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“Yeah?”
“What happened to the wi-fi?”
“Construction down the street,” I grunted. I knew his guys would have seen them working on the house down the street. It was being gutted. The road was lined with workers all hours of the day. “They said it’ll be back on any moment—” I nodded to Alejandro to turn it back on.
“It’s on,” he interrupted. “Have you spoken to the woman yet?” I rolled my eyes. We both knew he would have known if I had. He obviously had someone watching the cameras.
“No, but I plan to, tonight.”
“Or you could just force it out of her. It would be fun to see what’s under that sweatshirt.” He chuckled, and I knew he was watching her now.
“Or I could do it the way you pay me to,” I shot back.
“Watch your mouth.”
“I never asked to babysit the bitch!” I saw Alejandro’s eyes widen at my tone to Castillo. “As I pointed out before, you chose me for this job because I’m good at what I do. I can get her to talk, and when she does, you’ll know it’ll be accurate information and not a bunch of bullshit. But if you think you can crack the bitch, go for it. You take her. I don’t want her here, anyway.” I knew he wouldn’t. Castillo gave orders; he never wanted to do the dirty work himself. Entitled prick.
“I want something by tomorrow night.”
“I’ll be in touch.” I hung up and tossed the phone back to Alejandro.
“I can’t believe the way you talk to him. Aren’t you afraid he’ll kill you?”
“No, and he’s an idiot.”
“Does she know who Rosa is?”
“No, she hasn’t a clue.” I headed for my office.
“Hey,” he called after me, “you wanna go to church or something? I mean, it always helps to calm you down.”
I considered it, but only for a second. I looked out the window at Castillo’s men and wondered which one would try to sneak downstairs to play with the woman and which ones would follow us.
“Not today.” I slammed the door shut.
“Excuse me for asking, boss, but I guess I just don’t get it.” Filippo watched me as I poured myself a stiff drink. I’d just finished trying to question Lexi for the second time and got nothing but sass and silence. “I mean, why don’t you just go down there with a gasoline can and a blow torch and scare her into giving you the information.”
“I could, but it wouldn’t get me anywhere.” I allowed Filippo to occupy my mind. He was, after all, trying to learn the ropes, so I answered his question. I glanced at my watch as I realized I still hadn’t heard from my contact with an update on Talya. I’d heard she had information for me on a possible target Blackstone might go after. Grim was overheard talking about it over a card game. I knew he had a connection to the mob in Italy and had been seen in the past with Vinni Capri. It was a small world, and information was money. I had to shake my head when I thought about it. The smartest people got themselves caught because they forgot who was around when they shot their mouths off after a few drinks. Though, with Grim, I wouldn’t put it past him. He might be testing the room for snitches.
I decided to answer Filippo. “She’s not like any of the women we’d had here. This one’s been trained for situations like this. We’ll get nothin’ but lies and bullshit out of her at this point. I doubt she’d give us anything we can use. Not yet, anyway.”
“So, you’re making her wait it out?”
“Time’s hard to measure when there’s no end in sight.” I tapped the screen on my tablet to turn up the lights where she lay. I knew it would play harder on her head. “Living in a cage like some pet in a windowless basement will fuck her up more than having conversations with me. I’m her only human contact with the outside world. She’ll see that eventually, so until then, we wait.” My phone pinged with a message, and just as I read it, the door opened.
“Boss?” Alejandro craned his head in the doorway then stepped back as he indicated he wanted me to see something.
I stepped outside the door to see two of Castillo’s assholes walking through my living room. They disappeared downstairs like they owned the place.
“I was under orders and had to pass the code over.” I wanted to punch his face in, but he was right to follow orders. “Should I stop them?”
“No,” I sipped my drink and glanced at Castillo’s text again and knew there was nothing I could do about it anyway. I shook my head at Alejandro as he started to move toward the door. We could hear her screams as they hauled her up the stairs and through the door. Her wrists and legs were taped, and the sack they had over her head hung half off as she fought them. I laughed, glad they were the ones who had to deal with her. Both of them were sweating, and one had a red mark from his eye to the edge of his mouth. They were much bigger than she was, but she was wild.
“Let me go!” she seethed as one of the guys yanked the sack down over her eyes again.
“Castillo says you’re taking too long,” one of the meatheads barked at me from where he stood. “He’s takin’ over.” I could see he enjoyed his new power over me. His ridiculous cartoon dragon tattoo stretched over his fat neck as he grinned at me.
“Like I give a shit.” I flicked my wrist for them to leave while I sipped my drink. He glared at me, disappointed, and pushed the screaming chick hard toward the door. I heard the car door slam a few times, then the sound of their tires as they spun across the yard.
