“You’ve been quiet, Nathan,” Vitale said. “Seeing Carlo work should make you more willing to have a conversation.”
My gaze slid to Gio. “Are you sure you want me to talkwith your father?”
Because of Renzo. His eyes narrowed to slits. “I’m sure he’s not interested in hearing your lies about me.”
Vitale’s phone chimed in his pocket, and a displeased look spread on the man’s face. It would be an informant who’d tell him there was an order moving swiftly through the police to raid the compound, and Abramo money would be needed to kill that order. It should keep him busy for at least ten minutes.
The office door clicked shut as he went, leaving me to Carlo and Gio, and I wondered if the Italians knew they were outnumbered. I’d take the gun from Gio that was carried in a back holster, and fire a round into Carlo’s right shoulder, which would render his arm useless for holding a gun or the riot wand. Then, Gio would take one in the knee, where he could walk with a limp for the rest of his life if he survived the night.
I took my final breath, preparing to initiate my plan.
“The knee,” Gio said casually.
Carlo reared back and unleashed a strike against Olivia, angling it across her left knee. Her scream cut through the air, slicing through me with icy horror. I turned toward her, and that slight hesitation from me was all Gio needed.
A sharp, fiery pain shot into my back, right below a shoulder blade.
The fucker had stabbed me, and although the knife was short and he’d retracted it quickly without twisting, it hurt like a motherfucker. I gasped a breath over the pain.
This made my plan of escape more difficult.
“Did you enjoy being stabbed in the back as much as I did?” Gio sneered at me.
He put a hand on my shoulder and shoved, forcing me down on the couch. The searing pain only hurt when I moved or breathed, but thankfully I could still do both. The knife must have hit a rib and avoided puncturing a lung.
Carlo opened a cabinet beneath a bar, pulled out blackcord and duct tape, and tossed them beside me on the couch cushion where they bounced to a stop.
Olivia was doubled over with a hand clenched to her knee. Her eyes were heavy with pain, but her gaze remained locked on me and her expression filled with alarm. She looked so worried about what had just happened to me, it verged on fright.
“I’m okay,” I said to her in Spanish.
She pressed her lips together. Shit. I’d forgotten she could tell when I was lying.
Beside me, Gio was working fast. I was going to have to stop this now since I was already in serious trouble. If the ropes got around me, I was done for. I gnashed my teeth as I launched to my feet and swung my arms to strike Gio, hefting my full weight behind it.
Only I came up empty.
I hadn’t counted on her terrible timing, or that perhaps she’d had the same thought as I had. She’d lunged for him at the same moment, but she’d telegraphed her impending move and he’d simply stepped back from both of our attacks.
The cord was looped around me and yanked my arms tight against my body, my suit jacket saving me from rope burns. At least they’d left it on. It might be possible to slide out of it. Another loop went around my torso, and then through the plastic cuffs, and down around my ankles.
There, the cord dug in.
“Go ahead and tell my father I shot an unarmed Renzo, it won’t matter,” he said. “He’s only interested in what you think you know about our business.”
Although she’d been unsuccessful in her attack, he still wasn’t happy about it. He grabbed a fistful of her hair at the back of her head and jerked, making her chin snap toward the ceiling. She cried out, a mixture of pain and surprise.
The muscles in my arms corded and flexed as I struggled uselessly to break free.Stop. I was bleeding badly and losingprecious energy, so I needed to not waste any more of it.
“Carlo will open a bottle of wine, and you will pour me a glass.” I understood them before Gio’s words were echoed in English by his translator. “Go ahead and keep disobeying. I want Nathan to see what happens.”
“Leave her out of this,” I said in Italian.
He pretended he didn’t hear me. He released her with a shove, pushing her toward the bar, and she waited beside it as Carlo complied with the order. I watched her eye the corkscrew longingly while it was used to open the bottle, and I wanted her to get her hands on it almost as badly as she did.
But what I wanted more than anything was for her to do exactly as Gio had instructed. He was unpredictable, and if he hurt her again, I didn’t know what I’d do.
Of course she disobeyed.
