For Cam (Chicago Syndicate Book 4) (24 page)

Luca and Henry talk while the rest of us are lost in our own thoughts. I can’t get Cam out of my head – I see her when I close my eyes, and I think of her when my eyes are open.

“It’s going to take a while. Henry doesn’t know how long,” Luca informs after he finishes his call.

“Ballpark?”

“Could be a couple of hours.”

“Hours!” I leap to my feet. “I don’t have fucking hours. The thought of her being hurt or tortured...it’s killing me.”

Luca’s gaze is filled with sympathy. “Listen, Adriano, Medlov isn’t hurting Cam. He’s going to use her as leverage or bait, so he won’t touch her. This can’t be just about kidnapping Cam. He has to have another endgame in mind.”

“My thoughts exactly; Maxim held something back...” I pinch the bridge of my nose, uselessly trying to regain some calm. “I’m not going to take all of you down with me and possibly lose Cam forever, so I’ll take your advice and wait.
But
Henry better drop everything else and get me some worthwhile info soon.”

“Let’s all go home and rest for a few hours and then meet back here,” Luca suggests. “If Henry’s got information for us before that time, then we’ll meet earlier.”

“Fine. Everyone be back here at six a.m.” I dismiss them with a flick of my wrist, but Luca doesn’t leave.

“What am I supposed to do now?” I grumble.

“Why don’t you come with me?”

I exhale a heavy sigh. “I need to go home. Hopefully that will relax me.”

“Call me if you need me, and Henry is calling you first if he has news. You promise not to do anything on your own?”

“
Si
.” I nod, realizing I’m cornered.

“I’ll give you a ride home,” Luca offers.

***

M
y loft feels cold. My stomach rumbles, but I can’t get a bite of food to go down my throat. From the kitchen bar, I get a glass and a bottle of whiskey. After uncapping it, I tip the bottle and pour a generous amount into the glass.

Then I trudge to my sofa and sit down, thighs spread wide, taking a long swig and letting the beverage dangle from my hand between my legs. I study the expanse of the loft with emotional detachment. Without her, the colors are muted.

I rotate my drink in a slow swirl. Helplessness is a bitter pill to swallow. It’s pure hell sitting here and knowing she’s out there, alone, but there’s nothing I can do about it right now. This is what I tried so hard to prevent from happening, and now, my biggest fear has become reality. Because she’s lost to me, and that means that I’m lost as well since she’s my compass. The center of my life.

The urge to trash the apartment is tamped down only because I need to stay focused, so I slide the glass onto the table. No more alcohol in case Henry calls. Resting back on the couch, I fish out my phone, slide open the screen, and stare at a picture of Cam and me. My fingers trace the contours of her face, hoping that my phone lights up any second with an update.

However, my hope is in vain as I watch the black sky take on a blueish hue.

Camilla

––––––––

M
y glare is fixated on the ceiling as I lie here on this freaking bed with no sense of time. The waiting is excruciating, and I have no idea how Adriano is.

What happened after he left here with a gunshot wound? What did he and Medlov discuss that made him leave me behind?

No one knows about the tape – I’m sure of that, but I need my team to be informed. If the Syndicate just comes back and kills everyone, we’re screwed; that tape will go to the DA. I need to get my hands on it and find out the name of Medlov’s contact with the DA. And who
is
this supposed trustworthy DA? So many politicians are on our payroll. Could Medlov be trying to trick me? He didn’t let me listen to the tape, so who says it even really exists? Maybe it’s just a ruse.

But I receive my answer sooner than expected when a guard enters the room and points his semi-automatic at me. “Come with me.”

I get up, eager to be out of this place. It must be early morning by now. I’m led from the room without being cuffed, which I find strange at first, but when I walk through the house, I observe that it’s being guarded like a fortress. Many armed security men walk around in this cold, immaculate mansion.

The guard pushes me inside a library where Medlov greets me, “Good morning, Camilla.”

I answer him with silence and scope out my surroundings. There’s a window in here, and when I look outside, I guess that this must be some kind of estate because I only see a stretch of lawn. If I do manage to escape this house, I’m probably going to encounter a gated perimeter. Furthermore, I can’t just escape without knowing anything about that tape.

