Page 139 of Mafia Daddy's Christmas Bride
We exit through the service entrance, emerging into the cold December air. A black van waits in the alley, engine running. My legs go weak at the sight of it.
"Move," Salvatore orders, shoving me forward.
The van's side door slides open. Rough hands grab me, pulling me inside. I land hard on the metal floor, the impact knocking the breath from my lungs.
"Tie her up," Salvatore orders, climbing in after me.
Someone grabs my wrists, binding them tightly with zip ties that bite into my skin. Another set of hands secures my ankles.
"Gag her," Salvatore says, and a cloth is forced between my teeth, tied tightly behind my head.
The van lurches forward, tires squealing as it pulls away from the curb. I lie on the cold metal floor, my body jolting with every bump and turn.
Angelica is safe, I tell myself. That's what matters. Roman will find her.
He'll know I didn't run.
That I’m not betraying him or La Corona.
Then it comes to me. I’m not betraying him or La Corona, but they could be betraying me.
Salvatore is a Calabresi captain.
He wouldn’t do this without orders, right? Did Marco… La Corona decide I was too much a liability?
Does Roman know?
Is that why he’s gone?
He couldn’t do the deed himself, so they sent Salvatore.
A part of me doubts that. Roman wouldn’t agree to their getting me while Angelica was home, leaving her alone.
So maybe he doesn’t know.
When he finds out, will he care? It won’t be like losing Emilia.
I can at least have some solace in knowing that he won’t know that in my death, he’s also lost a child.
27
ROMAN
My mind's already at home as Don Vitale drones on about shipping routes. At least I’m not at another La Corona meeting getting my ass handed to me.
But fucking hell, why am I here? Exhaustion drags at my bones after the all-night dock situation.
My phone vibrates in my pocket. I ignore it. La Corona isn't a group in which one can walk out to take a call.
"What was the hold up with payoff?" Don Monti asks.
My phone buzzes again, then immediately a third time.
I pull my phone from my pocket, ready to silence it, when Marco nods at me. "Answer it, Roman. Could be follow-up on the dock situation."
I step away from the group, swiping to accept the call without checking the ID.
"What?" I bark.
