Page 65 of Crimson Vows

“Good.” I nod to myself, though she can’t see it.

“What about you?”

“I threw a bag together, and the plan is still to talk to Amelia at three thirty, so I guess all I can do for now is wait.”

“Okay... that’s good, I guess.” A pause. “What about Vincent? Have you heard anything from him?”

“No, and honestly, that’s probably the part that makes me the most nervous. Amelia did tell me his plane touches down at two, so maybe once he lands, he’ll call.” I try to keep my voice even and controlled so as not to worry her further.

“Two,” she repeats. “Wait, does that mean you’ll have to see him before you get a chance to talk to Amelia?”

“Not if I can help it,” I reply. “I plan to do everything in my power to avoid him.”

“Marco, what if Vincent—” Gia starts, and the fear in her voice has me desperate to put her at ease.

“Don’t worry about Vincent, okay? I’m lying low until after I meet with Amelia. I got this, alright?” I attempt to reassure her.

“Should I be worried?” she asks. “I mean, you don’t think he’ll come here, do you?”

“I don’t see why he would. At this point, my guess is Vincent is going to want to talk to either Dante or me once he lands.”

Gia sighs, causing a crackling sound over the line. “Nico called and told me Dante is missing.”

“Yeah, I know, he called me too.”

“What if someone already found him?”

“I’m sure nobody has found him. He’s just being fucking Dante.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means he’s being a selfish asshole, and he’s making this all about him like he does everything else,” I snap, unable to temper my tone. Since Nico called and told me about Dante taking off half-cocked, I can’t stop thinking about how all this mess is because of him.

He sat across from me in Vincent’s office, and I warned him never to repeat the idea of me taking over as boss. I was crystal clear it would put all of our lives in danger, but he still did what he wanted and talked to Smitty. I would be lying if I said it hadn’t crossed my mind that maybe the solution to this would be to serve Dante up to Vincent on a silver platter. It’s not like he wouldn’t deserve it.

“He’s not that bad, stop. I really don’t think he meant for it to get out of control like it has,” Gia says, and the fact she is defending him only makes me angrier. I’m risking everything to keep her safe while Dante is the one who put us all in danger in the first place.

“Why the hell does everyone defend this guy?”

“He—”

I cut her off, not wanting to talk about Dante for another second. “No, I don’t want to debate what he meant to or didn’t mean to do. The fact of the matter is, he’s why we’re here right now. He can take care of himself.”

She’s silent for a moment. I hear her exhale, a soft sound of frustration. “And what if you’re wrong? What if Vincent already sent people to pick him up?”

I consider her words. She might be coming from a place of concern for Dante, but the truth is, if someone does have him, the implications have much scarier consequences. They could be torturing him for information. If he implicates Gia by telling someone she was the first one to voice the idea of me stepping into Vincent’s role, there will be no hesitation. Vincent will come for her.

“Fuck,” I growl, frustration gripping my gut.

“What?”

I need to know Gia is safe, but I also have to wait here for Amelia. “You’re at your place?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Okay, listen to me. I want you to get your stuff together as fast as you can and get out of there. You should use a taxi and make sure you find one that will let you pay cash, do you understand?” I ask.

“What? Why? Where am I supposed to go?” Gia asks, confused.

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