Page 123 of Pink

TWENTY-FOUR

“HAVE YOU called through to the hotel so they know we’re on the way back?” the guard driving the SUV asked at the front of the vehicle while he navigated the familiar streets of Manhattan.

The man in the seat next to hers—she was sure his name was Todd, but that was only because someone else said it, not because her mob detail offered their names—waved a phone high but didn’t look away from the window at the passing buildings. “The last twenty-minute check-in from our guy at the hotel was ten minutes ago. I told him then. He’s probably not going to check-in at the next twenty-minute mark when we’re practically going to be right there anyway. They’ll be ready for us to arrive, no worries.”

“Good.”

“I would like my phone back,” Gigi spoke up.

Neither man acted as if they heard her. Or that they gave a shit about what she wanted. She had learned early on that these men weren’t there to feed into what Gigi wanted if they had orders that came from Lev, or their boss who she had never met. They might be protecting her, but she wasn’t running them or signing their paychecks.

Apparently, that was an important distinction.

“I said, I would like my phone—”

“Once we get you to the hotel,” Todd said beside her. “And we get confirmation everything is good … or not.”

“What does that even mean?”

The guy gave her a look, clearly unimpressed. “Means your attitude is getting on my fucking nerves, Gigi. You’ll get your phone back when you get it. Capisce?”

She jerked back hard into the leather of the seat. “Yeah, okay. I get it.”

“Good.”

Behind them, another vehicle trailed close with the rest of Gigi’s security team. It had never been more apparent to her than now about just how strange and unusual her life actually was but especially in times like these. Not that there had been many times where she felt like her life was in real danger. Nonetheless, it made it very clear how little say she had in anything.

Any choices were taken away. All the shots were determined by armed men in suits who, to be honest, barely said more than a few words to her at any given time. And when they did speak, it was mostly to throw orders they expected her to follow.

Without argument.

Like earlier when Lev demanded they take her back to the hotel and keep her there. She didn’t like that idea—and knew it wasn’t practical when the next forty-eight hours would be spent in a rush of final preparations to walk the runway in the Delavange show.

Did that matter to these men?

Absolutely not.

Gigi simmered in her anger silently for the rest of the drive to the hotel. It wasn’t like venting her frustrations would do anything good for her or the men tasked with watching her. By the time they got through traffic and pulled under the hotel’s entrance to park, thirty minutes had passed. She had a good mind to snatch her phone right out of Todd’s hand when he stood outside the SUV, holding the door open to let her out.

The smart part of her brain said that wasn’t a good idea and to just do what she was told until they were at least in the privacy of her hotel suite.

“Thought you said Glen would be ready when we arrived?” the man who had been driving asked as he rounded the front of the SUV. “Where the fuck is he? At least there are no goddamn paps this time. Fucking stupid we can’t use the side entrance today. The next couple of days are going to be crazy.”

Todd shrugged as he directed Gigi toward the revolving entrance doors with a hand high on her back. “Don’t know about Glen, man. Maybe he’s at the front desk because there weren’t any paps out here to take care of. Let’s just get her inside, yeah?”

“Swear to God I’m gonna cut him if he fucked off again. The boss isn’t going to stand for that shit if he keeps it up. And it looks bad on me.”

“Quit bitching. It’s all you ever do.”

“Yeah, fuck you, too, asshole.”

That was probably the most Gigi had ever heard the two men talk before.

The other vehicle—full of security from her agency—had arrived behind them as well. Those men, all of which she did know their names and who were more liable to allow her a choice and say when possible, filed out of their vehicle but for the one driving. They were quick to get in line behind Gigi and the two enforcers walking her into the hotel.

Without a word otherwise, too.

Like her, the security from her agency simply got in line when it came to the Marcello mafia’s enforcers. They had zero patience and no problem with letting anyone know it in a violent way if need be. When Lev had said her team wouldn’t have much of a choice about the mob detail, he hadn’t been exaggerating.