Amplify

by Anne Mercier

  She throws her head back and laughs. "You’d like to think so. I’m sorry, Serafina, but you’re deluding yourself."

  "Am I? Or are you?" I ask, sitting cross-legged on the bed against Cage’s pillow as if I don’t have a care in the world when what I want to do is jump off this bed and pounce on this nasty bitch.

  "Sadly, it’s you. He couldn’t very well leave the granddaughter of Giovanni Russo pregnant and alone, now could he? Second in command or not, he’d be dead. So, he did what he had to do. He pretended to be in love with you, to want you in his life, but that’s not what he wanted at all," she tells me with a smirk.

  "I suppose you’re what he wanted?" I ask sarcastically.

  "Absolutely. There’s never been any doubt about that. You know it as well as I do. After the night you had your nightmare and he felt sorry enough for you he fucked you, he immediately came back to me. You saw it for yourself how he couldn’t stay away."

  She’s watching me now and I keep my expression flat, though how the hell does she know about that night and how it happened if he didn’t tell her? I want to give him the benefit of the doubt as Lucy asked me to, but...

  "When he went with you all on tour, we met up in Portland then again in Denver. Had you continued on, we’d have met again in Chicago and every major city I could make it to without disrupting business here in Los Angeles." She looks at me, giving me an expression of pity and I want to slap that look right off her face. I don’t need anyone’s pity. I never have and I never will. I purposefully resist the urge to tighten my hands into fists.

  I nod. "That’s not news, Carina."

  She smirks triumphantly. "No, I suppose not. Your being pregnant was quite a shocker though. I mean, really, Serafina. Didn’t you take precautions?" I’m about to bite her head off when she flits a hand in the air. "That doesn’t matter either way. He’s been tested since."

  She so did not go there.

  "And last week?" She gives me that pity look again. One more time and I’m punching it off of her smug fucking face. "We both know he did that to help you realize you’re still whole after losing a part of your womanhood."

  I swallow the gasp and smirk. "Continue," I tell her light-heartedly.

  She nods once, then tosses her long blonde hair behind her shoulder. "But that’s all over now. He’s done."

  "Done how?"

  "Do I have to spell it out cruelly for you? He doesn’t want you anymore, Serafina. He’s humored your girlie crush and fantasy, did his honorable duty by you while you were pregnant, and took care of you while you recovered, but now it’s time to move on and let things get back to normal. Hasn’t he indulged you enough?" she asks in that mocking tone.

  I nod. There is no way she could know all of this without him telling her. No way. And he may have proposed to me, but he never did give me the ring. Shit, he never even mentioned it again.

  Jesus, this hurts—admitting defeat.

  "You know what, Carina?"

  "What’s that?" she asks.

  I slide off the edge of the bed, toe my shoes on, and finger-comb my hair. "You’re right."

  She just looks at me: confusion, surprise, disbelief all a part of her expression.

  I reach for my purse, taking out my keys. "Thanks for the reminder," I tell her with a light-hearted laugh. "And thanks for the indulgence," I say, patting her cheek much the same way I did the day she walked in on us having oral sex. Her hands curl into fists and I smirk.

  Do it. Just give me a reason, bitch.

  "Be well, Serafina," she mutters as I make my way down the hallway. I pause only to leave the key on the entrance table. Déjà vu... only this time, I won’t be taking it back. Not now that I know his reasons for being with me. Duty.

  I key in the code and walk out the front door, not bothering to re-enter it. I merely look at the guard. "Might want to reset that," I tell him, then head for my car.

  The wall around my heart that had been rebuilding is now solid—titanium solid. I am, once again, finally, blissfully numb.

  I pull my car out of the gates and dial Irene.

  "Irene McPherson."

  "Serafina Manzini."

  "Wow, that’s twice in two weeks. You must be bored," she says.

  "And then some. Do you have anything anywhere exotic or out of the way? I need to get away from everything going on, from everyone—even Cage. No one can know where I’m going but Lucy or Jesse, Irene. I’m pulling out the confidentiality clause here," I say, leaving no room for objections.

