Page 17 of Married into the Mob
“Dad, your grandkids are on the way.”
He clapped. “Goodie. We’ll have so much fun.”
Odell frowned at Dad. Poor guy. He must have been so confused. I’d kidnapped him, and now it was turning into a family occasion.
“As soon as they get here, I’ll head out. Flint and Ranger need me.”
“What? No!” Odell jumped up and shook off Dad’s hand.
“Awww. How sweet. You’re bonding already.” Dad clasped the pendant around his neck.
“No!” Odell’s horrified look was a punch in the gut, but I didn’t blame him. In his eyes I was only a small step up from Draven. Hardly a five-star recommendation.
I calculated how much food we had and called Ranger to go to Arnie’s food truck and buy everything. “But say you’re buying it for a party. We don’t want to draw attention to ourselves” Or no more than I’d already created.
Once again, I parroted words that reminded me of every mafia guy in a mass-market paperback.
Arnie was doing what he did best; feeding and looking after people. He put cream cheese on crackers and made Odell sit, saying he needed to eat. My uncle wrapped a throw from the sofa around his shoulders and put a cushion at his back, saying he was making more than rice with beans.
My mate thanked him. If he placated his hunger, he wouldn’t be thinking of how to escape or who everyone was, or how he was deep underground. Not that the panic room or rooms was a dark damp place with stale air and water dripping through a crevice. Maybe I should call it the bunker.
“This kidnapping business is a family affair.” Odell sighed before licking cream cheese from around his lips, and I sped into the monitoring room, needing to hide my arousal. How could my body be thinking of sex when we were in such a precarious situation?
“But if you’re hoping to gain anything by doing this, you’re wrong. I am of no value to anyone.” My mate’s voice followed me into the monitoring room.
I rushed out with the satellite phone, wanting to assure him that wasn’t so. He was everything to me, but humans needed wooing and date nights before they fell in love.
“That’s not true,” Dad and I said in unison. He hugged Odell. It was easier for him than for me, as he was less of a threat.
Arnie bustled over to my mate. “Do you like chocolate?” He handed Odell a smoothie that he had beaten by hand containing yogurt, fruit, and juice.
My mate took a sip and his eyes lit up. “Yum. Food is better after being kidnapped and put in an underground dungeon. And I didn’t have to buy it or prepare it. Win-win.”
Dad’s mouth gaped as he stared at me, and he mouthed, “Be kinder.” He was right, I wasn’t doing enough wooing, but my mate was safe, my family soon would be, but Draven was probably intent on revenge.
A bowl of rice, beans, and melted cheese was put on a tray over Odell’s lap, and Arnie assured him he’d have mug cake ready as soon as he was done eating.My mate shoveled that food in fast, and after the mug was empty, Odell continued to scrape off bits of cake from the sides. He was delaying the question-and-answer session. But we needed information.
“Are you up to talking?”
“Yes.” His pained expression suggested he’d prefer to do otherwise. But with few words, he summarized his uncle’s disability, their lack of money, and them keeping the extent of the struggle from him.
Dad and I shared a glance. “That must have been hard for all three of you.”
“Nowcomes the hard part. My uncle’s betrayal. Having met Draven, I understand how my uncle was drawn into his clutches, though it doesn’t excuse what he did.”
Odell went on to say how Draven had turned up at his place this morning and dragged him out.
“It reminds me of long ago when our kind did the same thing,” my dad said to Arnie. Now I pulled a face at him and mouthed, “Stop.”
“Not so long ago because Draven pulled that stunt this morning.” Arnie wrung his hands.
“My turn.” My mate was letting me off the hook. “Why did you bring me here?” I made to speak, but he held up his hand. “Yes, you said it was to keep me safe, but I could have left the state and gone to the other side of the country.”
“He would have found you. He has enormous resources,” I explained. I assumed his family had accessed their hidden wealth after the war, something we and the shifter council had not been able to confiscate.
Dad spoke up. “Draven’s family were, ummm, dealt with, others were banished, some of them assimilated into the other… the other…” His head swiveled to me and then to Arnie as if he needed help finishing his sentence.
“He and his father and the people they surrounded themselves with are dangerous. Or they were. Many are no longer among the living.”