To my surprise, Medlov offers me the evidence I seek without any pressure from me. “I have here the tape I was referring to.” He presses
play
, and I get to hear a conversation I had with Santino almost three months ago when he was imprisoned at the warehouse.

Me: “Who are you, Santino?”

Santino: “What do you mean?”

Me: “If I release you, what life do you go back to?”

Santino: “Are you letting me go? I would go back home, to the Loop. But what about you? You helped me, Camilla, but now you’re here among my captors. Are you one of them? Are you part of the Chicago Syndicate?”

Me: “If we let you go, how can I be assured that you won’t turn us in?”

Santino: “Because I know it would get me killed.”

Me: “That’s right. You’ll never escape us if you talk.”

Santino: “I realize that you’re everywhere. The Syndicate took over Sal’s entire establishment in one night. I’m not stupid enough to fight that. I know how powerful you are.”

Me: “Then you also know we can, and will, find you again if you do betray us.”

Santino: “I get that. So are you planning to release me? Because I overheard that they’re taking me back to Club 7 tonight.”

Me: “I’m not making any promises, but I’ll talk to the boss and let you know. However, if any of the soldiers uncover information you’ve withheld, it’s completely out of my hands.”

Santino: “Why? Are you protecting yourself, the Syndicate, or Adriano Montesi, Camilla? You need to realize what you’re involved in. He is the boss, and you are his lover. But when he’s had enough of you, what will happen to you?”

Me: “Don’t talk to me about Adriano.”

Me: “Lock it.”

Medlov seems to examine my reaction.

“That’s circumstantial evidence,” I say.

“Is it? You blatantly admit that you will talk to the boss of the Chicago Syndicate. Santino mentions your name and Adriano’s full name. Are you sure this isn’t incriminating?”

Shit, I’m not.
Carmine, our
Consigliere
, hasn’t explained that to me yet. And either way, it’s evidence that I had Santino locked up. If this gets into government hands, then my life is over. I’ll go to prison. I’m tied to a Mafia, and they’ll have proof.

“You look confused.” Medlov practically reads my thoughts.

I need to school my expression better.

“This will mean the end for you and probably Adriano, which could be avoidable. Call Adriano and persuade him to sell me Club 7 in exchange for you, and then we part ways.”

“Fine, give me a phone.” I hold out my hand.

He lets out a condescending snort. “Not so fast. I can see the wheels turning in your pretty little head. I will contact Adriano while you sit here.” He points to a yellow futon. “And you may talk to him, but you can’t speak Italian or else I’ll cut you off. Now, go sit.”

The guard shoves me down onto the seat. Then he kneels down, and I stiffen when he flashes a knife and rests the sharp edge against my throat.

“One wrong word, move, or hint about your surroundings, and you’ll die. And once you die, it’s over. I won’t talk to the Syndicate again; I’ll let the government handle them. All you’re allowed to talk about is how he must meet you tonight in upstate Chicago at ten, and that he should bring his lawyer with the transfer papers. If he complies, nothing will happen to you.”

I can’t nod because of the blade at my neck, so he takes my silence as agreement.

Medlov brings his phone up against his ear. “Adriano Montesi.”

“Where the fuck is Camilla?!” I hear Adriano yell.

“She’s fine, and if you want to talk to her, then listen to me. I have an offer for you which she will relay. If you ask her anything about her whereabouts, the call will be cut off and you’ll never see her again.”

I can’t hear Adriano’s response as Medlov unkindly stares at me and then presses the speaker button. “Speak.”

“Adriano?” I say.

“Cam? Are you alright?” His unsure, distressed tone cuts through my heart.

“I am. Are you? You got shot?”

“Yeah, I’m okay.” There’s an awkward silence because he’s thinking about what to say without getting me hurt.

“Sure you’re okay? You got shot?” I say again quickly, hoping he understands my underlying message that I saw him getting shot, that he was in the correct place before.

“Hurry up,” Medlov intervenes.

“Adriano, meet us in upstate Chicago tonight at ten p.m. We can settle this matter easily. Sell Medlov Club 7 in exchange for me.”

It’s silent before he replies, “Where exactly?”

Medlov shakes his head. Apparently, one of the rules is that I can’t reveal the exact location yet as his guard presses the tip of the knife to my throat.