  "Fair enough. There is this one job." She goes on to fill me in.

  "That sounds perfect. When does it start?"

  "In two days. Can you get there by then?" she asks.

  "I’ll swing by and sign the contracts on my way to the airport."

  "Are you sure this is what you want to do?" she asks.

  "Model clothes on a tropical island where I know I’ll get more downtime than worktime? Oh yeah, I’m positive."

  "That’s not what—"

  "—I’m positive."

  Cage

  Runaway Baby by Bruno Mars

  Wherever You Will Go by The Calling

  Won’t Go Home Without You by Maroon 5

  MY PHONE RINGS AS I WALK out of the meeting and I nearly silence it. I’m glad I don’t when I see it’s Joan.

  "What’s wrong?" I ask.

  "It’s Sera."

  I immediately go on alert. "What’s happened? Is she alright?"

  "I don’t know, Cage. She was supposed to meet me for lunch. I was running late and when I got here, all I found was her key on the entrance table," Joan tells me, worry evident in her tone.

  Shit. That’s not good. Not good at all. "Did she know you were going to be late?" I ask, signaling my men to bring the car around.

  "I left a note on the refrigerator. I’m sure she saw it because I found it on the table."

  "Alright. I’m on my way home. We’ll figure this out, mom."

  "Oh Cagey, I just know something is terribly wrong."

  "I have the same feeling. But we’ll fix it."

  "Giovanni," I greet when he answers.

  "What’s wrong?" he asks.

  "I’m not sure." I explain the situation to him.

  "I’ll meet you at your home. We will put an end to this sooner rather than later."

  WE WATCH THE SECURITY TAPES. Tedious, boring, then there she is. God, she’s beautiful. Hesitant and unsure, but beautiful. We watch her movements, and my heart softens when I watch her inhale my scent from my pillow before settling down to sleep.

  "You still haven’t fixed this?" Giovanni asks.

  "I’m working on it."

  "Work faster."

  I grunt.

  "Son of a bitch," I shout when I see Carina snuggling up to the guard at the door.

  "Ernesto," Giovanni says, "we will need to keep track of these names. They will all be dealt with. No traitor will be left breathing."

  "No. None will breathe again," Ernesto agrees, his tone menacing, reminding me of the time he threatened and killed my father.

  We watch Carina enter the house after the guard enters the code and uses his own key.

  "Nickels," Ernesto begins.

  "Yeah."

  "I’ll handle that guard personally."

  "Thank you but this one is mine." I normally don’t get my hands dirty, but this fucker is going to die and he’s going to suffer.

  Ernesto nods.

  "Fucking bitch!" Giovanni shouts as we watch Carina walk toward Sera with a small knife in her hand. She mimics slashing Sera’s throat and I clench my hands into fists.

  "I’m going to take great pleasure in killing her," I tell them.

  "You don’t kill," Ernesto reminds me.

  "This time, I do."

  "Serafina gets first choice," Giovanni announces and Ernesto and I merely nod.

  Damian walks in and hands me a piece of paper. "Here’s the list of names of everyone on duty today."

  "What th
e fuck?" Damian asks when he sees Carina standing over Sera.

  I nod. "My thoughts exactly."

  Sera wakes up and they start talking.

  "Turn that up," Giovanni tells me but I’m already reaching for the dial.

  With each word that comes out of Carina’s mouth, I vow she will suffer greater pain.

  "There," Giovanni says, pointing to Sera.

  "What?"

  "Rewind and watch."

  I do and then I see it. Her tell. Fuck.

  "Up until the flicker of her eyes, she didn’t believe her." Giovanni tells everyone what I already know.

  "Does Sera know Carina’s under investigation?" Damian asks.

  "No," I answer.

  "And you know why, Damian," Giovanni tells him. Damian nods.

  "I want to cut that bitch’s heart out," Damian seethes.

  "Get in line," Giovanni tells him.

  I lean back in my chair, running my fingers through my hair, and tipping my head back.

  "This is so fucked, Gio," I mutter. "I can’t blame Sera for believing her. How the fuck did she know all that? She told her everything but how often we—" I growl.

