Page 47 of Ruthless Boss

Hopefully, a measure of my strength will be back by then. But not if he doesn’t feed me or give me enough water. I need to play nice.

I grunt, moving my arms, desperate for a chance to speak again.

He removes my gag. “What?”

“Ciro… I’m sorry,” I say, swallowing what feels like razors. My throat is awfully dry, and the taste of bile doesn’t help. “I shouldn’t have done any of it. I’m sorry.”

He waves me off. “Sorry won’t cut it, sweetie,” he says, a dark, condescending quality dripping from his voice. “You know what will? This.”

He grabs his knife again and slides it across my stomach. A shock of pain jolts through me. He’s going deeper but not shoving it inside like he probably wants to. I’m sure Santini promised him a substantial reward if he returned me in somewhat good shape.

Santini doesn’t trust Ciro to interrogate me. If I’m only half alive, I won’t be as helpful. The boss wants to do it himself.

The idea sends a wave of fear through me. What will be waiting for me when we arrive in Chicago? I don’t have any valuable information I can use as leverage. I can’t say it now, though, as that possibility is undoubtedly one of the reasons I’m still alive.

Ciro taps my shoulder as I scream. “Shut up, or the gag goes back on.”

“I’m quiet,” I whisper, biting the inside of my cheek.

I avoid looking down at the blood on my stomach so as not to heighten my panic. Now is not the time to be brave… not when my unhinged ex is on top of me, holding a knife already dripping with blood.

“I’m quiet,” I repeat to myself.

26

Dante

I stride into the warehouse where we do most of our work. Heavily secured, the unassuming exterior disguises a much more sophisticated interior, with brick walls, state-of-the-art technology, and sleek furniture.

Over three weeks have gone by since Gia left. It’s been a nightmare without her. Not all of it, of course. AJ is back in our house, and Colleen enlisted her niece to help us, someone she trusts. Katie flew from the other side of the country to assist. So now AJ has a temporary nanny to help me out.

We’re getting closer to Ross Santini. Rocco heard that he’s in the country, and there’s a weekly meeting on Wednesdays when he assigns tasks to his men. We got that tip from a disgruntled employee. The kicker is that he changes the location every week. And since that loser no longer works for him, he doesn’t know where the next ones will be.

My team started looking for locations where those meetings could take place, including hacking public cameras for face recognition. However, the Santinis carefully choose each venue in sketchy neighborhoods to ensure privacy and limited street surveillance.

Still, I feel like Santini has taken so much from me—he took out Andie, he took out any sense of security I have with AJ, and he took Gia because I had to send her away. Her presence in my house, in my life, would’ve been too much of a liability.

How would things have turned out if I hadn’t discovered her identity? Would she have had the courage to leave when she’d saved enough money?

I glance at my phone.

A stupid part of me hopes she’ll call. She doesn’t know I have someone who keeps tabs on her. I need to know she’s all right.

I couldn’t simply leave her alone.

Ihaveto know she’s okay.

Whenever Randy calls me with an update, my pulse skitters like I’m about to receive the results of life-threatening medical exams. Then a sense of relief sweeps over me, and after the call is over, regret.

Regret for not being with her when that’s what feels right—even though it’s not.

I’ve never felt this way for a woman before. How can I trust it’s real? How can I trust myself? Better to move forward with my life and let Gia continue with hers. Life has worked a certain way for most of my adulthood. Why would I change it now?

I walk into my office and sit, making a mental note of my daily affairs. A couple of minutes later, Massimo barges in.

“We need to talk,” he says, closing the door behind him.

“Sure. What’s up?”

---