Page 86 of Convenient Mafia Vows

I sit back down. “Why would you do that? What have they ever done to you?”

“They know you.” Her face is so close to mine I can smell the alcohol on her breath.

“Half a million.” My palms are sweaty. Even if she agrees to the sum, I don’t trust her to keep Mason and Sienna alive. It isn’t even about the money. I’m just trying to buy Caleb enough time to find them before Olivia gives the order to have them killed.

“Done. I’ll transfer the money into your bank account today, and then you’ll disappear from New York City by midnight tonight.”

“I don’t think so. I’ll disappear once I know that Mason and Sienna are alive and well. Until then, well, I’ll just go back to Caleb’s apartment. There are still a few rooms we haven’t fucked in.”

Her mouth drops open, and her eyes grow small and dark. “I’ll take you to them now.”

I hold her gaze, drop my voice. “Caleb’s men will never let me go.”

“Restroom. There’s another way out. By the time they realize you’re not coming back, we’ll be out of the city.” Her mouth twists into an ugly grimace. “If you dare.”

I stand, catch Martin’s eye, and gesture in the direction of the restroom. He responds with a barely discernible nod.

Heart thumping, I enter the restroom and stand in front of the basins. What am I doing? This must be a trap. Olivia probably has someone waiting outside to shoot me in the head, and that way, she gets to keep her money and Caleb, and no one will ever find out what happened to Mason and Sienna.

I turn on the faucet and splash my face with cold water while I wait for Olivia to join me. Before I can straighten, strong arms grab me from behind, forcing my face down against the marble surrounding the basins. My hands are dragged behind my back and my wrists are bound. Someone—a man—shoves a hood over my head and growls at me to move.

The hood smells like stale cigarettes. It’s itchy, and I can already feel hives rising on my forehead and neck. I stumble forward and splutter when the guy’s hands start patting me down, checking for hidden weapons in my pockets and under my clothes.

I feel sick. Images pop into my head of Caleb shooting him for touching me, and I think that he’ll live to regret this.

Something hard is pressed against the back of my skull, and an iron fist grips my upper arm. A different door opens. We walk, and I can feel carpet underfoot. Into an elevator. Outside. Where is Martin? Has he realized yet that I’m taking too long? I try to concentrate on my footsteps, to keep my bearings, but it’s hard when I’m so hyper-conscious of my thudding heart and the blood gushing in my ears.

Voices. Hushed urgent whispers. My skin prickles.

“What the fuck, O!” A man’s voice, a slight accent.

The hard object pressed against the back of my skull forces my head down.

“Don’t get fucking soft on me now.” Olivia Dragonetti. “We need her to see it though.”

My mind is racing. See what through? Is there more to it than getting Caleb back?

Before I can try talking to her, I’m shoved forward, my face hitting something hard, and someone lifts my legs off the ground, forces me into the fetal position, and closes a lid. I try lashing out with my feet, but the space is so confined, I can’t stretch my legs. I slide around, using my knees and elbows to measure the space, then I feel something rumble beneath me.

An engine.

I’m in a car trunk. I only hope Olivia keeps her side of the bargain and takes me to Mason and Sienna.

24

CALEB

I’m almostout of the door when my cell phone rings. Martin.

I know before I even raise the phone to my ear and hear him say, “We have a problem,” that something has happened to Victoria.

“Where is she?” I growl.

“Dragon’s Den. We lost her.”

I kill the call, turn around to find my family watching me with dark eyes. “They have Victoria.”

No point venting my anger on Martin. That will come later. No point even asking him how it happened. They disobeyed my orders; they allowed Victoria to walk into the Dragon’s Den, and then they failed to keep her safe. My priority is to find Victoria and make sure that Olivia Dragonetti never so much as sets foot in the vicinity of the people I care about again.

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