The Ones Who Failed Us

Chapter 39

Alessandro's POV

Leo, Lucas, and our men were an hour away from Cleveland, and Elijah and I were busy planning how to rescue Ava. We decided that our best option would be to kidnap Peyton and use her as leverage to get our sister back. I could tell that Elijah wasn't too keen of the plan, but he understood it was necessary. His heart had been shattered upon hearing that Peyton was the mole, and it was taking a toll on him.

Emilio and Matteo had tried sneaking out of the house to be part of the rescue mission, but they were caught and were now locked inside the house with guards surrounding the perimeter. I felt bad for leaving them home, especially when I knew they were more than capable of being coming along, but I made a promise to Dad that none of my siblings would be involved with the Mafia until their eighteenth birthday. And it was a promise that I would always keep, no matter what.

Elijah were parked on an abandoned road, a road that Peyton had been seen driving on a few times. Our plan was in motion, and it wouldn't be long before Ava was in our arms again.

I turned to Elijah, who was staring out the window, a blank expression on his face. Placing my hand on his shoulder, I asked, "Fratello, are you alright?"

Elijah brought his gaze to me, tears brimming his eyes. He roughly wiped them away and shook his head. "I'm not ready to see her. What if I freeze, and she gets away? And what do I even say to her? She hurt me, Sandro. She hurt my little sister, and I let her."

We were interrupted by a car nearing us, the lights illuminating the road as we ducked low, not wanting Peyton to spot us. The car came to a stop in front of a large tree branch Elijah and I had placed to block the road.

I silently stepped out of the car with a syringe of ketamine in my hand. "You can stay here. I'll handle this," I said to Elijah.

Peyton stepped out of the car, and I neared her from the back, ready to attack. When she bent over, I injected the ketamine into her arm, and Peyton was knocked out in a matter of seconds.

With gloves on my hands, I checked the car for any information Peyton might have left, but all I found was her wallet containing two driver's licenses. One saying "Peyton Smith" and the other saying "Tatiana Amelin." My eyebrows were knitted together as I took a picture of the ID's and sent it to Lucas for him to look into.

Picking her up, I dumped Peyton in the trunk of our car, tied her arms and legs together, and gagged her mouth with a cloth. "Is it done?" Elijah asked, rubbing his forehead.

Closing the trunk, I sat in the driver's seat and hugged my brother. "It's done, Lijah. It's going to be okay."

We started our drive to the field where we would be meeting Leo, Lucas, and the rest of our men. Grabbing a chair from the back, I tied Peyton to it and left her in the middle of the field. I had given her a big enough dose of ketamine to knock her out but not for too long. We needed answers before we raided Demetri's warehouse and saved our sister.

Looking to my brother who was watching Peyton, I asked, "I know you're not okay, Elijah, so don't pretend you are."

"It's just- I feel guilty for how I'm feeling. I should be happy that we're finally getting Ava back- and I am, don't get me wrong- but this isn't how I wanted it. Sandro, I was planning on proposing this year. I feel so betrayed."

"I know, I know," I said. "I wish there was a way for me to help you more, but I can't. Just know that I'll be there for you, always."

A few minutes passed before Peyton started regaining consciousness. Her eyes scanned the field, stopping when they landed on Elijah and I. "Babe? What's going on? You're scaring me," she whimpered.