Page 50 of Bound to Him

I felt my heart lift; if he looked so confident and calm, he must have found a way to handle Christian. I told myself to listen before I assumed. Viola sat down next to him with a huff, and Tony and I sat facing them.

“Alright, I’ll get straight to it.” He sat forward again with his elbows resting on his knees. “You two obviously know Christian Reyes, the man your father has gone into business with, and the man who Olivia has been promised to.”

Viola and Tony nodded curiously.

“We’ve recently become aware of what exactly that business is. Tony, as your father’s underboss, were you aware of the drugs the Colombian cartel would be supplying your Romano crewmen?”

Tony bristled, looking awkward about discussing business in front of us girls, while Viola seemed bored with the discussion already.

He nodded. “Yes. Do we need the girls here for this?”

“Yes. Were you also aware of the sex trafficking ring he has established on your turf?”

Tony’s eyes bulged. “Excuse me?”

“What?” Viola shrieked, looking at me. I looked at my hands, feeling too heartsore about the girls he’d already managed to pick up. I hoped Huxley could, if anything, put a stop to that.

Huxley nodded. “I didn’t think so. We might not have the best relationship, you and I, but I didn’t think you’d be fine with something like that.” He watched Tony meaningfully, expressing with his eyes that this was a serious matter that rose above the two of them.

“Definitely not! Where are you getting this intel from, anyway?” Tony narrowed his eyes at Huxley. “How do I know you’re not trying to do us in somehow? Trying to weaken us by cutting our business?”

Huxley considered his answer, wringing his hands nervously. I’d never seen him this way. “I saw the girls myself. He offered me their services.”

I gasped; I didn’t know that. Viola was very interested now, staring at Huxley with a gaping mouth and waiting on his next words.

“The girls were in bad shape. The way they looked, I won’t be surprised if he's not even feeding them.”

Viola lifted her hand to her mouth, looking as though she was going to tear up.

“I saw one of the girls too,” I added, everyone looked at me. “At the horse racetrack he took me to. This guy approached us, pulling her along. She was so skinny… and high out of her mind. She didn’t know where she was. Christian told the guy to go away and said he’d talk to him later.”

“Fuck,” Tony said, standing up and running his fingers through his hair. “How’d we miss this?”

Huxley spoke calmly. “Christian fooled everyone. He’s got ties in the office as well. He’s the reason our guys have been losing work.”

Tony looked back at him. “Seriously? Our guys, too. What the fuck, man?”

“He’s trying to weaken all of us. For all we know, he might be working with the Rossis or against them.” He shrugged. “But we need to get in under Christian’s plans and nip this in the bud.”

“Yeah. For sure.” Tony seemed more trusting now. He sat down and looked at me. “Olivia.”

“Yes?”

“Did he ever hurt you?”

Huxley’s eyes jumped to mine, eager to hear my answer. Viola even looked at me expectantly. Tony looked down at his own hands, bubbling with anger, and waiting for my answer.

“He tried.”

“The fuck does that mean?” Huxley asked, and Tony seconded with a hand turned up in the air.

I sighed; I didn’t want this to get out. Aside from the uncontrollable anger of a mafia man, I was embarrassed. I hated that Christian made me feel so weak. “It was just a little scuffle… he tried to pin me down, and I kneed him in the balls.”

While Huxley looked like he wanted to suddenly laugh, Tony looked astounded.

“That’s ma guuurl.” Viola nodded, looking proud.

“Well done,” Huxley said.

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