Mafia's Redemption: Terzo - Chapter 98: Chapter 98

TERZO
“Old man with an accent?” My stomach dropped. “Are you sure about it?”
“I was very convincing. I told him I will have his family taken from his wife to his dog.” Gio shrugged. “Are we thinking the same old man?”
“We should have checked him out before we went to Ireland. Fuck.” My hand formed into a fist. “And he followed us here?”
“Then who the fuck is he? Why is he doing all this?”
I drew a deep breath. I lost focus. I was too eager to help Dani, and I missed the important clues. “Now it made perfect sense. What doesn’t add up is the book. For a caretaker, he knows a lot of things, and of all people, why would Cillian trust him with a book? He even knew the trip to Türkiye. Son of a bitch.” I growled out. My stomach lurched at the thought that Dani was really the target. Violent anger churned inside me as the image of her, so terrified, began to torment me.
“He took advantage of Dani’s unrecovered memory. He was probably the one who broke the drawers. He’s good. He made us believe in his lies. I fell for it,” Gio said.
Grace called again. When I picked up, she greeted me, “About time you answered my call, Siciliano.”
Well, we were both having a bad day. “What is it about, Grace? I have a very long day.”
“You’re full of shit. I know you helped Olezka out. I warned you, Siciliano. I will come for you. What did you offer him?”
“What do you mean, Olezka is out?”
“Don’t play games with me, Siciliano. One call, you and your father will be on the Interpol and Europol most wanted list.”
“Don’t threaten me, Grace. If Olezka is out, then I am the first one he comes to visit. My family is not safe. In fact, someone just blew up my house. You should turn on your TV or check it out on social media. The reason why I couldn’t answer your call right away was that I was dealing with my own disaster.”
“What?” She sounded surprised. “Are you okay?”
“No. I’m not okay. My father and his right hand were in a safe house receiving treatment. So, I’m not messing with you when I said I have no idea Olezka is out of prison. How is he out? Did he escape the convoy?”
“It’s classified, but yeah. The convoy was attacked on its way to the airport.”
“Shit.” I tried hard not to make it look like I was affected. “Is everyone okay?”
“No casualties, but everyone is beaten up. There were wounded, shot, but no one is critical.”
“You should check the guards or the security team. Since my first visit, I had a feeling Olezka got into one of them, but I wasn’t sure. For someone who was locked up, he knew a lot about my life. I have a feeling he has more information from the inside than he does outside.”
“Why are you just telling me now?”
“I wasn’t sure, and I warned you, Ridge. He was locked up with guards 24/7. There was no way someone would attempt a prison break. Right now, he might have just made me his first target. I’m still gathering information about the attack. I have a strong feeling this is his way of saying hi. How can I help?”
“You’ve done enough. If I find out you’re involved in his escape or you tipped his men, I will come for you next, Siciliano.”
“You know where to find me.” I hung up the call. My men were waiting for my order.
“Ready the vehicles, I need to call my wife and warn her.” Jesus Christ. “How did I miss it?”
“What do you mean, boss?” Tristan asked.
“How come Dani could not recognize him?”
“Right.”
I dialed Dani. When she didn’t pick up right away, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something just happened. My call just ended unanswered.
“Fuck.” My heart raced and my fingers shook as I redialed her number, and it went to her voicemail. “Fuck!”
I breathed deeply to calm myself, but nothing could help me unless I had my wife. I ran my fingers through my hair as I tried not to think that something went wrong. With my jumbled thoughts, I closed my eyes for a brief moment.
“Gio, call Marco. Tristan, contact Luca. I’ll try calling Celestina.”
When Celestina didn’t answer either, and Tristan and Gio shook their heads, I almost lost my balance. My knees threatened to buckle at the thought of them getting into trouble or someone getting into them before they could get out of Sicily.
They were supposed to be on their way out via sea. What the fuck happened with the plan?
“Someone just targeted me and came after my family, and he just crippled me.”
“Boss, we should find them,” Tristan suggested.
“I don’t know where to start. Ah— fuck!”
I couldn’t think. My mind was in chaos, and all my family could be hurt. “Call our men in aviation to check an old Irishman by the name of Ronan. White hair, tall, fit, who arrived last night or this morning. I need his picture out to our people.”
