HOPE

DANTE'S POV

Liam is miserable. I've never seen him like this. He looks so defeated, so angry, so overwhelmed with pain that he looks like he might just drop dead. He just lost one of the most important women in his life and I can see how much it is eating him up. We've had to lay low all this time because he and I have been found out.

Right now, all we can do is send the other men out to carry out the necessary errands for us. Liam and I are basically fugitives to enemies now. We can't move and there is barely anything we can do to help the people we love.

"I think we should get the FBI involved already." Liam proposes, standing up abruptly and walking towards me. He catches the attention of all the other men in the room with us. They look at him like he's crazy but they don't say anything. They stare at Liam and I, waiting to hear what I'll say.

"They'll kill them if we get the authorities involved." I say in the quietest and calmest voice ever. I don't want to do or day anything that would rile Liam up too much.

"So, we just sit and do nothing. They might be dead before we find them." Liam argues.

"Headshot and the other men brought in another man last night. We were able to capture him but we didn't get any viable information. I think we should wait judiciously for the meeting with Veronica."

"Oh please…" Liam yells, kicking a chair towards the wall. "We all know that meeting will turn into an ambush. She has to know Adrian is with us. She'll shoot bullets into all our head and then we'll really lose Addie and Naomi forever. We can't just sit here and put all our faith in Adrian. We have to do something more. We have to try Dante. Please. I can't take more of this anymore. I can't. I feel like I'm losing it. I feel like someone is ripping out my heart and stabbing it over and over again and I don't know for how much longer I can take the pain Dante. I'm falling apart, Dante and going to the authorities is the only way I can think of to find Addie and Naomi faster. Please."

I look to the other men and it's clear that if I involve the authorities, they'll bail. They won't want to work with us anymore.

"I have an idea." I say with a deep sigh after thinking for a few seconds.

"What?" Liam looks at me expectantly.

"We'll send a tip to the FBI." I say. "We have evidence against Adrian. I have evidence that I have gathered over the years. We'll send it to them anonymously. While we do our own part in secret, the FBI will help us get closer and closer to the case. What do you think?"

Liam nods his head aggressively. With how desperate he is, he'll take anything I throw at him.

"Let's do it." He gazes at me with hope in his eyes.

"I have another idea." Shadow suddenly buts in. He walks towards Liam and I with his arms crossed. The other men walk closer to us with curious looks on their faces.

"We're going to need an inside man. Someone who will work with the FBI and give us feedback on all the developments made. It'll be hard to keep ourselves updated if we don't have a spy with the FBI. I think the best person for that should be you Liam. Unlike the rest of us here, you've never killed anyone before. You're not a criminal. You have a clean and spotless record and you're a well-known lawyer. You'll go to the FBI and file a complaint."

"What if they start wondering why I'm going to them for a missing person case? They'll get suspicious and wonder why I didn't go the local police instead." Liam's right.

"You'll go to them after we get the evidence and send to them. We'll send the evidence to you too and when you go to them you can tell them that we tipped you anonymously. They'll want to know where you got the evidence from but you'll tell them that it was send anonymously to you too. They'll believe you. They'll question you. You'll have to convince them that you have no idea what's going on. They'll ask you why you didn't come sooner. We have to think of an appropriate lie to tell them."

I pace the room and think of an appropriate thing to tell the FBI.

"I'll tell them Adeline mentioned going for a vacation. I'll tell them I didn't even know she was kidnapped before I got the anonymous tip you'll send to me. I'll tell them once I saw it had something to do with human trafficking, I decided to take the matter to the FBI and since I'm a well renowned lawyer, I don't think they'll doubt me that much."

Liam proposes and I nod my head in agreement with him. with his plan we'll get the FBI on our side in no time. He'll work with the FBI and send all information he receives to me. The FBI might help but these people do not need to know that Liam went to the FBI.

"We can start with the plan tomorrow." I say heading towards my computer. I have all the evidence we have found so far, including the ones I have worked on over the years. I have them all saved in a file that I will forward to Liam and an FBI agent. I start typing aggressively on my keyboard. I know of a well renowned FBI agent who works here in New York. Apparently, he never misses and he always finds those who he looks for.

I'm sure he knows about this organization already, and I'm sure I have way more evidence than he does with the number of people I have killed over the years. I have to hack him and send the evidence to him anonymously.

