Nico
Isla’s fathers were happy Mason joined us this morning. We spent the time finding another of Pedro’s guys, that was a dead end and ended up at a nice café for brunch. Isla’s fathers sat at a separate table from Mason and I so we had the time to discuss a marriage proposal to our girl and now we had the perfect plan on how to execute it. We were due to in a few minutes to intercept another member when my phone rings. I pull it out to see Isla’s name on the screen and I don’t hesitate to answer. She doesn’t usually call me. She might send a message here and there but if I’m working she will try not to bother me, so that’s how I know something has happened. “Amore?” I answer and wave her fathers over to our table. “What’s wrong, Isla?”
Her breathing is unsettled and Luciano motions for me to put it on speaker phone. I do and then turn it down slightly so the other few people around us won’t be able to hear as well and all five of us lean in to listen.
“Nico…you can be angry at me all you like later, but I found something, and I need your help. Now.”
“That’s not a good way to start a conversation my love…Where are you and what am I walking in
to?”
“I’ll send you the address, and the guards have already been taken care of. Bring my fathers.”
The call ends and I stare at the phone until it pings with a location. One that means absolutely nothing to me. I look at Luciano who appears to be just as confused as I am. We say nothing as we all get up and walk across the road to our cars. What has my little hell raiser gotten herself into now? and how did she know I was with her fathers?
I know we are at the right location when I spot one of Luciano’s men outside. His car pulls up just behind me and he gets out, walking straight over to the guy.
“Don…Look, they made me do it.” The guy starts and Luciano raises his hand to stop him.
“What’s happened Matteo? Where are my girls?”
“They’re inside, but look, when you go in you need to stay calm…The children were very unsettled by me, and I think they’ve been traumatized by men that look like us.”
“Children? What are you talking about?” I snap at him and his riddles that tell me nothing.
We follow him inside the warehouse and the first thing I catch is the smell of blood. I lo around and see a few men zip tied with their heads down against one wall, and then I spot a body on the backend of the building, lying in a pool of blood. Luciano see’s it too and nods towards it. “Was that the doing of my daughter, or my lovely wife?”
1/3
Chapter 165
“Your daughter.” Matteo grumbles and leads us up the stairs. I hear multiple small sounds as we rea ushered to a door along the hallway and the sight that greets me is conflicting as all hell.
Isla sits in a room full of young, filthy, malnourished and scared children, she holds a baby that couldn’t be more than six months old and sways as she sings a lullaby, I remember my mother singing to me as a child. Something horrible has happened here to these children, I can’t deny that, but I also can’t deny how my heart warms with the sight of Isla being so nurturing. She would make a great mother one day. I’m sure of it. The children all flinch back, some outright crying when they see the group of men in the room. I slowly take Masons hand and kiss it softly which draws a few of the children’s eyes. Then we make our way over to Isla, and I softly wipe a smear of blood from her face with my sleeve and slowly kiss her cheek, as Mason does the same.
“What is this, amore?” I ask quietly.
“We were looking for Pedro…but we found these children instead.” She replies softly.
“Pedro?” One of the older girls asks, causing all of our heads to turn to her and she recoils.
“It’s okay, it’s okay. These are my partners, Nico and Mason. Those three over there are my Dads. Luca, Tony and Luciano. None of them will hurt you. They’re here to help me figure out how to get you home.”
I kneel down, not moving at all to close the distance between me and the little girl and I ask,
“Where is your home?”
She tilts her head slightly as if she isn’t understanding and it dawns on me that they’re not from this country. I try again in Mexican and that gets a lot of recognition from the children. The girl tells me in her own tongue where she is from exactly, where the other children might be from, and how they got here. Then she tells me that it was indeed Pedro that brought them here. He wished to sell them to bad men for big money. That alone, boils my fucking blood, but I can’t scare the children, so I take a deep breath and promise that I will get them home.
Luciano and I step outside of the room to discuss the best plan of action.
“Do you still have Mexican connections?”
“I do.” I reply.
“Call them, tell them what’s happened. Try to get some of the children’s names so they might be able to contact their families. I’ll work on getting some transport from here for the kids and the guys downstairs. They need food, clothes and a warm bed until we can get them home. Your r heard is bigger than mine so I assume you have a fair amount of space they could use?”
I’ve
“Plenty of rooms available” I nod.
“Alright, make that call.” Luciano pats me on the back and I quickly duck back Into the room to le if I can get some names of the kids. One of the little boys has climbed himself onto Mason’s lap and another is hanging off his shoulders as he laughs and makes weird animal noises. It’s adorable, and weird, but mostly adorable. The children definitely don’t seem afraid of him.
