Blackmailed to the Altar (Caputo Crime Family #2)

Epilogue

SAMUEL MOYER-CAPUTO

T he United States of America

“Welcome home!” My cousin, not by blood, Daniele Caputo, stretched his tattooed hand out to shake mine in the middle of the airport.

“This isn’t my home,” I mumbled.

And it wasn’t. Sure, I was born and raised here. I went to college in this country, but once I got into legal trouble, and the Caputo family took me under their wings, that was it.

I was famiglia, and that meant Daniele was family. His dark hair looked like it’d been cut recently.

“Whatever, cugino .” He looked around. “Where’s the rest of your luggage?”

I shrugged. “I shipped everything else here. I just brought my laptop on the plane so I’d have something to do.”

“Did you find anything?” He spun on his heel and headed for the exit.

I caught up in two steps. “There’s a video I’m having trouble accessing, of outside the school library. I want to scope that area out.”

Daniele scrubbed a hand on the back of his neck. “I’m sorry. I tried to find that girl, but it was like she disappeared without a trace. I had to call in backup.”

“It’s nothing. I needed to get away anyhow.” With Sebastian and his new wife sequestered in the family villa, I wanted to get away from Italy for a bit. I thought Silas was bad with his obsession with Eden.

However, Sebastian was worse. It was like he had twice the amount of passion, and whatever else they called it, for Dr. Mya. It gave me the creeps. I didn’t want to be in a relationship like that. I thought all the men in the famiglia were on some kind of family drugs I didn’t have access to.

At the hint of a woman, I’m out. I’d been burned before, and wasn’t looking to repeat the process. I didn’t just pull out. I made sure I ejaculated on them, and helped them clean it up, when I had hookups.

No woman was trapping me ever again. Not after what happened the last time. I wouldn’t allow myself the pain of losing a child that wasn’t rightfully mine to begin with. I was done.

“I had the men put together a surveillance room down to your specifications,” Daniele informed me, as we reached the parking lot.

“Good. I’m hoping this won’t take too long. I’d rather be vacationing in the Maldives.”

Daniele chuckled. “Yeah, babysitting duty is never any fun. However, this college is strange. I’ve seen fewer and fewer students on campus.”

“Really?”

Daniele nodded, and we climbed inside his utility van. No clue why he was riding around in one, and I really didn’t give a fuck. I had one job. Find the Nina girl. After that, I could head out to take a well needed vacation before going back to Italy.

“It’s like last year when that serial killer was on the loose.”

I grimaced, knowing he was referring to Eden’s uncle. “Can you believe they let that fucker out?”

“It’s voting season. Of course, they let him out,” Daniele scoffed.

“That’s the problem with living so close to the capitol.”

“Yeah, but who has the time to move?”

I chuckled. As if Daniele was going to move himself. We were richer than any men had the right to be. I whipped out my phone, and pulled up the surveillance footage I’d last seen of Nina Torres.

She was bundled in a huge jacket, her naturally curly hair braided in cornrows, with her gold hoop earrings on. I couldn’t see her face as her back was to the camera. She was huddled outside of the library with her phone in hand.

A dark vehicle pulled up alongside her, and she climbed inside. There was no hesitation, nothing to showcase foul play. However, that call Dr. Mya got from her friend was enough to terrify her.

Nina wasn’t even supposed to be at the college on the last night she was seen. She’d been off the schedule for the library, and should’ve been back at the sorority house overseeing her charges.

The girls reported her missing, after she didn’t show up to help them get the house ready. She was not only a house mother, but she sponsored one of the girls in the graduating class.

Stormy Danvers, another missing student.

I was supposed to find her little and interrogate her, to see if she knew anything about Nina’s whereabouts. If I could find her.

“Do you think it’s a trafficking ring?”

I shook my head in response to Daniele. “Silas swore they were taken down last year.”

“But they are like snakes.” Daniele’s grip on the wheel tightened. His own sister had been stolen in the dead of night from his home, and sold like chattel to the highest bidder. We never found her.

It took several hours to get to the bunker. Daniele spent the time singing along to his music, while I searched through Nina Torres’ life. She was a big advocate for African American studies. I’d found an old sorority picture, her thick ‘fro combed out and taking up most of the frame. Her face was tiny in comparison.

Her tiny body set my blood on fire, but what red-blooded man wouldn’t get hot from a picture of what I suspected was a beautiful woman. I just didn’t understand why I couldn’t find any recent photographs of her.

Who didn’t have some form of active social media?

