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Rolling out of bed, I flipped my half of the blankets over her before striding to my closet. I pulled on a black suit with a matching black shirt underneath and then walked out of my bedroom. In the hall, Luca glanced up from where he was lounging.
He straightened up. “He’s here.”
I nodded. “Put someone on the door.”
“I think if she was getting out of those cuffs she would’ve already done it,” he said with a chuckle as he fell in step with me.
I stopped and slowly looked over at him. My dark look was enough to have him reconsidering.
He cleared his throat and punched a number into his cell. “Pietro, set up a watch over the Boss’s bedroom,” Luca told one of my men as soon as he answered.
I started walking again, ignoring Luca as he caught up with me. I pushed open the doors to one of the many rooms meant for receiving guests. Paolo wasn’t a friend however, and he hadn’t been invited here so much as forced.
He jumped up from where he’d been gingerly perched on a chair next to the window. I held up my hand before he could speak and indicated that he should sit back down. He sat like a German Shepherd at my silent command. He was pale and his gaze kept jumping from my face to Luca’s and back.
Luca and I exchanged a knowing look. “Paolo,” I said, keeping my voice pleasant. He already looked like he was going to piss on my carpet. “I thought we had an arrangement?”
He swallowed hard and his eyes darted between us again. “Yes, sir. We did…do. I gave Luca all the information I had,” he finished in a small voice.
“Why is it that every lead you provided was a dead end?”
His eyes widened and he shook his head. “I don’t know, Don Romano. I was told it was valuable intel-”
“That’s bullshit,” Luca growled, interrupting him. “You had us on a wild goose chase for days.”
His face grew even more pale and his eyes flicked around the room, looking for escape routes. My gut told me Paolo had given us bad information on purpose. I just didn’t know why.
“Paolo.” I snapped my fingers in front of his face, pulling his reluctant gaze to my own again. “Pay attention,” I told him. I waited for his nod before I continued. “You gave me false information.” His mouth opened as though he were going to argue, but the narrowing of my eyes had him snapping his jaw shut. “I want to know why. What do you have to gain by withholding from me? Because I know you understand what you’ll lose.”
I didn’t think it was possible for his face to lose any more color, but I was wrong. His lips trembled and his eyes lowered to the floor as he remained mute.
Interesting. Who had earned this snitch’s loyalty? Unfortunately for him, I knew eventually I would get the information I wanted. I was curious to see how far he was willing to go to hang onto his secrets.
Walking over to a small desk in the room, I pulled out a letter opener. Luca leaned a hip against the sofa in front of Paolo. We watched Paolo eyeing us as I took off my suit jacket. “Last chance,” I warned him.
Chapter 20
Havoc
The sound of the door shutting woke me as Nico left the room. I couldn’t believe I’d fallen asleep next to him. Guilt swamped me. I hadn’t slept next to anyone other than Tony in so long it felt wrong, even though it hadn’t been my choice.
Sighing, I stared up at the ceiling. Sunlight was streaming in from the window, lighting up the room. Even more shocking to me was that I’d made it through the night without my usual nightmares. I couldn’t even bring myself to examine what that meant.
Instead, I focused on trying to figure out a way out of this mess. I glanced over to the bedside table. There was nothing there except the lamp. Not that I could move my hands far enough to grab anything, even if there was something sitting there that could help me. If I didn’t think of something soon I was going to be forced to call Nico’s goon in here. I had to pee something fierce.
I let my head fall back against the pillow in defeat. One of the bobby pins holding my hair into place stabbed into my scalp. I grunted and dug it out. My eyes widened and a smile split my face. I’d never picked a handcuff lock with a bobby pin before, but I was willing to give it a try.
Scrambling up to my knees, I bent the pin with my teeth and scraped off the plastic tip. I jammed it into the lock. Luca hadn’t double locked the cuffs, so I was hoping this wouldn’t be too hard. I knew from my LEO days that whenever you used a key in the cuffs you needed to turn it toward the cuff’s direction of travel. It made sense that I’d need to do the same with the pin.
I jiggled it into place and twisted. As soon as I felt the click, as the locking mechanism released, I blew out a sigh of relief. I quickly unlocked the second cuff and scooted off the bed. Rushing into the bathroom, I took care of the most pressing business first. I stared longingly at the shower. I wondered how long they’d leave me in here unsupervised? Fuck it. A shower was worth it.
Walking into Nico’s closet I found a duffel bag that looked suspiciously like mine. Opening it, I found a couple extra changes of clothes shoved inside. I grabbed the bag, a towel off the shelf, and paused when I saw neat piles of clothes stacked near where his suits were hanging. Searching, I shoved the clothes around. He didn’t have a gun?
Huffing out a breath of frustration, I gave up looking for a weapon and went back into the bathroom. I hopped into the shower and scrubbed my skin until it was squeaky clean. I sniffed my arm and frowned when I realized I was going to end up smelling like him all day. Finishing up as quickly as I could, I changed into my new clothes and finger combed my hair. I paused and looked at his toothbrush, weighing the pros and cons. I could either go without or use a brush someone else had used. Shrugging, I plucked it out of the holder and slathered toothpaste on it and scrubbed my teeth.
I stepped into his bedroom and let out a sigh of relief. There wasn’t much a shower and fresh breath couldn’t cure. Well, except being kidnapped.
Going over to the door, I eased it open and peered into the hallway. I froze, a grimace spreading across my face. There was a man sitting in a chair in the hall. His head was leaned back against the wall, mouth hanging open, and making the most God-awful racket as he sucked air in through his nose.
