knew little about Antonio’s dauntlessness. In the short time Elias had known him, he had mistaken Antonio’s patience for weakness and his silence for submission.******It didn’t take long for Antonio to
Chapter 147
Antonio closed the suite door with a force that made the framed print on the wall shiver. The click of the latch sounded too loud in the quiet room.The night had already been a grind of obligation and exhaustion and her clumsy obsession was the last thing he needed. He reached for his phone. It vibrated in his hand like a trapped insect.He answered on the first ring.“Antonio,” Cynthia’s voice rushed at him through the line, small and frayed. “Please—please listen. I've been... kidnapped. They say—if you don’t bring Matilda to them, they’ll—”The rest of the sentence was torn apart by a sob. Behind her, Antonio heard the echo of rough laughter, the scrape of a hand on a chair, and a voice swearing. Cynthia’s breathing hitched and slipped; it was thin, as if she’d been crying for too long.“Cynthia,” he said, in a steady and cold tone. He tamped down the spike of panic that tried to rise in his chest — panic was useless. “Where are you? Who’s with you? Talk to me.”She inhaled
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