Chapter 4 - The Stand-Off
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Mia peeked through the crack in the doorway again, her heart hammering wildly against her ribs. Vanessa was shifting her weight, forcibly raising the dark brown glass bottle toward Sofia’s tightly pressed lips. The young woman was thrashing her head from side to side, sobbing helplessly.
Mia covered the bottom of the phone with her trembling hand and whispered directly into the microphone. “It’s Miss Vanessa.”
Complete and utter silence stretched over the line. For a fleeting second, Mia feared the call had dropped. Then, Luca’s expression on the other side of the city shifted from focused concern to a chilling, terrifying blankness.
“What about her?” Luca asked, his tone dropping an octave.
Mia swallowed the hard lump of terror in her throat. “She’s in Sofia’s room.”
Another heavy pause hung in the air. Then, through the open line of the phone, Luca heard the unmistakable sound of his sister crying out faintly in the background. It was a sound of pure, unadulterated fear.
At the harbor, Luca’s heavy leather chair scraped violently backward against the concrete floor. Every single man around the conference table went perfectly still, sensing the sudden, explosive shift in the atmosphere.
Luca’s voice dropped to a deadly, lethal whisper. “What is she doing?”
Mia stared at Vanessa in horror. “She’s forcing something into your sister’s mouth.”
Luca stopped breathing for half a second. The world seemed to tilt on its axis. “What did you say?”
“She has a medicine bottle I’ve never seen before,” Mia’s voice broke on a quiet sob. “It’s not her prescription. Sofia keeps telling her no, but she won't listen.”
Luca’s face became completely unreadable, a terrifying calm washing over his features that his men knew meant absolute destruction was imminent.
“Do not hang up,” Luca commanded. He was already moving toward the warehouse door, his heavy footsteps echoing loudly. “Mia.”
“Yes?” she squeaked.
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“Do not let Vanessa leave that room.”
Mia stared at the elegant, dangerous woman only a few feet away. “I understand.”
