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“I will tell them to give you a little more space, but I’m not calling them off entirely. If you try to ditch them again, I will lock you away in a tower and throw away the key.”
While he may have only been joking about the tower, it wouldn’t be far off from what lengths he would go to if it was to keep her safe. Layne felt it was at least a fair compromise, and she wasn’t going to push back on it.
“And, one more thing,” he drew in a steadying breath as he pulled her in against his chest and kissed the top of her head. “Don’t ever give me a scare like that again. Understand?”
Layne hugged her dad back, nodding against his dress shirt during the rare moment he showed any emotion at all. Scott held her for a few moments, refusing to let her go before he was ready.
“What are you going to do about Franzetti?” She lifted her head to look up at her father, curious how he was going to handle this political shitshow of an attempt to snuff out her life.
“I have a few connections that are telling me that there’s someone who is particularly adept at handling sensitive situations like this and looking for new work.”
She raised a brow, curious enough to want more information and potentially be involved. If they were going to make a move on Michael Franzetti, she wanted her sweet revenge. After all, she was the one who had almost been drowned here.
“You have to let me get involved.”
Her dad immediately released her and shook his head. “No, absolutely not, Layne. That’s not an option.”
“I’m the one he tried to kill, Dad! I should get my chance to serve him up a big dose of karma.”
“We hire specialists for jobs like this, it needs white glove treatment - not emotionally driven revenge.”
She rolled her eyes in annoyance as she crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Getting drowned is pretty fuckin’ emotional.”
“And we didn’t see it coming. Franzetti is smart, and he’s already prepared for the shit to hit the fan.” Scott rubbed her arms reassuringly to try and persuade her that this was the best course of action.
“Please, dad. Let me at least vet the specialist, let me have some hand in it. I think I deserve that much.”
Contemplating the minor ask, her dad finally gave in. “Alright, but you listen when I tell you to back off.”
“I promise, I will.” She criss-crossed her finger over her heart.
“I’m serious, Layne. When I tell you to leave it alone, you have to leave it alone.”
“I told you, I promise I will back off if things get out of hand.” She tried to reassure him by offering up a sweet-as-pie smile and giving his hands a light squeeze. Something told her that he wasn’t thoroughly convinced. Hell, she wasn’t even fully convinced she could just let this go.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Things didn’t progress as quickly as she would have preferred. A few weeks had gone by, and she found herself attempting not to think about Joey and their one night together. The exceedingly great parts of when they had been together, and then the not-so-good parts such as the whole brush-with-death thing.
He had made it clear when they first met that he was the one-and-done type and she was comfortable with that. Layne didn’t need attachments and complex relationships in her already complicated life. The phone he had given her ended up shoved into the bottom of a drawer until its battery ran out of juice.
As much as it irked her, she had been doing her best to avoid work at her dad’s request and to tolerate the security detail that was still hanging around. Only this time, instead of them hanging out inside her house, they generally stuck to exterior watches. Nobody came or went without them knowing, and if she went somewhere, they followed in a separate vehicle versus needing to be attached at her hip.
Scott had been working to put the word out there that he required a specialist who could handle the very delicate Franzetti situation. So far, everything had been radio silent.
Word on the street was that Franzetti had blown a gasket when he realized that Layne hadn’t actually drowned. There was nothing like bruising the man’s ego that he couldn’t even do a job right himself.
It was a mild autumn day, and since she had nothing better to do than be an uptown girl, she spent the morning on her back patio curled up in a cushy chair reading a book. The story itself was nothing but pure smut, making it difficult to keep her mind clear of anything related to one delectable Joey De Luca. Out of frustration, she closed the book and tossed it onto the small glass table in front of her.
What else was a poor little rich girl supposed to do with her day when it didn’t involve beat-downs, debt collections, and illegal bookkeeping? She picked up her cell from the seat next to her and scrolled through until she brought up her favorite contacts. One name in particular; Rebecca.
Her bestie since childhood, Rebecca was probably the only one who tolerated Layne’s idiosyncrasies and lifestyle choices when it came to the family business. She lived a much more clean-cut life, and Layne lived vicariously through her when she needed to imagine an escape from her current insanity.
She selected the call button and waited for the familiar voice on the other end to pick up.
“Girl! It’s about damn time you called!” Rebecca’s perky voice was a ray of sunshine on the other end of the line. It brought forth a smile from Layne and immediately lifted her mood. However, she could tell from the background noise on the other end of the line that Rebecca was still in Cancun soaking up the sun and tequila. Lots of tequila.
“I know, sorry, it’s been an eventful few weeks.” Layne quietly sighed, and yet even with all the music and drunken shenanigans happening around Rebecca, she still managed to pick up on the tone Layne used when she was stressing over things.