  "One person at a time. That’s how we get to the bottom of this," Giovanni begins. "And while we do that, we also try to find Serafina."

  I bolt upright. "What do you mean ‘find’ her?"

  "She’s not here, Cage. I called Luciana and I was told by my insolent granddaughter that my other insolent granddaughter put her running shoes on today and no one but Luciana knows where she ran to," Giovanni tells me, frustration lacing his words.

  "Let me guess. Lucy’s not going to reveal that location."

  "No. She is not."

  I growl again. "We start tonight," I announce.

  "Damian and I will gather the rest and secure a location," Ernesto tells us.

  "Let us know where," Giovanni answers.

  Damian and Ernesto leave the room, and Giovanni and I sit in silence watching Sera kiss then hug the key close before setting it down on the table.

  "How big of a ripple will Carina’s death cause?" I ask.

  "Minimal. She doesn’t do much lately, if anything. She has others doing her job," Giovanni says with disdain.

  "Likely so she can fuck her way into places and situations she doesn’t belong. I know we couldn’t act on it until she became a direct threat, but she is working with the Manzini’s. The evidence was clear on the security tape from when Sera walked in on them fucking in the green bedroom. Jesus, think of how close of a call that was. Emilio Manzini in my fucking house. He could have killed her right there, Giovanni. In my house because of that fucking bitch," I shout, then stand, my chair falling over backwards as I do so.

  "That hasn’t escaped me. We have to do this the right way, Cage."

  "I know. I have to find her, Giovanni."

  "We will find her and you will go after her. You will not come back until you have put that ring on her finger, you idiot. What were you waiting for?"

  "I wanted it to be special. She deserves so much more than a half-assed proposal in a hospital bed," I tell him.

  "I don’t know, Cage. I think, for our Serafina, that was the perfect way to do it. You asked without thinking so she knew you meant it from the heart—until you didn’t give her the ring you told her you had and Carina sank her claws into our girl. We will fix this."

  "We will." We have to. I will never, ever fail Sera again. I’ll die first.

  HAMMER. KNIFE. DRILL. Nail gun. Pliers. Scalpel. Box cutter. Torch. Lighter. Branding iron. Pruning shears. Ice pick. These are just a few tools of choice for Damian, Ernesto, and the other enforcers.

  Giovanni and I sit in the shadows, watching, listening, learning.

  "You," Damian seethes as another man is brought forward. "I knew you were a shady fucker."

  "Damian, I didn’t do shit. She just sucked me off, that’s all. She asked a lot of questions and I didn’t have any of the answers. She was fucking pissed she let me blow my load down her throat when I didn’t have shit to give her," the guy says, straight faced, no sweat, no shift of the eyes.

  "What did she want to know?"

  He repeats most of the questions, same as the others, only this guy was loyal. I look at Giovanni and he nods. This man will live.

  Damian and Ernesto turn around to face us, blood coating the plastic suits they’re wearing.

  Giovanni and I both lift our index finger. Index finger means life. Middle finger means fuck off and die. And they do. At the hands of the band of men before us tonight.

  Damian unties the man and his head hangs in relief.

  "D. You didn’t really think I was shady, did you?" he asks.

  Damian smirks. "No. But you ever neglect your watch to get your cock sucked, you’re done. I don’t care who she is or how good she is. Got me?"

  "I got you."

  "What’s his name?" I ask.

  "Noel," Damian tells me.

  I nod. "Noel, I once did exactly what you did. Learn from this mistake. Because you were loyal, we’ll reward you accordingly when the time is right."

  "Yes, sir. Thank you, sir."

  I nod my acknowledgement and he walks away. Giovanni chuckles softly.

  "I remember the exact day that not only did you get your dick sucked, you also fucked her right out in the open. Young, dumb, and fucking stupid."

  I chuckle. "That’s not really how the saying goes, but that fits too. I like him."

  Giovanni grunts his agreement and then our expressions harden again when the next man is brought forward. The man guarding my door. He’s pushed into the chair, his arms bound to the arms of the chair, legs bound to the legs of the chair and that’s when I stand and slowly make my way to where he sits.

