Alice looked up at me with puppy dog eyes. “I know you’d never be so weak as to roll over and lose everything. You’re too proud of a man for that. You’re too strong for something like that to happen. And I don’t know what’s going on with you and your father or your brother, but I want to help. I want to aid you, Israel. Not hurt you. Not like it sounds like this other girl is doing.”
I slowly turned around. “What have you told her, Dad?”
He held his hands up. “Nothing she wasn’t already privy to. When she says people are talking, Israel, she means it. Everyone knows what’s going on right now.”
Alice placed her hand on my shoulder. “Let me give you a clean slate. Let’s get each other a clean slate and try this again, yeah? For once, Israel, go after what you want.”
My eyes locked with the wall. “You know what, you’re right.”
Dad chuckled. “I knew you’d see it our way.”
I turned around to face Alice. “I have to go after what I want.”
She smiled up at me. “Then, go get it. Because it’s right here, waiting for you.”
I grinned. “You have my word that I’ll get exactly what I want out of this entire situation. No matter who it crushes in the long-run. And that includes you, Dad.”
“What?”
I slowly turned around to face him. “Mark my words, I will get what I want. I will prevail over all of this. Even if I have to crush you in my wake.”
Then, I moved past the man and headed for the front door.
Carrying with me all the answers I needed to make the clearest decision I’d ever made in my life.
26
Israel
Alice yelled after me. “Israel, wait!”
My father’s voice bellowed over the parking lot. “If you leave this house in this condition, boy, you’re in for a world of hurt!”
I brushed off his threat and kept trucking towards the car until I dropped down against the seat.
“Where to, sir?” my driver asked.
I drew in a sobering breath. “Just drive around. I need to figure out where Bonnie is before we go anywhere.”
“Of course, sir.”
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialed Bonnie’s number. No one picked up. I knew I had just stepped into some pretty deep shit with my father, and I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt what my brother was up to now. I had to track Bonnie down. I had to get to her before her uncle sank his claws into her.
“Come on, pick up,” I murmured.
And as my driver eased down my father’s winding driveway, the phone call picked up.
Another voice answered. “You know, I was wondering how long it would take you before you called her,” Pava said.
My back stiffened. “Where’s Bonnie?”
“She’s with me. She’s fine. For now.”
I growled. “What do you want?”
“I want to have a meeting with you. Man to man.”
“I know you’ve sent plenty of your men to try and kill Bonnie. And if you harm her--.”
“All right. If your mouth doesn’t want to talk, then maybe your wallet will.”
I shook my head. “Money, Pava? Really? Is that all you can think about? You have no sanctity for the idea of family?”
“Israel!” Bonnie exclaimed.
A chill rushed down my spine. “For every mark you leave on her, I’ll slaughter a person in your family. For every bruise, I’ll execute them in front of you. And for every drop of her blood that spills—”
“You really are into theatrics, aren’t you?”
I put my hand over the receiver of my cell. “To Pava Moretti’s house. As quickly as you can get there.”
“Yes, sir,” my driver whispered.
Then, I removed my hand. “I’ll pay whatever you want for her. But if she’s harmed—”
“Fifty grand,” Pava said.
That seemed a little light. “Done.”
He chuckled. “For every piece of her body.”
That sounded more like Pava.
“Israel, no! Don’t do it,” Bonnie shrieked.
There wasn’t a word in the English language to describe the sheer and utter fury that rushed through my veins.
“So, let’s see. She’s got two arms, two legs. Hmmm, two hands, and two feet. Two ears—”
“Don’t you dare hurt you.”
I heard him counting on the other end of the line. “Ah, let’s make it a cool million, and we’ll be finished here.”
“Israel, it’s a trap,” Bonnie yelled.
I heard a resounding crack over the phone, and the beast within me finally rattled free. “You’re going to die for that. I’m going to hang you from the beams of your own fucking ceiling.”
Pava sighed. “You’ve got four hours to transfer the two million dollars—”
“One million.”
“Consider it interest. You’ve got four hours to transfer the two—”
“One and a half.”
He chuckled. “Now, it’s three.”
Bonnie started crying. “Just leave me, Israel. Go be happy.”
Pava chuckled. “Four, because she just won’t shut up.”
I wasn’t paying him a dime. “Four million. Got it.”
“Good boy. I want you to transfer it into the account I’m sending you. And if it’s not done within the next four hours, I’ll start sending the pieces of her you haven’t paid for yet straight to your doorstep. Understood?”
“Stop this, Pava,” Bonnie screamed. “Cut it out! Leave him alone!”
And then, yet another resounding crack sounded on the other side.
Your entire family is dead.
“I’ll be waiting,” Pava taunted and then hung up.
“Fuck,” I roared.
I threw my phone to the ground and slammed my fists against the leather seat I sat on. I felt torn as if two sides of me were trying to rip me apart. On the one hand, my family never indulged in ransoms like this. We didn’t negotiate, we didn’t shovel out money for shit like this, and we sure as hell never showed how much it got to us. But this was Bonnie. This was the woman I had fallen in love with, whether I wanted to say it out loud or not.
And I couldn't let this happen to her.
“Sir?” my driver asked.
I held up my hand. “Just give me a second.”
“We’re five minutes out, sir. Are you
