Page 14 of Merciless Attraction

We leave the bathroom to find my brothers huddling together with Antonio looking on as Damian plays something on his phone. The looks on their faces are unsettling to say the least.

“What now?” I ask with exhaustion rippling through my tone.

“Frankie didn’t drug you, Gem,” Damian says.

“So, I shot the wrong guy?” Bash groans in frustration

“No, you didn’t,” Antonio says. “He still pulled her into that back room.”

“Fuck Frankie!” I shout at them. “Who the hell put something in my drink?”

Chapter 6: Antonio

I don’t give a fuck who put what in Gemma’s drink. Everyone involved needs to pay for what happened last night. Rage surges through me. Gemma’s face reddens as she questions what happened. We both look at the footage as Damian plays it again.

People sway to the music on the dance floor of Trips while others sit around the bar. Every frame plays in silence until we get to the point of the night where Frankie notices the girls from afar. He watches them move to an opening among the bar stools. When Natalie and Gemma come on the screen, there’s a shadowy figure following them.

I point it out to Gemma. “You two don’t even notice this guy. He followed you in and stood there. Look how he’s moving around the crowd to sit at that end of the bar. He has a direct line of sight to you two. Now, watch.”

We watch as the shadowy stranger moves seamlessly through the crowd just as Frankie approaches Gemma from behind. It’s quick and you’d miss it if you weren’t paying attention.

“Right there!” I point at the screen. “Natalie, you’re looking at the dance floor. The bar tender just sat the drinks down. Frankie’s looking at you but has his back to the bar. Natalie turns back around to say something to you, Gemma, and that guy right there reaches for a napkin.”

Gemma squints and shakes her head. “I don’t even remember seeing him. That’s the asshole who put something in my drink?”

“You’re not supposed to know or remember a simple thing as reaching for a napkin. That’s how fast it happens,” Bash says with his face wincing in pain. “Whoever that guy is, he paid enough attention to see you two weren’t on alert. Frankie saw it and decided to take advantage of it.”

“What the fuck?” Natalie gasps.

Gemma growls. “We can’t even have a drink without being on alert. I hate it here. Who’s the guy who reached for the napkin?”

Damian shrugs and swipes out of the video. “I have to pull some other favors to get that footage, but I’m already working on it.”

My phone rings, taking me out of the room and into the hallway. It’s Ronan and I can already feel the dread behind the call.

“Yeah?” I answer abruptly.

Ronan takes a deep breath as he tells me. “We have a problem.”

“What happened?”

“I was on my way home and when I got there, Frankie was sitting on my fucking doorstep!” He whispers frantically.

My stomach churns and I’m ready to hit something. “I told you doing work for Vito always ends in chaos.”

Ronan continues whispering. “Now’s not the time, Antonio. I have a fucking dead body in my house.”

“What?!” My aggravation shifts to panic. “Why is he dead? And why are you whispering? The dead don’t listen.”

“You have no idea what the dead hear.” He hisses into the phone. “As far as why he’s dead? Why don’t you ask the trigger-happy mafia don in the exam room?”

“Ronan, calm down.”

“Verducci is going to kill me. I have to get out of here until I figure out how to get Vito to vouch for me,” Ronan says.

“Why would Verducci killyou? He’ll likely think I finished Frankie off after what happened with Gemma.”

“You don’t get it. Whatever your friends did, they didn’t finish the job. Frankie probably called Verducci who told Frankie to come to me because of my work for Vito! They’re going to know he came to me and when they find his dead fucking body I’m going to be dead fucking meat!”

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