Back at the mansion, the atmosphere had turned explosive. Several men stood around a large table filled with maps of the city, surveillance photos and videos, computers that were trying to track locations but none of it seemed to be working. The large office slammed opened so hard they hit the door.
"Where is she?!" Enzo's voice thundered across the room.
One of the men swallowed nervously.
"We're trying to track the second car."
"Fuck!" Enzo slammed his fist on the table making everyone jump. "Hours. You've had hours. What the fuck have you all been doing? If you can't do your jobs why are you here?"
The room fell silent.
" Boss, we've closed all exits. No one can leave the city without us knowing."
Enzo began pacing the room like a caged animal, his fingers running through his hair in frustration. Every second that passed felt painful without any lead.
" Relax Enzo, you're scaring them," Lorenzo said, as he walked in with Lena.
Enzo stopped pacing and shot him a death glare.
"Good. Then maybe they'll do their fucking job."
"You're going to tear the city apart if you keep this up," Lorenzo chuckled.
"If that's what it takes."
Just then, another man walked in with a box in his hand.
"Boss....."
Everyone one turned.
"Someone sent this," he said, after hesitating for a second.
"Who brought it?" Enzo asked, his voice dangerously calm.
"I.... I..."
A hard punch landed on his nose causing him to fall, the box slipping from his hand.
"Enzo!" Lorenzo quickly grabs him before he could deliver another punch to the poor guy who was holding his bleeding nose.
A heavy silence fell as the man scrambled out of the room.
"Enzo, instead of getting angry over little things, why don't you open the box?" Lorenzo asked, trying to diffuse the situation. Enzo's eyes swept across the room before he walked to pick the box. No one moved. No one spoke or even breathed.
Slowly, he opened the box. For a second, he just looked inside, then his entire body went still.
Inside the box was a small pair of slippers, pink and familiar.
Soaked in blood.
The temperature in the room seemed to drop.
Lorenzo stepped closer to him, his usual humor gone.
"Fuck!" he muttered under his breath.
Enzo didn't say anything. He didn't even move. His eyes were locked on the slippers. Something dark shifted in his expression, something more dangerous than anger.
Something colder, deadlier.
When he finally spoke, his voice was barely a whisper.
"Check the surveillance."
Some of the men moved to the security room whiles the rest stayed behind to run the number plate they had gotten from the footage from Isla's neighbourhood.
Lorenzo and Enzo strode to the security room, leaving the box behind.
"Pull up the front gate," Lorenzo ordered as soon as they walked in.
Fingers flew across the keyboards. Screens flickered, then steadied, then switched from footage to footage until the front gate came into view.
"Rewind," Lorenzo said.
The footage rolled back.
Stillness.
Then....
"Stop."
A figure stood just outside the gate,hair hidden under a cap and face hidden behind a bandana.
"Zoom in," Enzo spoke for the time since he entered.
The image sharpened slightly. The figure moved, placed the box carefully by the gate, looked around and run away.
"Replay it."
The footage resumed.
The figure turned, just for a second. Not enough to see a face but enough to see the back of their neck.
A tattoo. Dark and distinct.
"Freeze that."
The screen paused again, the tattoo now clearly visible under a streetlight.
A low murmur flooded the room.
"I've seen that before," one man stepped forward slowly, squinting at the screen.
The room fell silent as everyone turned to him.
Enzo didn't.
"Talk," Lorenzo said, his eyed glued to the screen.
The man swallowed.
"There's a local thug who usually hang out at the city bar." He pointed to the screen. "He's got the same tattoo. Back of the neck, hard to miss."
"What's his name?" Enzo asked, never looking at the man.
" They call him Rico."
The whole room tensed.
"Bring him to me."
"Yes boss."
There was a pause.
"Alive."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
" Get your dirty hands off me," Rico yelled as he was led down the basement, blindfolded. His feet barely touched the ground and his face was covered in bruises. "I've got connections. You don't know who you're messing with. I won't....."
Rico's jaw dropped halfway through his threats when the blindfold was yanked off.
"Please....listen....I didn't..."
The two men behind him shoved him so hard he hit the floor.
Rico looked up and froze as he locked eyes with Enzo.
Enzo stood a few feet away, his expression completely still.
Rico's breath caugh in his throat.
" I didn't do anything."
There was no response.
Enzo still didn't move.
Rico's breathing started to pick up.
"I swear, if this is about territory or something, you've got the wrong guy." He said quickly.
Still nothing.
That was when Enzo took one step forward. Rico instinctively tried to move back but one of the men forced him to stay in place.
Enzo crouched slowly, bringing himself to Rico's eye level.
For a moment, he just studied Rico's face.
"This afternoon," he said quietly, " where were you?"
Rico blinked.
"This afternoon?" he asked, confused. "I was...uh... I was around."
"Careful." Enzo's eyes darkened slightly. " You words determine your fate now."
Rico's throat went dry.
"So let's try this again, shall we?"
Without looking at Rico, he made a small hand gesture.
One man stepped forward and turned a monitor toward Rico.
On the screen was a small girl about five or six, sitting on a swing in a park.
"No!" Rico yelled, lunging forward, his fist colliding with Enzo face.
Before he could grab Enzo's collar, he felt something hard hit his rib, knocking the breath out of him.
"Where were you this afternoon?" Enzo continued, as if nothing had happened.
"I...I was at City bar. Thats where your men found me,"
Enzo threw a bunsh of pictures in front of him and watched as he leaned forward slightly.
Rico's face changed as recognition hit him.
"That's ..."
He stopped himself.
"Finish the sentence," Enzo's voice came out low.
Rico swallowed hard, his eyes moving to the screen. The little gilr had now jumped down the swing and was heading to the slide.
"That's me," he admitted slowly. " Please don't hurt my sister."
All eyes snapped to Enzo, who was looking at Rico with an expressionless face.
"Wait! Listen. I can explain," he yelled, panic setting in." I don't know what was in the box, I swear. I was just paid to drop it off. I didn't ask questions. I just did the job." Rico continued desperately.
A long heavy pause filled the room.
"Who?"
Rico shook his head. " I don't know his name."
Enzo stood still for a moment, just staring at Rico.
"Describe him."
"What?" Rico blinked.
"The man who gave you the box," Enzo said, his voice law and controlled.
Rico swallowed hard, trying to think.
"He was tall...just about your height." he started. " Built. clean. No rough look, he looked put together."
Enzo said nothing so Rico continued.
"Dark hair, brown eyes. He had a writing on his arm..." Rico shook his head as if trying to remener something.
"La Faucheuse," Rico said quickly. " That's what it read."
Everyone in the room exchanged as silence crashed into the room. Even Rico felt it, though he didn't fully understand why.
Enzo stood completely still.
"The Feragnos," one of the men muttered in the crowd.
Everyone looked at Enzo, anticipating what hw would do next.
"Keep him here," he said coldly.
Rico's eyes widened.
"What?.....No! I told you everything."
"If you remember anything else," he said quietly, " you'll tell me."
"I already told you!" he shouted as Enzo walked out, with Lorenzo behind him. " I don't know anything else!"
But his voice just echoed uselessly through the room.