Page 71 of Sexting the Don

“For now, yeah,” Jimmy replies.

“Good. Now, bring her out here. I want to see with my own eyes that she’s all right.”

“What then?”

“Maybe I’ll have mercy and let you leave LA with the stipulation that you never come back. But it’s over for you, Jimmy. Make nomistake. You have no more cards to play.”

Garadino’s making sure that Mandy’s all right. It’s the only reason Jimmy’s still standing. Good man.

As I observe from the doorway, my focus splits between the unfolding standoff and the window where Mandy had last been seen.

But she's not there anymore.

My heart skips a beat, a cold knot of fear twisting in my gut at the sight of her absence. Every instinct screams that something's gone wrong.

Scanning the area rapidly, I search for any sign of her, knowing there's no way she could have left the warehouse without being noticed.

It’s a tense moment until she appears at the bottom of the stairs.

Relief floods through me for a split second—until I see Jimmy lunge toward her with the desperation of a cornered animal.

“Where the fuck do you think you’re going?”

He grabs Mandy, pulling her close, his gun suddenly pressed to her head. The sight of him using his own daughter as a shield ignites a fury in me like nothing else.

“This is not good, Jimmy,” his goon says. “This is not good at all.”

Without a second thought, I step out from the shadows alongside Sean.

We both draw our weapons, the metal cool and heavy in my grip. Jimmy's eyes flick to us, widening with fear as he realizes thegame has changed.

“Jimmy,” I call out, my voice icy calm but loud enough to cross the vast space, “let her go, or I’ll drop you right here.”

Garadino turns slightly, eyeing us with keen interest. It’s clear he hadn't expected us to emerge yet but he doesn't look entirely displeased, either.

“Listen to him,” Garadino says, his voice booming in the echoing space of the warehouse. “You’re out of moves, Jimmy. Game over.”

“And we’re not alone,” I say. “Both Garadino and I have men outside. If you somehow manage to escape, you won’t get far.”

Panic flashes in Jimmy’s friend’s eyes.

Jimmy’s hand is shaking, making the gun quiver against Mandy’s head. His eyes dart between Sean, Garadino, and me, desperately trying to calculate his rapidly diminishing options.

"That's your daughter, you bastard!" I yell, my voice laced with contempt, hoping to strike a nerve, to remind him of the human being he's betraying. “Do one decent thing in your life and let her go.”

"Shut the fuck up!" Jimmy spits back, venom in his voice as he yanks Mandy along toward the door.

When she resists, he cruelly smacks her head with the gun. The sickening sound fuels a blinding blaze of rage within me.

My vision tints red with fury. My finger hovers over the trigger; every muscle tensed to take the shot. But it's not clean. He's shielding himself with her too effectively, and the risk of harming Mandy is too high.

"You're a dead man," I growl through clenched teeth, the threat rolling off my tongue with deadly promise. "No matter where you run, I will find you and put you down like the vermin you are."

Jimmy's laugh is hollow, the sound of a man teetering on the brink. "Then I might as well take her down with me," he retorts, his voice chillingly devoid of humanity.

Mandy's voice pierces through the standoff, sharp and clear—"I'm pregnant!"

Chapter 33

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