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“I’m not taking four bodyguards to my friend’s tiny place. The taxi will drop me in front of Pippa’s building, and I’ll come straight back afterward.”
I hit the button for the garage. “Tell the driver to make that fucking U-turn!”
“Don’t yell at me, Salvatore. I’m not going anywhere risky, and I’ll be back soon. If you feel that next time I should take security, we can discuss it later and find some sort of compromise.”
Oh, I’ll give her a compromise. “The address?”
“Why?”
“I’m coming to get you. Do not leave the taxi until I’m there.”
“Stop overreacting. We’ll talk when I return.” She cuts the call. I dial her number again, but the call goes directly to her voice mail.
She hung up on me. No one fucking hangs up on me. I close my eyes, take a deep breath, and head toward my car.
“Boss?” Nino speaks up behind me.
“Find me the address of Pippa something!” I get inside the vehicle, leaving the door open as I continue my conversation. “She works at St. Mary’s as a nurse.”
“I’ll have it in five minutes,” he says and stares at me. “Boss, are you all right?”
I put the key into the ignition. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“You were yelling the whole way here. You never yell.”He nods toward my hands on the wheel. “And your hands are shaking.”
Of course, my hands are shaking, I’m so full of rage it feels like I’m going to explode, and I have no idea how to process that shit.
“Find me that address. Now!” I slam the door closed, start the car and hit the gas.
I ignore the red light as I exit the garage, pressing down harder on the accelerator. The way I am acting is completely unreasonable, but I don’t give a fuck. I can’t stand the idea of not knowing where she is. It’s gnawing at me from the inside out, like a rat in a cage. I grip the steering wheel with all my might and take a deep breath, trying to calm down. It’s not working. Where the fuck is she?!
“What the hell happened?” Pippa jumps at me with questions before I’m even inside her apartment. “Why did you resign? Where have you been for the past few weeks? I came to your place twice. I thought you’d been kidnapped.”
“Sorry, I just didn’t want to talk about it over the phone. It’s a long story.” I flop down on the sofa and, leaning back into the soft cushions, close my eyes. I’ve missed this. The ordinary world. A normal life. I spent fifteen minutes in front of the building, taking deep breaths so I could calm down enough to come upstairs.
When I left Salvatore’s office, it seemed as though the walls were suddenly closing in on me, and I couldn’t draw abreath. I couldn’t make myself go up to the penthouse. I had to get out and go somewhere, anywhere but there, so I called Pippa. I guess spending four years trying to avoid everything about Cosa Nostra has made me soft. I’ve forgotten how a lot of problems are handled. Killing five men, four of whom are innocent, is normal in our world.
“Talk!” Pippa says and sits down on the sofa next to me.
“Remember the mysterious guy?”
“Yes.”
“Well, we like each other,” I say, aware how utterly stupid the rest of the explanation will sound. “And I decided to follow your advice.”
“What? You married the guy?” She stares at me. “But you’ve known him for, like, a month!”
“Wereallylike each other.” I shrug.
“Whoa, Milene. That’s . . . it’s crazy.”
Yeah. She doesn’t know the half of it.
“So, you’ve been with him this whole time? Who is he? Is that why you resigned? I... wow. I still can’t believe this. You never seemed like an impulsive person.”
“I realized my life had become too boring, and I should... you know, spice it up a bit.”
Pippa laughs and shakes her head. “Oh, you definitely spiced it up, babe. Did you at least get his name before you married the guy?”
