Page 110 of Vicious Arrangement
It’s been minutes, and it feels like hours. The doorbell rings and I punch the door and then the elevator button.
Asher and Katie rush out. I look at them as Katie runs past me to Angus. “Poor baby, where’s Ari? Huh?” She hugs the dog.
I raise my brows at Asher and mutter, “I’ll ask questions about this when we get Aria back.”
“You sure someone took her?” Asher asks, taking the phone from me, looking at it.
“If Angus lost his shit, then someone took her,” Katie says, holding the shaking dog. She frowns up at me. “What’s wrong with him?”
“Someone drugged him.” I push the words out, anger on the dog’s behalf rushing through me. “When I got home he wasgoing crazy, barking, grabbing at me to show me where Aaron got in. He drugged Angus and hit Aria.”
The nausea rocks me, and Angus makes his way to me, pressing in, Katie following. I stroke the dog’s soft head. “We have to get her. She could be… she could be badly hurt.”
“Did you call the cops?” Katie asks.
I shake my head and exchange a look with Asher. “I called the mafia after him. But I need to get there first. You understand, right?”
“We need to get there first. Angus can bite him,” Katie says, staying down with Angus. “To get his own back.”
Angus whines and then barks.
I look at Asher, who’s frowning at the phone. He has the kit he always has on him out, but he’s not doing anything, and I want to scream at him.
“Wait, where’s Josh?” I ask.
“Babysitter,” Asher mutters. “He’s good. She might even be a replacement for you, this babysitter.”
“Never happen,” I say, but my heart isn’t in it. My heart’s too sore, too sick with worry for Aria. “Can you get the phone working? She idiotically doesn’t have Face ID or a passcode.”
“I’ll let you know,” Asher says, taking it to the kitchen island. Katie gets up and Angus goes with her and I follow.
She turns. “Why didn’t you call the cops? Mafia?”
“My PI got me where he was staying, and this morning I contacted the guys he owes money to. I gave them his details andwhere he was staying on the proviso he doesn’t come near me again.”
She gapes at me. “You asked them to kill him.”
“No,” Asher says, then looks at me. “Right?”
“Of course not,” I snap. “I paid them half of what he owed, and they’ll get the rest plus half again when they have him. Then they’re to make sure he’s alive and somewhere far from here. And that he’s told, in very fine detail, never to come near me or mine ever again, or there will be retribution. His debt would be back on and he’d have to pay.”
She frowns. “Won’t he come after you for more money? And can these mafia dudes teach my coworker Dave a lesson?”
“Probably not,” Asher says, “and you don’t want to mess with the mafia, Katie.”
She sighs, but I can see she’s teasing to try and stop panicking.
“He won’t come after me or Aria because he’ll think they’re doing me a favor, and his debt is still there, in stasis. If he fucks up,” I say, pacing with Angus keeping me company, “he’ll owe it again.”
“What if they kill him?” Katie asks.
I’m about to say it’s not my problem, but I don’t. “They won’t. He’s worth money to them. They hold the debt over him, but he doesn’t have to pay, and I’ll guarantee they’ll put him to work.”
She just nods and I think she’s thinking what I am. What Asher is.
“Of course,” I say, “there’s a chance they’re playing me and took her to try and squeeze more money out of me.”
I don’t know that much about the mafia, but they moved quickly on the deal. They haven’t contacted me so I don’t think they double-crossed me. They stand to make a lot by removing Aaron from the picture and getting her home.
