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“She’s always been like that. She must be the best at everything. You say she put you on your back? She’s done that to me numerous times. She trains every damn day for hours when she’s not filming her cooking and baking.” He glances at the time.

I nod. “Well, she also bit me,” I say, showing him the still-healing scar on my hand.

“Bit you? That’s a new one.”

“I may or may not have been trying to move her hair away from her face,” I smile broadly. “And she was so amused I was still bandaged days later.”

“I hope you didn’t give her anything,” Andrea jokes.

“What are you talking about? I went for a tetanus shot.” We both laugh.

It’s surprising, this man. He’s funny, a family man, and he’s rather smart. He keeps up, which is nice. In another world, in another life, I would have counted him as one of my friends.

We chat a little more, and then my watch goes off. I stand up and look at Cosimo.

“Which one gave us the warehouses?”

Cosimo walks over to the one fourth from the left, “This one with the black eye and swollen lip.”

I walk over to him, stop, and shoot him in the head. Cosimo tips him forward.

“That’s three out of nine, isn’t this just fun?”

I sit down, set my watch, and continue talking to Andrea. The conversation flows easily now, and I feel a bit comforted that, like me, Andrea takes family far more seriously than I thought he did. I’m about to ask him why he wanted to sell off Gia, though, but my watch goes off.

“Cosimo, what’s your lucky number?”

“One, boss.” He grins.

I start walking to the end of the line, counting backward. “Six, five, four, three…”

Before I can reach two, number five shouts at me. “I know where they are.”

I look at him. The other bound men look at him, and I can’t tell whether they’re angry at him for betraying Tony, or relieved he’s apparently saved their lives.

I walk over slowly, my steps deliberate.

“Tell me.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

GIA

Ihold onto Gio, telling him quickly, “Don’t worry, I’ll be right back. Be brave, Gio.”

The men come into the cell and drag me away, one guard holding Gio in place.

I glare at him. “Get your hands off of him. He’s a child.”

“He’ll be a dead child if Tony sees fit.” The guards laugh, and I flash my teeth at them like a wildcat.

“Don’t listen to them, Gio. Be brave.”

The guards drag me off, but they don’t lead me back to the warehouse where I was previously. Instead, we walk through and into an office on the opposite side.

Tony sits behind a desk, flipping through a notepad with an evil smirk on his face. I want to punch him so badly as hot anger rages through me. I’ll gladly break this asshole’s nose.

They drag me further in and sit me down in a chair opposite him. The goons leave, and I’m left alone in the office with Tony.