Page 65 of Bossy Trouble

I would give it up to save Georgia.

Never lose, and never give up. It was one of my father’s lessons to me. But of course, the man had apparently been stupid enough to sell us out to the mob, so what did he know?

Suddenly, I was angry. Angry that he taught me all this bullshit about using people and then unloaded all this baggage on me, only to screw up this badly himself.

“Fuck you, Dad,” I whispered into the air.

It was time to call it a night.

As I got ready to leave, I called Kenny to find out if Georgia was at home yet.

He denied it. “No, boss.”

That was odd. It’d been at least an hour since they left, and Georgia did not live that far away. “Where the heck are you?”

“I’m not sure, boss. Ms. Georgia said she had to run in and grab something for her child, but she’s been in there a for a while already.”

Tension tightened my gut. “Where are you?”

“In front of a public restaurant on the fifth.”

“Go in there and make sure she’s okay. Stay on the phone.”

Kenny did as I asked, and I could hear him moving. He must have put me on speaker because I began to hear stray conversations on the other side.

But he was taking too long. Dread descended. Fuck, what if something happened to her? Hadhemade his move already? Had they found her? Why the fuck had she gone so far out of her way to get food for Avery when she could have just gotten some on her way home?

“I’m in the restaurant now,” Kenny said. “I don’t see her, boss.”

My anxiety skyrocketed.

“What do you mean you don’t see her?”

“She’s not here.” I could hear some stress in Kenny’s voice, could hear him moving still.

“Look for her, Kenny,” I snarled. “And don’t come back until you find her.”

I knew the moment he started running because Kenny began panting in my ear. I heard him dash into different shops and give a description to a few people. I heard their denials right before he took off and asked someone else.

And with every second she didn’t show up, I felt more and more like killing somebody.

What if they’d taken her? What if she was suffering at their hands right now?

Fuck, I couldn’t take this,

I was about to get up and leave when Kenny suddenly blurted out, “I see her!”

Relief washed through me. “Where is she?”

“She’s walking. She’s leaving a separate restaurant, and she was….” Kenny trailed off.

“She was what?” I asked impatiently.

I could hear his hesitation on the phone. “She was talking to another man before she left. It looked like they were having a very serious conversation.”

Hot jealousy swept through me. “What man?” My voice was a growl.

“I don’t know, sir, but he looks familiar. He’s tall with really white hair and a suit. And really shiny shoes.”

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