Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 60700 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60700 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
Then I'm struck by a thought. Lexi.
Ice sluices through my veins. Suddenly, her missing whereabouts make sense.
“Who else do they have?” I choke out.
Al goes silent. “What?”
“Fuck. I think they picked up Lexi, too.”
“Your new girl?”
Ex-girl, but I’m not about to tell the don that. I can’t have him fucking with Lexi. I’m already sweating bullets because I know her life is in danger just by the fact she’s in there right now. “Yeah.”
“I’ll find out–I’ve got Carlo down there watching the building.” Al ends the call before I can protest.
Carlo.
Fuck!
I rush to call Carlo, hoping I’ll reach him before the don does. While it rings, I screech into traffic, driving as fast as I can to the FBI headquarters.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
“Bobby.”
Thank fuck–Carlo answers.
“I have your girl–”
I shout into the phone, “If you lay one hand on her, I’m going to tear your motherfucking head—”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hands are off. Nobody’s touching her, cugino.”
“If you scared her–”
“I might have scared her a little. Are you scared, Lexi? I’m sorry. She’s all right. Take it easy, cousin.”
“Where are you?”
“We’re in my Range Rover in front of the FBI building.”
“Stay there. Don’t fucking move. Don’t fucking touch her.”
“Easy. Take it easy.”
I don’t trust Carlo’s placation. The guy can be ruthless. He could have a gun on her right now. They might have a hood over her head.
The thought of her being roughed up or frightened by those guys has me pressing the pedal to the floorboard.
“We’re not touching your girl,” Carlo continues to soothe me. “She’s sitting in the car with us having a friendly conversation.”
“I will motherfucking kill you.”
“Bobby’s upset. Tell him you’re okay.”
“Bobby?” Lexi’s voice sounds strangled. I want to put my fist through the dash of the car. “I didn’t say anything. You know that, right?”
“Of course I do, baby. I’m almost there, and I’m going to rip my cousin’s head from his fucking shoulders for touching you.”
“I’m okay, Bobby.”
I’m able to exhale for the first time since I hung up with the don. “I need to get eyes on you, sweetheart. I’m so sorry this happened to you.”
“Okay, cugino. I have to hang up,” Carlo interrupts. “The don is calling.”
The call ends, and my heart flops around in my heart. I have to get there before Al gives Carlo any orders about Lexi.
Lexi
“Bobby wants us all dead now,” the young man with an Italian accent says with a grin, like it’s funny to have his life threatened. He’s sitting behind the wheel of the Range Rover while I’m sandwiched in the backseat between Tommy and Junior.
Hearing Bobby’s voice, hearing him shouting through the airwaves to defend me, makes my eyes sting with moisture.
The guy in the front seat takes another call but speaks Italian, so I can’t understand what he’s saying, even though I’m sure it’s about me because he keeps glancing over his shoulder at me.
“Maybe you guys should just let me go,” I suggest when he’s off the phone.
These guys scared the crap out of me, and for a solid fifteen minutes, I wasn’t sure if I was going to die or not, but now there’s an apologetic air to them. It’s true that I’m not hurt, just shaken up. They grilled me about what happened in there, and I told them everything, repeating it three times until they finally seemed satisfied.
I think one thing that made this go better than it could have is that they don’t seem to know I broke up with Bobby. I didn’t clue them in, either.
“No, no. Stay in the car. Bobby will come to us. He will need to see you are unharmed before he calms down.”
Suddenly, the backseat door nearly flies off its hinges. Bobby stands there like a gladiator, prepared to kill.
“Get out, you stronzo.” He fists Tommy’s shirt, throws him out of the car.
“Whoa, take it easy, boss. She’s okay.” Junior nudges me toward my rescuer and away from him.
I tumble out of the SUV and into Bobby’s arms.
Apparently, I don’t want him to let me go because I wrap my legs around his waist and my arms around his neck, clinging to him like a koala bear hugs its mama. “Bobby,” I choke.
“Lexi, sweetheart. Aw, baby, I’ve missed you so much. Are you okay?” He’s already walking away from the SUV and his associates, ignoring them as they call after him. He carries me to his car where he eases my feet to the ground.
“Babygirl, I’m so sorry.” He strokes my hair back from my face. “I never meant for this shit to touch you. It shouldn’t have.”
I hardly care about any of it. The horrible day spent with the FBI. The fright I had at the hands of his Family members. All I know is how wonderful it is to be in his arms again. To hear his voice. To be the focus of his warm gaze, the familiar kindness seeping through the trauma of the last week. Of breaking my own heart by leaving him.