"You'll have to be careful and cover yourself up as you go to the FBI center. You cow we have a target on our heads right now and they might be watching us. One step outside and you might be dead." I continue typing away on my keyboard and I smirk as I successfully send the evidence anonymously t the FBI.

"Done." I say and get up from my laptop. "Do you understand? Seeing as I'm kind of in a tight spot myself, I can't come with you. You'll have to do this yourself." I fold my arms across my chest. The words leaving my mouth bother me but it's the truth. I can't leave this house until things get better.

"I'll go with him." Shadow proposes. I give him a thankful look and nod my head at him.

"On the day of the meeting with Veronica, I'll tip the FBI so they can come to the venue. If everything goes well, the might catch Veronica."

"We should have thought of this ever since. Maybe it would not have gotten to this if we thought of this plan earlier. Maybe Naomi will still be here. Maybe we would have gotten Adeline back." Liam says.

"This plan isn't some magical solution Liam. The authorities have a way of ruining everything. They have a way of sweeping everything under the rug so we have to be careful." I warn him. "If these people find out we have gone to the FBI, we will never see Adeline and Naomi again and I'm not joking Liam."

"For all we know someone from the FBI might even be involved in this." Headshot suddenly says.

"What are you talking about?" Liam snaps his head towards him.

"Think about it man. Are the FBI that incompetent that they can't track down a dangerous organization like this? Someone might be helping these people from the inside. You have to be careful even while you're with the FBI. You can't trust them just because they wear badges and fancy suits. You cannot trust anybody except us."

"Headshot is right." I add. "The FBI is filled with snakes Rats that do not care about civilians. You cannot put all your trust in them. everything you learn from them, you are to report directly to me. Don't mess this up Liam, and keep your eyes open for anything suspicious."

"I got it. I know what I have to do and I will do it correctly. I will do everything I can to save Adeline and Naomi. I won't let anything happen to them and I will not allow this to go on for any longer. I can't stand another minute knowing that both of them are far from me and that there is nothing I can do. I'll go in there and I'll be careful. I promise."

"Good." I say and place my hand on his shoulder and give him a look that says everything will be okay.

"Whether it is in this lifetime or the next, we'll find them, and we will bring them home."

As I look intensely as Liam, I suddenly get a call. My phone buzzes and it surprises me because there is no reason for anyone to be calling me. All the men are here and I know no one else. I grab my phone and it's a private number. I don't answer. I plug a device to my phone that will stop anyone from tracking my location.

It stops ringing and then starts again the next second.

"Answer it." Headshot says. "Might be important." I take a deep breath. I tap on the green call icon on my screen. I put my phone on speaker.

"Am I speaking with Dante Russo?" The male voice asks.

"Positive. Who's this?" I ask.

"I don't have much time." I hear a male voice say. "I can't talk for long so just shut up and listen."

The voice sounds stressed. It is that type of voice coming from someone who is scared. Someone who is hiding. I do as he says and my men and I shut up as we listen to him, wide-eyed with curiosity. I take a seat and listen diligently.

"Adeline sent me." My heart skips eight beat and time as we know it stops at the mention of her name. I look around the room. Liam is already my side.

"Adeline? What do you know about Adeline? Who the fuck are you? Where is she?" Liam starts shooting questions at the caller. I snap my head towards hum and give him a look that says shut up.

"I said fucking shut up and listen godammit. I know you're worried and what I'm about to say probably will not make you feel any better but I was involved in her kidnapping. I drove her to erotica myself. I'm being blackmailed by Veronica. I am sort of Adeline's personal guard now but Adeline and I are working together and she said Dante and Liam could help. Just know that I am working with Adeline and we have to find a plan to get her out and help my sister as well. This is not a trap from Veronica. I'm risking everything by making this call. Save this number. I'll keep in touch when I have a plan. I'll contact you when I have the chance."

I hear a beep and the call ends. We all look at each other in shock at the news we just heard. I stare at the phone in m hands tremble in shock. Sweat forms on my head and drop to my hand in drops.

"Fucking Christ…" Shadow exclaims.

"He said he is the one who drove Adeline to erotica." Liam says in an awfully quiet voice.

"Do you think it could be a trap?" Headshot asks.

"He called me with my private number. Only Adeline had this number. She must have given to him." I explain.

"What if they forced Adeline to give them your number? What if they're threatening her?" Liam asks.

"I guess we'll find out when he calls again. We can't trust what we just heard. It sounds really sketchy but…" I trail off and stare at the phone in my hands. "It's hope."