I sank down on the sofa. “What happened?”

My voice was firm but free of anger, and I realized that was because surprisingly I hardly felt any. I would have tried to save Ines too. Samuel was young. He’d learn from his mistakes. It was painful but necessary.

Samuel swallowed. “We got overpowered. The Falcones, they are a unit. Nino and Remo…” His mouth pulled into a grimace. “They can’t be beaten in their territory…”

I gritted my teeth. It was something I’d told him before. “That’s why I didn’t agree to an attack. I knew it would fail.”

Samuel’s gaze became distant. “Yeah… but I thought I could save her.” He let out a tormented laugh. “Remo tortured Fina because of me. I heard her screams. Every time I close my eyes, I imagine what she went through… I… fuck, this is the worst.” His anguish was palpable. I remembered my turmoil when Ines was supposed to marry Jacopo, my worry over her well-being. I’d risked everything to protect her, had killed a fellow Made Man, my designated Consigliere. Samuel had gone against my order, true, but his transgression was small in comparison to mine from the past. I put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. His blue eyes were full of misery when he met my gaze. Samuel and Serafina were twins, they’d always been together. What Samuel must be feeling now, knowing that she was in the hands of our enemy, not to mention one as cruel and twisted as Remo Falcone, it would have driven most men to rash actions.

“I’m sorry, Dante. I accept any punishment you have in mind for me. I deserve torture… I deserve to die for this.”

He shuddered under my hand.

“But please allow me to live until Fina is safe. I must know she’s safe before I pay for my betrayal. That’s all I ask of you.”

I shook my head and Samuel’s eyes turned down with resignation.

“I won’t kill you, Sam. Not now and not when Fina’s back home either.”

“Because of Mom.”

“Because of your mother and because I care about you. But don’t go against my orders again.”

“I won’t,” he said fiercely, but I knew that a promise like that was easily broken.

“And I won’t torture you either. I think you’re already experiencing the worst kind of torture.”

“Yeah… knowing that Fina’s suffering because of my stupidity.” He fell silent.

I pulled my hand away and leaned back in the chair, feeling exhausted. “Remo’s playing with us. He wants to break us.”

“He’s succeeding, isn’t he?” Samuel rasped. “I feel fucking broken. Leaving Fina in his clutches feels as if I left my heart behind. I wished he’d exchanged me for her.”

“He knows he can break us better by keeping her.”

“Fuck, I don’t care about his fucking plans. I just want to save Fina, Dante. We have to save her. You didn’t hear her screams. You don’t understand. Just imagine if he had Anna…”

I couldn’t. The mere idea that someone might hurt my daughter, it made any logical thought impossible, and I needed to keep a clear head in this situation.

“Attack Las Vegas, Uncle. Ask every Underboss and Captain and every fucking soldier for help and stomp that shithole to the ground.”

“We wouldn’t succeed. Remo would know about our attack before we’d reach Vegas and he’d prepare for it. He’d hide Fina somewhere else or kill her to punish us.”

Samuel shook his head. “We can’t just wait for him to give her back. He’ll have broken her by then.”

“I’ll reach out to him and try to come to an understanding. And while I do, I’ll see if we have any options to get our hands on someone we can exchange for Fina.”

“Remo doesn’t care about anyone like we care about Fina. I doubt he even cares about his goddamn brothers. They are close because they know they’re stronger together. Like a pack. Those psychos aren’t capable of human emotion.”

I worried Samuel might be right, but Remo had his own demons. Remo had one thing he wanted more than anything else. “There’s still the option of exchanging Fina for Luca’s new Enforcer. Rumor has it Remo wants nothing more than to kill him.”

“Luca won’t hand him over to us.”

“No, he won’t. But if all fails, we can risk an attack on Luca’s territory and try to get our hands on the man.”

Samuel considered that and seemed mollified by this option. It was a last resort. I preferred a solution with Remo that didn’t force me to heave war with the Famiglia to another level.

Remo had lain low for a while now and it made me suspicious.

It made all of us suspicious.

“He’s up to something,” Danilo said. He hadn’t returned to Indianapolis yet. A sense of urgency had taken hold of all of us.

Samuel nodded but he’d been quiet and subdued these last few days. He was struggling. I knew how it felt to carry the weight of past decisions.

“Giovanni’s trying to renew Rocco’s contacts to the MCs in Luca’s territory but it’s difficult.” If we wanted any chance of getting our hand on Growl, it had to be with the help of those erratic bikers.

“It’s not really my father’s scene,” Val said. “He feels more comfortable talking to politicians than to bikers.”

She and Ines were playing a board game with the children at the dining table while we men had settled on the sofas to discuss possible solutions. It was futile trying to keep everything from the children. After weeks of living in a state of emergency they had gotten used to it.

The bell rang.

Pietro frowned, glancing at his watch.

“I ordered clothes,” Ines said. Pietro had told her not to go shopping for the time being. I too had asked Val to stay home as much as possible. Once we returned to Chicago and I’d established new safety measures, she could return to her usual routine.

Samuel rolled his eyes but pushed to his feet. The guards wouldn’t have let anyone close to the door who hadn’t passed their initial screening anyway.

“I want to ride on a bike!” Leonas exclaimed.

“It’s too dangerous,” Val said.

“I’m going to be a Capo. That’s more dangerous!”

A smile tugged at my mouth despite the situation and Pietro even laughed. Danilo, as usual, looked stern. He was lost in his thoughts most of these days, probably imagining scenarios of Serafina’s current situation. Splitting his attention between Indianapolis and Minneapolis was getting more difficult by the day. I avoided thoughts of what Serafina was going through at all costs. They didn’t lead to anything but despair and rage. Neither was useful.

Samuel came into the living room, looking ashen. He held a parcel in his hands. “This was just delivered. A package from Remo Falcone.” His voice shook and when he looked up from the parcel, terror shone in his eyes.

Ines let out a whimper, covering her mouth with her palm.

Danilo shoved to his feet and I, too, stood, only Pietro seemed frozen in his seat.

“Do you think he sent us a piece of Serafina?” Leonas asked. I stalked toward the table, grabbed his arm and jerked him to his feet. He winced. “Upstairs,” I growled.