Page 22 of Sugar Baby
He shrugs and looks to the side. “I have a few things to sort out over here. You are easier to get to than Cesca, which is surprising seeing who your father is.”
I swallow, but my mouth is dry.
Blinking, I tell myself this isn’t happening. I don’t know much about my uncle, my mum’s brother, but I know he lives in Italy and isn’t supposed to be in this country. He and my father have…issues.
Lorenzo Calabrese gives me a penetrating stare out of eyes that are exactly like my mother’s, but they are dead. There is no life, no passion, no love. Nothing.
It’s frightening.
I’m scared and alone; I don’t have my phone or Nico, not even Cain to help me.
“What do you want with me?”
“I want to get to your mother. A simple swap. Her for you.”
“Why?”
“She has something I want.”
“Did you have something to do with the heist at the bank?”
His dead eyes flash with a fire that terrifies me more than the blank look. “Yes, but you turning up, threw it all into a…how do you say? A clusterfuck?”
I nod slowly because he is genuinely asking me and requiring an answer.
Wondering what Atlas has to do with all of this, and how he got involved with Lorenzo, I suddenly have a funny feeling that there were two separate incidents at the City bank today. Coincidence or not? Me being there was definitely bad luck. I wasn’t supposed to be. Whatever Lorenzo and Atlas wanted, it wasn’t me — originally. But by defying Cain’s authority, I placed myself in their path, and now I’m on a collision course with a danger that I know nothing about, but instead of feeling scared, I suddenly feel calm. I’m a pawn, sure, one he wants to swap out for the Queen, but pawns have their place in a game of chess. They are underestimated. I don’t know what Lorenzo is really after apart from something from my mother, and whatever he stole from me. I’m guessing it’s the piece I spotted earlier that I didn’t recognise. It was a large cameo brooch set in bronze.
I have no idea what’s really going on here, but I intend to find out. He has killed Nico and abducted me, not to mention there is the whole complication with Atlas, and Nico’s apparent Taskforce that is after my dad. There is a lot to figure out, but the best way is to start with what I do know, and that is, that this man is family.
It’s not a lot, but blood is thicker than water.
I give myself a minute to grieve for my bodyguard, and then I put on my game face.
Neverunderestimate the pawn.
ChapterSixteen
Cain
Peering around the edge of the counters, I see a man dressed in full-on TAC gear, talking to one of his team in a low voice. His back is towards me, so I can’t make out his face. I wonder why they turned up and not the police, but they seem to have this all under control.
“Listen up!” he suddenly barks, taking a step back to address the bank employees and a couple of customers who were unfortunate enough to be here.
I stand up, dragging the woman with me, trying to look casual, like we were here all along. I keep my hand on her elbow in case she gets any ideas of escaping. Glancing over to the door, I see that the gunmen are cuffed and are being hauled out of the front door by some seriously badass-looking government agents.
“This situation has been handled,” the leader says. “You can all go back to work as if nothing happened after you’ve signed an NDA. This is a highly sensitive operation, and every one of you wasn’t here and didn’t see anything. Got it? James and Karen will brief you.”
He stalks off to the front door leaving James and Karen, two official-looking lawyer-y types, to gather everyone around and inform them of the ins and outs of the Nondisclosure Agreement, which will basically annihilate our arses if we speak a word of this to anyone.
The situation is getting more curious by the second, but I drag my new friend forward and push to the front of the queue.
“I need to get out of here. Hand over the paperwork; we’ll sign it and be done with this shitshow.”
“I need your ID,” Karen states, holding her hand out.
Growling at her, it doesn’t faze her in the slightest, being a beta and one with a stiff upper lip that you don’t see very often these days.
I pull out my wallet and slap my driver’s license into her outstretched palm.
