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If Cassius doesn’t want to have any sort of relationship with me and he’s not trying to ransom me to Dad, why keep me here? Kick me out, send me back to Salvatore,anything. This limbo is making me crazy.
I carry my frustration with me everywhere I go, and I’m on edge whenever I’m with Cassius. When I’m alone, I’m stewing with anger and boredom.
One afternoon Cassius is out doing Cassius things and I’m sitting on the couch with a magazine when I hear the elevator ping and the doors slide open. Lorenzo strides out, dressed in black jeans and a black jacket, his blond hair messy and his dark brows drawn together. His T-shirt is cut low at the neck and there are tattoos on his chest.
I sit back when I realize it’s not Cassius. “Oh, it’s you.”
“Hello to you, too,” he sneers, heading past me. He and Vinicius show up occasionally at random times. I presume Cassius has a safe or a computer that they need to use for criminal purposes.
“Oh, like you give a damn whether I say hello. Go fuck yourself, Lorenzo.” I’m asking for trouble giving shit to a man who’s crazy, jacked up, armed, and hates my guts, but in this moment, it just feels so good to take out my Cassius-related frustrations on someone.
Lorenzo freezes, then swerves toward me. My belly swoops in alarm. “You mouthy little bitch. Why don’t you get out of here? Just leave. Go on, fuck off.”
I jump to my feet and yell at him, “I can’t leave because you’re allkeeping me here.”
“Then find some way to fucking escape! You’re not even trying.”
“Call that elevator for me and I’ll leave right this second.” I expect Lorenzo to tell me to go fuck myself, but he hesitates. Hope flares in my chest. “Lorenzo, please open that elevator. You’ll never have to see me again.”
He passes his hand over his mouth and looks between the elevator and me. “Just to be clear, you’re asking for my help. Mine. Not the others?”
Cassius and Vinicius wouldn’t help me because they don’t want me gone. Lorenzo is the only one who would be happy never to see my face again. “I know, I can’t believe it either. Get me out of this building,please.”
Lorenzo glares at me for a moment longer, and then strides over to a door and opens it.
“You can’t use the elevator. There are cameras. Through here is the door to a stairwell. It opens with a passcode. Four-two-double-three-nine.”
Holy shit, he really is helping me. “One second. I’ll be right back.”
I run to my room and pull on a sweater and shoes with my jeans and scoop my hair into a ponytail. There’s nothing else I want or need from this apartment. I don’t know where I’m going without any money, phone or passport, but I’ll figure that out later.
I hurry back to the lounge, reciting the passcode under my breath.
As I pass by Lorenzo, he grabs hold of my ponytail and seethes in my ear, “You don’t know where you’ve been since the wedding. A group of men kept you in a dark room and you never saw their faces. If you go to the police or rat on us to your father and Salvatore, I’ll slit your fucking throat.”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to remind him he showed everyone his face at my wedding, but now isn’t the time to be pedantic. “I know you will. I’m not stupid.”
“Could have fooled me.” He lets me go and gives me a shove.
My fingers shake as I punch the numbers into the door. I more than half expect the code to be rejected and for Lorenzo to heap scorn on me for believing that he’d help me, but the little light goes green, the door unlocks and I pull it open with a cry of shock.
Turning around, I see Lorenzo giving me a sarcastic wave.
Then I run.
It’s a long, long way down. I grow dizzy from the turns but I hold the stair rail and keep running. Several minutes later, I burst out of the stairwell and into an underground garage. A black Mercedes is parked in front of me, and Lorenzo is leaning against it with his arms folded.
I brace my hands against my knees and struggle for breath. “What are you doing here? I thought we already said our goodbyes.”
“Every entrance to this building has a security camera. When Cassius finds out that you’re gone and checks them, he’ll see me arrive and leave around the same time as you disappeared. I don’t want to get mixed up in your shit. You can’t be seen.”
He goes around to the back of the car and opens it. “Get in.”
“In the trunk? No way.”
Lorenzo bares his teeth at me in a snarl. “I’m not tying you up and kidnapping you. I’m driving you a few blocks down the street and then letting you out. Get in the fucking car or I’ll drag you back upstairs right this second.”
He’ll do it, too. Motherfucker.
