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“Christ, help me,” Tyler murmured and then focused on me. “Artie. Pasquale. Take her upstairs. Flora’s waiting and once she’s notschifosa,” he waved at me as two men peered at me over his shoulders, “bring her to my office, and I’ll interrogate her personally.”
“Wait, what?” I squeaked and tried to throw myself backward as Tyler vanished and his men came forward. “Who’s Flora? What’s going on?”
But no one answered my questions as I was dragged away.
CHAPTER TEN
Lia
It turned out Flora was a housekeeper and a cook, who spoke mostly Italian and gave me several dubious looks. But she also led me to a shower room where fresh, nice clothes had been set out.
“Should fit,” she said in a lilting voice. “Now clean, quick. Mr. Michaelson no like to wait.”
“And don’t try thatout the windowshit,” said the shorter, older Italian guy from where he hovered in the hall. “We will catch you,ragazza.”
“Leave your old clothes on the floor,” the other guy said. He was the one who’d kept a gentle but firm grip as he dragged me along. For a big and strong dude, he’d been considerate enough to make sure he didn’t hurt me. “We’ll burn ‘em for ya, no extra charge.”
They laughed at that and Flora scolded them in Italian then closed the door behind me. I shook my head, not sure how I’d been left alone in a gorgeous bathroom, with gold fixtures and modern touches that seemed to exist in a separate universe from that basement room where I’d woken up.
Going to the window, I gazed out onto an expanse of frostbitten grass, bare trees and lines of pines. As I looked through one of the trees, I thought I could see hills in the far distance. I shivered, realizing I had no idea where I was or even what time it was.
When I’d woken up, I’d thought it had been morning. Now, all I could say was that it was nearing evening. Had I been out for that long?
I swallowed.
For a minute, I was tempted to try and get out the window and run for the trees and hills beyond.
But I knew there was no way that Tyler Michaelson didn’t have this entire place locked down tight.
And while thinking all that, I saw two men stroll by in the distance, their postures alert.
Sighing, I turned away and stripped myself off the bloodstained clothes. I had no choice for now but to obey. Shivering, I used the bathroom then made my way to the gorgeous showerand luxuriated for as long as I dared under the hot spray – scrubbing away the flakes of red blood compulsively; I needed them vanished off my skin and mind. When I knew I couldn’t put off the meeting any longer, I slipped out, drying off as best as I could. There was no hairdryer or brush or any other kind of toiletries except for a toothbrush and a travel-sized toothpaste. I took note of the empty drawers and closet.
After I got dressed, I realized I felt a little better — if only because I was more awake now that I had to face my goddamn doom.
At least the clothes were nice: black silk panties and a bra, a pair of jeans that felt like butter on my skin, a pretty but skintight black tank top and a cream sweatshirt that kept slipping off my shoulder.
There were no socks or shoes, though, which struck me as odd.
When I emerged from the bathroom, the older guy straightened from where he’d been standing against the wall and gave me an impassive look. “Blood-free looks good on you, kid. I’m Artie, by the way.”
I nodded. Now that I’d taken a shower and felt more like myself, I saw that he had to be at least ten years older than Tyler – streaks of white adorned his curly black hair and deep laugh lines around his eyes. He seemed every inch the Italian gangster, in a gray suit with a heavy gold chain around his neck.
Artie glanced at his phone and, at that moment, I spun and tried to run down the hallway. I ran straight into a massive, hard chest wearing a t-shirt that could barely contain the bulging muscles.
“And that’s Pasquale,” Artie said with a sigh. “Damn it, kid. What’d I say?”
“Told ya,” Pasquale said and sighed, shaking his head. “Runner.”
“Alright, fine. Just thought she looked too smart to pull that shit,” Artie said and fished out a hundred-dollar bill, passing it to Pasquale. The latter took it with one hand and held me with ease in the other, all but carrying me as they walked down the hall.
Neither of them said a word as I was led down the hall. I wished I could put more of a fight but all the energy I had in me was now gone. Dizziness fooled me into thinking the floor was rolling under my feet and part of me was glad Pasquale was holding me up.
Artie glanced at me and said something in Italian, to which Pasquale secured his grip but made it more comfortable also. I was then guided to a set of double doors. They rapped on it once and Tyler appeared, looking me over. One eyebrow raised.
All at once, I became aware of my bare feet and bedraggled, wet blonde hair.
“Why the fuck doesn’t she have socks on?” Tyler asked.
