Page 34 of Courting Danger

An “Out of Order” sign hung on the elevator, so we climbed the stairs up to the third floor. Rows of identical doors were differentiated only by the numbers hanging on plaques beside each frame. Ghita knocked on the very middle door.

“Hey, Jason. It’s me. Your sister. The post office sent me your mail again.”

She shook her head when I flashed her a questioning look. I assumed it was some sort of code they’d worked out between them.

No answer. Ghita knocked again, and again received only silence.

“That’s not good. He always answers.”

Instinct tingled along the back of my neck. I tried the doorknob, and to my dismay it opened.

Definitely not good.

Pulling the gun from my hip, I told Ghita to step back and pushed the door open.

In the middle of an average looking living room, a man lay tied up on the floor. I assumed this was Jason. I had just enough time to notice that the man was alive before focusing on the other person in the room.

A man with olive skin and blond hair sat in a chair facing the door, idly twirling a butterfly knife between his fingers.

I instantly recognized him from the meeting at the aquarium.

D’Angelo Bianchi.

Upon seeing me, the Bianchi family head smiled and leaned forward so his elbows braced against his knees.

“Finally. Took you long enough.”

CHAPTER 13

Alex

The bed kept moving. I shifted, trying to find a spot on the mattress that would behave.

Something caused the whole bed to jolt, knocking me into consciousness.

I wasn’t on a bed. I was sprawled on the floor of some sort of moving vehicle. Thick ropes secured my hands and feet so I could only raise my head by squirming around like a worm.

The windows of the vehicle were blacked out. I couldn’t even tell the time of day.

My head spun and I lay still again, willing myself not to throw up.

What had happened?

I remembered being back at the house in Mantoloking, helping my mother interrogate our prisoners.

Well, help was probably the wrong word. She interrogated. I just stabbed the person until they stopped talking.

Then I’d gotten drunk and Ghita helped me to my room.

Right?

I didn’t remember drinking that much, but it would explain the pounding headache.

I had no idea what happened after I’d passed out, but I somehow ended up getting kidnapped. I wasn’t even all that surprised. I certainly had enough enemies who would want to harm me. It was simply a matter of who had succeeded.

There was no telling how long I lay there, waiting for my head to stop spinning. It never did. With each bump in the road, my world was sent spinning again.

Definitely not just drunk, then. A hangover would usually abate over time.

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