Page 59 of Corporate Bondage

Chapter Twenty-Seven

(Gio)

“Where the fuck are they?” I asked Nic, my heart hurting as we arrived at the office building where Keith worked. We were too late. We had almost arrived there when I heard Pa threaten Keith to walk out of the office and play it cool. If he tipped anyone off that he had a gun on him he would blow Keith’s brains out.

Given the line of work Pa did, I knew he had it in him to hurt Keith something awful. For his sake, I hoped Keith was in one piece when we got to them because I didn’t care if we were related by blood, I would fucking kill him if he robbed me of this man.

“I don’t know,” he replied as we waited for some signal, some words to know where dad had Keith. They were in a car, driving. From the understanding of the little I heard, Keith was driving his car, and Pa was in the backseat with a gun to his head. But where the fuck were they going?

“Well, we can’t just sit around and do nothing,” Nic stated, shuffling. He was just as high strung as me.

“What the fuck else can I do?” I grated out. “We’ll be driving in a damn circle without a clue as to where they are.”

“Shit!”

“Give me your phone.”

“What for? This ain’t the time for a social call.”

“I’m calling the police so they can have their squad on watch.”

The response time to the dispatcher was quick, and I explained as much as I could that my dad had my boyfriend hostage and, if we didn’t find them soon he could be dead. I went cold just thinking about it. After calling the cops, we had to wait again either for the cops to call us back and give us an update or for something of use to come to us over the phone.

Five minutes later we struck luck.

“The Trinity Hotel?” I heard Keith ask. “Of all the places to commit a crime, you bring me to a hotel?”

“Don’t worry about that. I have a cleaning crew all lined up just for you.”

“That’s the hotel where you’re staying!” I cried and backed the car out of the parking lot, narrowly missing a parked vehicle.

“I should have thought about that,” Nic groaned. “Pa always said contrary to what people believed, if you can go undetected, the best place to kill someone would be in a public place where people come and go frequently. That way any evidence left behind gets corrupted.”

I winced at the thud of something falling. It sounded like the phone. Keith’s frantic voice low and rushed came over the line. “Gio, I love you. I love you.”

“Hey, what do you think you’re doing?” Pa shouted. “Get the fuck out of the car. Walk inside and head straight for the elevator. If you make a dubious move don’t think I won’t shoot you. My business is ruined. If I don’t deliver that shipment as promised I’m good as dead anyway, and my fucking cunt of a son won’t even help with the shipment.”

The damn traffic irritated the fuck out of me. Keith seemed to have left the phone in the car so we no longer had the voice trail to follow.

“I swear to God, Nic, if we get there before it’s too late…”

“Relax, we’ll get there in time. Knowing Pa, he’s in no hurry. He’ll want to torture your boy before he does the final act.”

“He can’t torture him in a hotel.”

“There are ways to make someone’s scream be heard only inside their head.”

I glanced at my brother, wondering how the hell we came from the same mother.

“Don’t fucking look at me like that. You spend your time around Pa long enough and you’d have learned everything I did.”

We didn’t speak again the rest of the way. I couldn’t string a coherent sentence anyway given I was so terrified for Keith. I was relieved when the hotel finally loomed in sight. The tires of the car squealed as I slammed on the brakes parking haphazardly and not giving a shit about it.

“I’ve a key for the hotel room,” Nic remarked, as we careened inside, knocking over a porter. We rode the elevator alone and Nic parted his jacket and took out his gun. “You should have this.”

“I don’t need that,” I told him. “What is he going to do? Shoot me? His son?”

“Yes, he will,” Nic replied.

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