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“How goes it?”
I nod. “As planned.”
“Good, good.” He gestures with his hand for me to go on. My father does not waste words and even though his office is swept twice a day for bugs, he still believes in saying less as a life motto.
I turn and leave, going up to the house to pack a bag. Giada and I have to make a plan for our future, which means she’ll be my guest for a few more days. I am not complaining.
I leave the house with a kiss on the cheek for my mother, swiping one of the freshly baked trays of lasagna in the kitchen as I go. Giada will be hungry.
* * *
I arrive at the warehouse at the same time as a black sedan. As I alight from my Range Rover, Eric alights from the sedan and he looks mad as hell.
“What thefuck, Romano!” he begins before he’s even slammed his door.
I raise my hands in surrender. Eric is our guy in the FBI. He also tries to keep peace between the families. I’m frankly a little disappointed in Mark for going to blab to him, but I get it. They’re cousins – that means blood. And even though Mark is part of the Family, he’s also part ofafamily. I understand loyalty. It’s not really a betrayal to tell Eric – more of an inconvenience.
“What are you so angry aboutcapo?Or is it hangry? I got some lasagna. You wanna come in and eat with us?”
“Eat with you? You mean you and yourcaptive? No, I don’t wanna come in and eat with you. I want you to give me the girl so I can return her before any shots are fired.”
I snort. “Be my guest.” I incline my head, “C’mon, let’s go talk to her.”
Eric keeps looking at me with suspicion. I guess he expected more pushback to his proposal. But it’s really up to Giada. If she wants to go, I won’t stop her. I don’t regret what I did, but I do see that minimizing the harm that might result from it is a good thing.
I open the door, while Eric is still watching me suspiciously.
“Romano, you’re back.” Giada comes hurtling towards me, throwing herself into my arms and kissing me like she’s suffocating, and all the oxygen is in my mouth. I almost drop the pan in the resulting milieu but I manage to hold onto it as I curl my arm around her back.
Eric is staring at us with his mouth open.
“Maybe you should close your mouth before it fills with flies.” I grin at him cheekily. His jaw snaps shut, and he looks from me to Giada in shock.
“Who’s this?” Giada asks breezily. “Is it your man that you send everywhere?”
I huff in amusement. “Nah, this is lieutenant Eric Pavoni. He’s a feeb.”
Giada blinks at him in surprise. “You’re the one that treats with the families. I’ve heard of you.”
“Oh you have? Good, so if you gather your things, we can be going.”
“Where?”
Eric gapes at her. “What do you mean, where? I’m here to take you home.”
“Did my family send you?”
At this rate, Eric is going to just lose his jaw completely with how close it is to the floor. “Your family? Of course not. If they knew where you were, trust me, they’d be breaking in here guns blazing. They wouldn’t send in a single guy.”
“But you’re not just a single guy. You’re the mediator.”
“Well, be that as it may, they did not send me. And am I to infer from this…” he points to the lack of space between Giada and I, “that you are here voluntarily?”
She grins, looking up at me. “I feel like I should be asking for my lawyer right about now.”
I chuckled, amused. I can see exactly what she means. Eric is definitely on his FBI interrogator shit. I sobered up and turn to him, “Look Eric, obviously things have changed. Yes, I did abduct this young lady with the sole intent of making her cousin suffer and maybe as a result, turning his family against him. But things are different now. All we need is a little time to sort ourselves out and decide what happens next. Then Giada will go home, unharmed.”
Eric is shaking his head, looking somber. “You’re playing a very dangerous game here.”