  "Lucky, is it? That’s what they call you?" I begin.

  He nods and swallows hard. "Yes, sir, Mr. Nichols."

  I nod and pick up the hammer. I tap it against my other hand as I walk slowly back and forth in front of him. "I bet you felt pretty lucky today, getting your cock sucked right outside my door, didn’t you?"

  Smart man doesn’t respond.

  "Truth is, you weren’t really very lucky at all, Lucky," I say, then swing the hammer down on top of his hand. He bites back his scream. "No," I continue, "I don’t think you were very lucky at all." I slam the hammer down on his other hand, feeling more than a little satisfaction at the sound of crunching bones.

  "Let me tell you why you were very unlucky. You let Carina into my home, letting her see my security code, using your master key to do so, and you gave her free rein." I hand the hammer to Damian then lean forward, resting my fists on the hands I just crushed. The man lets out a moan of pain, biting back most of it, and I have to admit I’m a bit impressed. He’s doing much better than the others, though I didn’t participate in the others either.

  "Your loyalty today was to Carina, Lucky. She’s not the one who’s been taking care of you and your family all these years. She’s not the one who’s taken care of your bills. She’s not the one who’s made sure your family was safe." At this, his gaze snaps up. "Was she?"

  "No sir."

  I nod and lean forward again. "You knew Serafina was in the house. I watched you greet her as she let herself in. You also knew Carina was forbidden from my home." I step back and let Ernesto hurt the motherfucker some more.

  "Do you know what she did? She stood above Serafina where she was sleeping peacefully in my bed. My fucking bed! And held a knife over her. You allowed this to happen. You enabled it."

  Damian steps up, does a little more damage.

  "Tell me, Lucky. How did you think this was going to play out?" He doesn’t answer. "Tell me what she wanted to know and we’ll end this quickly for you."

  At first he doesn’t say a word, but then Damian picks up the power drill and steps forward and Lucky is singing like a canary.

  "Is that everything?"

  He nods and I nod in return, turning to look at Giovanni who gives me the
finger and I nearly laugh, but god damn it I’m so pissed right now.

  I turn, putting my whole force into the swing, and punch the motherfucker right in the jaw. Crack.

  "Damn," Damian says in admiration.

  I turn again, but change my mind. I grab the gun off the table, turn, and shoot. Bullet to the heart. No hesitation.

  "He deserved much, much worse," I say, firing a shot to the fucker’s dick and then between the eyes.

  "Should have done the dick first," Ernesto tells me.

  "I’ll remember that for next time."

  I return to my seat, straightening my shirt.

  "She’s gone too far. We need to step up the pace, Gio."

  He nods. "I’ve got eyes searching for Emilio Manzini as well. Something tells me there’s more going on with him than we know."

  "Why would you say that?"

  "He’s the equivalent of Damian and Ernesto. If he wanted Lucy dead, she’d be dead. He made it look like he had interference and missed his target by mere inches."

  I nod.

  "And do you honestly think Damian or Ernesto wouldn’t notice Serafina whether they were getting fucked or not?"

  "No. They’d have thrown Carina on the floor, pulled their gun, and had Sera in their sights within seconds."

  He nods, his elbows resting on the arms of his chair, his fingers steepled beneath his chin.

  "Do you think he’s working both sides?" I ask.

  "No. I think he’s abandoned the Manzini’s but puts on a front for pretenses until the time is right for him to disappear."

  I lift a brow. "They’ll kill him."

  "Hmm," Giovanni murmurs. "Not if he has protection."

  "He’s playing her. Carina. He’s playing her," Ernesto mutters.

  Giovanni nods once.

  "We need to find him and find out what he knows," Damian says.

  I nod. "Good luck with that. You know you’ll only find him if he wants to be found."

  "He’ll want to be found soon. His sources will tell him about this, how Carina threatened Serafina, and he won’t like that. For whatever reason, he’s been protecting those two girls he grew up with."

  I nod in agreement.

  "That is correct," a voice says behind us in the shadows.