It seemed, after college, she’d disappeared offline.

“You think you have an active trafficking ring in your territory?” I glanced at Daniele, and his jaw clenched.

He shrugged.

I was surprised. “There have been a few missing persons cases in the last year that don’t match up with Eden’s uncle.”

“Maybe he wasn’t the only serial killer in the area,” Daniele mused.

“What are the chances that there would be two at the same time, in the same vicinity?”

“Slim to none.”

I snapped my fingers. “Exactly.”

“Guess we have our work cut out for us.”

I sighed and figured it was going to be a long night.

After getting settled at one of the famiglia’s safehouses, we got to work. It was hours before I’d found something, and the sun was creeping over the horizon.

“I found something,” I said.

Daniele joined me, and looked over my shoulder at the computer screen. I pointed at the dots. “This was around the time Dr. Mya received that incoming call. I traced it’s location to this property.”

“Let’s check it out.” Daniele got ready to move.

“Maybe we should freshen up and get coffee first.” I motioned to our wrinkled clothing.

We headed to the bedrooms, and I changed my clothes. I grabbed a thermos in the kitchen, and filled it almost to the brim with coffee. Much like my personality, I liked it black.

We headed out to the Suffolk area. On a dirt country back road was where the signal came from. We drove about three miles down it until it came to a fork.

“Left or right?” Daniele asked, pointing at the road.

“It doesn’t matter, since it’s a large circle from the looks of it on the aerial map.” I showed Daniele my computer.

He turned, and kept driving, ‘til we saw a huge barn in the middle of the field. There was nothing else for miles. No cars, and no signs of movement.

“Let’s check it out.” Daniele parked on the side of the dirt road.

We got out of his van and grabbed our weapons. Daniele and I jogged to the building. He motioned for me to go around one side while he took the other. I nodded, and we split up.

“Clear,” I whispered, when I reached the back of the building.

“It’s a huge fucking barn,” Daniele whispered back.

“Let’s check out what’s inside.” A feeling of foreboding took over my body.

If Nina Torres were in this barn, she might not be alive. There was a small back exit, and we took that, rather than using the big doors in the front. If there was someone in the building, we didn’t want to let them know of our presence.

We cleared each room slowly, until we reached the main area. This was no barn for animals, judging by the cuffs attached to the metal cages.

“Auction house?” Daniele mused.

“No doubt about it,” I confirmed.

“Think they have any surveillance?” Daniele walked to a small room off in the corner.

“I hope so,” I said, and I heard Daniele call out.

“Bingo!”

I headed toward him to a small security room. There were monitors all over the wall. They must’ve had eyes on everyone. I tried hacking into it, but the data kept saying it was corrupted.

I went down a rabbit hole, accessing and overriding every firewall in the system. I found one file that wasn’t corrupted, but it wasn’t in its entirety.

“I think this is from the night in question.” I got Daniele’s attention as I motioned toward the screen.

I clicked play, and saw the barn was filled with chairs. A ton of people wore masks as they were seated. Their red robes were bright in the dim lighting. An auctioneer was pointing to a cage that held a naked woman, covered in whip marks.

“Sold!” he cried over the loud jeering of the crowd.

This must be what was happening in the background of that phone call. I was about to click out of the film when a set of braids caught my attention. Her dark skin was on display, as the auctioneer ripped off her tattered bodycon dress.

My heart sped up as I saw the fire in the woman’s eyes. The auctioneer was going on and on about her attributes. Her stats in college. How she volunteered, and her role as a house mother to her old sorority.

He said that even though she was older than most, she had value, and could probably keep some girls in line. Nina had scars all over her body. Fresh ones that were still healing. She’d been through hell, and yet my cock didn’t give a fuck about that memo.

“Fuck, if she was sold off, then there’s no way we’ll find her.” Daniele pulled me out of my obsessive spiral.

I scowled at him. He raised his hands in front of him and took a step back. “Don’t be mad at me. I’m just telling you the truth.”

“No,” I said harshly.

“Why?” Daniele looked confused.

I didn’t blame him. What did she mean to him anyway? She was nothing in the grand scheme of things, yet for me, she was everything in the blink of an eye. One moment, and I wanted to make her mine.

We hadn’t even spoken yet.

“Because Dr. Mya would be sad if her best friend died, and then you and I would both have to deal with Sebastian’s wrath.”

Daniele shuddered at the reminder. “Then what are you going to do?”

I rolled up my sleeves and grinned, feeling manic. “I’m going fucking hunting, and you’re going to help me.”