“Son of a bitch. How did he fool us all?” Gio shook his head as he typed something on his phone. “I can do it faster. I’ll create his profile using AI.”
“Great idea,” Tristan said.
A minute later, Gio showed me an AI image he created. “Close enough. I’m sending it to everyone.”
“Tell them not to approach. He is armed and dangerous. Just send his location to us, and we’ll get it from there.” I climbed into the SUV.
“I’m sure he was not Ronan. That son of a bitch. I will kill him myself.” Gio joined me, carrying the military-grade rugged laptop.
I called Massimo. “Take care of my father, okay? If anyone suspiciously approaches the gate, shoot them. No questions asked. This compound is rigged with tripped wires. You know when someone climbed from the cliff. Call me immediately.”
The SUV drove off out of the gate. One more vehicle followed.
I knew my father would be safe in the basement. The house was built to withstand calamities, even a nuclear blast, but I was worried that my people would get hurt protecting them because of my recklessness and stupidity.
My phone rang. “It’s Matteo.” A little worry lifted off my chest as I answered the call.
“Boss, your wife and Celestina were taken by an Irishman.”
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. How did it happen? What the fuck were you doing with the Irishman? An old man outsmarted you, huh? You, useless piece of shit!”
“Oh, fuck,” Gio cursed under my breath.
“God damn it!” Tristan hit the steering wheel as he accelerated and drove towards the main street.
“He wasn’t alone. He had two more men, both big and tall, who just came out of nowhere and caught us off guard. They knocked me and Luca out. He shot Marco.”
“Where the fuck is Marco now? Damn it!” I was yelling all the time until my chest heaved.
“Before I got knocked out, he fell into the water, boss. There was blood on the boat, but we couldn’t find his body,” he said shakily. He knew what would happen if they failed me. And now they've got my wife and Celestina.
“You better not show your face to me or I will be the one to put bullets in your brain, incompetent pigs!” I hung up the call.
I stared at my phone while my hands were shaking. I completely underestimated that asshole.
I never thought he could do such a thing, but everyone had darkness inside, and we didn’t know anyone until they showed their true nature. And not every old man was trustworthy. Sometimes, they were more evil than the one who committed crimes.
“Boss, no sightings so far,” Gio informed after he ended a call.
“He can’t get off the island without anyone spotting him. He must have planned it. He must have an accomplice. He couldn’t do this alone.” I hit my forehead with my palm when I couldn’t think of anything. “Think. Think.”
“Maybe they were waiting for you and Dani to go to Ireland. Maybe he was Francesco’s accomplice all along. Or maybe Francesco was taking orders from him. How did Francesco know about the book?” Gio asked.
“The million dollar question is, who the fuck is that man? An old buddy of Cillian or his mortal enemy.”
“Million-dollar question.” I stared at Tristan.
“What is it, boss?” he asked, confused.
“Maybe he came for money. He knew Cillian had money,” I muttered to myself.
“Then why isn’t he calling you and asking for ransom?” Gio asked.
“Because he doesn’t need my money. He doesn’t want my involvement because he knows what will happen if I find out he kidnapped my wife and sister.”
“So he wants Dani’s father’s money?” Gio dialed someone on his phone.
“I’m calling the bank to warn them.” I was still searching for the number when an unregistered number called me.
I thought of rejecting it, but maybe it was Dani using a landline or a payphone. “Yes?”
“Signor Terzo Siciliano?”
“Yes. Who’s this?”
“I’m calling from the bank. Your wife asked me to call you.”
Oh, thank God. I closed my eyes for a brief second, letting go of a shuddering breath. “Where is she now?”
“She just left after sending 100 million dollars to an offshore account. Don’t worry, it needs to be verified first by the bank, and it may take a day or two before he received into the account. But he gets notified about the transfer. I’m just buying you time. Something didn’t add up. Your wife looks terrified. I got the vehicle plate number they used, parked outside.”
“Give it to me. Did Dani come with another woman?” I dictated the plate number to Gio.
“No, signor.”
“Thank you.” I ended the call and waited for Gio to find the vehicles.
“Got it, boss,” Gio confirmed.
“Can you hack the GPS on the vehicle? And the last places they went to?” We might as well find Celestina in one of those places.
“No, boss. I’m not good at it.”
“I’m calling Linden.”