Page 67 of Warped

I should have known Tony would never have just been sitting there without any protection.

Tony’s gaze moved past my shoulder and focused on X. “Well, you seem to be a hard man to kill. Up until today, I thought your body was feeding the fishes at the bottom of the Hudson River.”

“Takes more than a bullet hole to kill me,” X growled.

Tony laughed. “We’ll see about that.”

“What happened here?” I demanded. “Where’s my sister?”

“Your father happened. You just missed him, actually. He was looking for you.”

My blood ran cold. “He’s out already?”

“I figured you already knew that.”

“I’d hoped we’d have more time.”

Tony shrugged. “Sorry, sweetheart.”

“Where’s my sister?”

He waved a dismissive hand. “Gone. Taken. By him. She wasn’t happy about it either. He shot the tutor I’d hired right in front of her. I actually felt sorry for the kid. By the scream she gave, I think she had real feelings for him.”

My heart wrenched. God, poor Nickie. I knew how that felt, and she was far more vulnerable than I was. And she was back with our father. Would he hurt her? I prayed more than anything that he’d keep her safe, but I wouldn’t put anything past him. How could I?

“He had a message for you, actually,” said Tony. “He said if you ever want to see your sister again, you’d better hand yourself over to him.”

I gritted my teeth. “If he thinks I’m going to make things that easy for him, he never knew me at all.”

Tony laughed. “I told him exactly the same thing.”

“Why did he leave you alive?”

He nodded to Warren and Paulie, who moved closer with the guns, pushing X farther into the room. “Because I convinced him that I would be more use to him alive than dead. It helped to have your old boss over there report back on where you’d been seen last, and that you had help with you.”

I quickly looked over my shoulder and shot Johnny a glare. The older man shifted uncomfortably and glanced down at the floor. Why had he told Tony that he’d seen me? The only person he’d seen was X. The guy was obviously trying to get brownie points from Tony.

“What are you even doing back here, Johnny?” I snapped. “Did you figure you hadn’t caused me enough trouble yet? What did I ever do to you?”

Tony didn’t let him answer, and spoke instead. “Johnny said he wanted to know how you were getting on, which is sweet, isn’t it?” He said that in a way that made me think it was far from being sweet. “He may have been a little worried I wasn’t taking good care of you. What is it about you, Vee, huh, that makes all us men want to take care of you? Especially when you’re so damned capable of taking care of yourself? Or is it that we see you as a challenge, and that excites us?

“Fuck you, Tony.” I’d wanted to say that for a while.

“Lucky for me Johnny did come to the city, though, or I wouldn’t have known you had your friend with you. I find it’s best to be prepared about these things.”

I turned toward my old boss. “I can’t believe you took his side. I thought we were friends, Johnny. Looks like I can’t trust anyone.”

He shrugged and wouldn’t meet my eye. “Sorry, Vee. He didn’t exactly give me much choice. You know how it is?”

“No, Johnny. Actually, I don’t know how it is. I’ve never taken money to betray the people who trust me.”

His cheeks flushed red, and for a moment I felt sorry for him. If he hadn’t taken a chance on me and given me a job, he’d never have been dragged into Tony’s net. This was partly my fault.

However, I wasn’t in a particularly forgiving mood.

“So,” Tony continued, “the plan is that I deliver you to your father, and in return, he’s going to throw some business my way, and we’ll call it a truce.”

My eyebrows lifted. “You really believe he’ll do that? As soon as he gets what he wants, he’ll shoot you.”

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