I hiss and Adriano hears it, asking in a panicked voice, “Cam? What’s going on?”

“Nothing, I’m fine. Answer me. Are you going to do the trade?”

“Yes,” he speaks instantly.

I want to ask so many questions as I’m sure he wants to as well, but at least we both know we’re alive and okay.

“I’m texting you the address,” Medlov informs Adriano before he ends the call. “You did very well, Camilla. Let’s hope your man follows through and doesn’t find his club more important than you.”

Adriano

––––––––

“I
’m texting you the address.”

“Cam? Cam...” I yell, but Medlov’s hung up. In a flash of pure fury, I hurl the phone across my office and steel my jaw from the pain killing my shoulder. “She said she was alright. She did
not
sound alright.”

James, Luca, Henry, and Wade have been with me since the crack of dawn, and it’s only eight a.m. currently. Medlov wants to meet at ten tonight, which means fourteen more hours of thorough agony for me.

“He was going to text you on that phone,” Wade mentions dryly from behind my desk where he’s sitting with Henry behind a laptop.

Luca, James, and I stand across from them.

“Oh, fuck.” I peer at the phone, now annoyed that I couldn’t hold myself back.

“Don’t worry. I can still access the message,” Henry informs without looking up from his computer screen. “Give me your phone. Wade, put Adriano’s card in a new smartphone. He has some in his desk.”

When my phone went off, I answered immediately. And finally hearing Cam’s voice made me euphoric, yet miserable. So many questions were on the tip of my tongue, but without knowing the situation she’s in, I couldn’t take a risk and inquire about her whereabouts. Hearing her voice crushed me, but then I replay the conversation, and a sense of pride swells inside.

“She sounded fine,” Luca disagrees. “He probably held her at gunpoint.”

Discounting his comment, I state, “Maxim was telling the truth. She
is
on the second floor, because she knew about my bullet wound.”

“Maybe Medlov told her about it,” Wade points out.

“No, then Cam would’ve asked
did you get shot
. She didn’t ask for confirmation, and I think it was a clue from her, because she purposely said it twice.”

“I noticed it too,” Luca says. “She
was
giving us a clue.”

James drops down into one of the chairs. “Now what?”

I ask Henry, “How far away is the address?”

“About four hours’ drive from here.”

“Well,” I start thinking out loud. “Medlov wants to meet at ten, which gives him fourteen hours to transport her from his house to the location. We need to get her back before tonight, because if we wait until then, we’ll be walking into another trap. He has something else planned.”

“And he won’t move her until dark. He won’t risk it in broad daylight, hence setting the time at ten p.m.” Wade shifts in his seat.

“What if he’s already taken here there?” Luca adds, leaning against the desk.

“He hasn’t,” Wade remarks. “No one’s left the estate all night. But what about the club?”

“You think I care about this club? I don’t.”

“You can’t budge, Adriano. We’ll lose power if you sell Club 7.” Luca’s face is full of surprise.

“
But
I’m not stupid. He’s never going to just give me Cam after I sign over Club 7. There’s more, and that’s why we have to get her out of his mansion before he moves her. He wants us out of the Loop and won’t rest until that happens. He
has
another plan.”

“We also can’t attack now because Henry isn’t in his system yet,” Wade says.

“Henry, how far are you with hacking his system?”

“I’m not sure. I need a couple more hours. I keep hitting firewalls.”

“How long for us to set up a team to go to his estate?” I ask. “We need to make sure we’re there when he leaves with Cam, even if Henry hasn’t finished breaching their system by then.”

“I can already disable some of the estate’s exterior security,” Henry notifies me.

“Wade, how many soldiers can work tonight at five?”

“I can rally up around fifty.”

“Then do so. I want her back with minimal chaos to ensure her safety. We’ll need tranquilizers and lots of silencers.”

“I’ll have to go to the CIA tech department to get tranquilizers,” Wade answers.

“Where’s that?” Luca turns his head to Wade.

Wade smiles slowly. “When Adriano’s made me an official first
Capo
, I’ll tell you.”

“Fine. Then let the other
Capi
round up soldiers, and you go to CIA tech,” Luca says.

“Let’s put it in motion,” I order. “Either Cam’s back with me by nightfall, or I’m selling this fucking club.”