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“Tut. Tut. Tut.” Mordy moved the knife back and forth in front of my face, tapping the handle of it off the tip of my nose. “You’re not the one making demands here.” He flipped the edge and made a small circle with the knife’s point in the middle of my forehead. There would be a scratch left behind, but I wasn’t bleeding, so that was something.
“She said she would talk to me, Mordicus,” Stone huffed in a gruff voice. “So, leave and let us fucking talk.”
Mordy sighed and then rolled his eyes. “Deartháir. Brother. Always ruining my fun.” He shook his head in disapproval, backing away from my face. Soon a dark chuckle left his mouth, “You sick man. You didn’t want to ruin my fun. You wanted to have some of your own.”
“Huh?” I asked in confusion and looked at Stone.
His shoulders were flush against the wall and his knee was bent as his boot rested on the baseboard. He casually ran the blade of an axe along the length of his throat and smirked when his eyes connected with mine. “She made her choice, Mordy. Now, get the fuck out,” Stone ordered, and Mordy headed toward the door. As soon as the door was closed, Stone chucked the axe, and it stuck in the doorframe.
“Shit! What is it with you all and throwing things?”
“It’s quicker than walking across the room,” he admitted as his shoulders rose and fell. “Start talking.” He stalked to where I sat and pinched my cheeks with his thumb and fingers. My lips puckered and the apples of my cheeks ached from the force of his grasp. Maybe I should have agreed to talk to Mordy. Stone might not get as physical with me, but at least I knew where I stood with Mordy. With Stone, all bets were off because I lied to myself and as senseless as it was, thought he cared.
He released me and I groaned, praying they would let us go after I gave him what he wanted.
“Who are the Falbos?”
“I was telling the truth, Stone. I don’t know them.”
“Really?” He cocked his head to the side and his jaws twitched. He didn’t believe me. “We’re back to this?”
“No. Seriously. I don’t know them. In fact, I’m not sure I’ve ever met anyone with that last name or Angeloff.”
“Now, I know you’re fucking lying, Bird. I didn’t say a damned thing about the Angeloffs.”
My mouth formed a tiny “O” shape and I wanted to kick myself in the teeth for mentioning the name. Now he would never trust what I tell him to be the truth, but I had to convince him otherwise. Maryanne’s and my lives depended on me swaying him. “Look. I don’t know them, okay? My mom told us horror stories of them when I was a kid, but I truthfully thought she was full of shit. I thought she was making all of it up as she went along.”
“Hmm. What kind of things?”
“That they were stone-cold killers, rival mobsters, who you didn’t cross or get in bed with.” I shrugged; defeat pulsated so strongly in my body at this point that it was overwhelming me.
“Say I believe that you don’t actually know them. But answer me this. If you don’t know them, why do they have a bounty on your head?”
“Say what now?” My sides heaved in and out with panic. None of this made a damned bit of sense. “Why in the hell does everybody want me dead? I go to college and come back to my apartment. That. Is. It.”
“Are you sure your last name is Wright?”
“Without a doubt. I have a birth certificate, social security card, and driver’s license to prove it. Why wouldn’t it be Wright?”
Stone crossed the room and jerked the axe out of the wall. “This doesn’t add up. Are you sure there isn’t a reason they would want you dead?”
“Positive. I didn’t even believe they were real people until a few moments ago, Stone,” I nervously said, keeping my concentration on the axe in his clutches as he approached me.
“Perhaps it has something to do with your mom,” he thought aloud and lifted the axe right above my hands.
“My mom? She’s a divorcee with a lap dog. I highly doubt she has anything to do with the mafia. I swear!” Tears streaked down my face and my body shook with fear, hoping my mouth hadn’t landed my mom in their crosshairs too. I was right. I wasn’t worth anything now that I was worthless. For the second time tonight, I shut my eyes to prepare myself for the coming pain. Seconds ticked by or maybe it was an eternity, I honestly had no concept of time right now. “If you’re going to kill me, please make it quick.”
“Kill you?” Stone’s voice rose several octaves.
“Yes.”
“Such a gorgeous clueless bird. Open your eyes and separate your hands as far apart as you can.”
I hesitated, shaking my head, but then did as he instructed and accepted my fate.
“Relax. I’m not killing you. At least not now.” He severed the zip tie freeing my hands and then removed the one around my ankles. A rush of pins and needles pulsed through my limbs, and I rubbed the areas.
This morning I woke up and expected an average day. At the very least I thought Maryanne and I might kick back a few. Boy, was I ever wrong. Not a thing about any of this was okay. This was a nightmare, but it was my life. Something told me after all of this nothing would ever be normal for me again.
