by J. S. Cooper
“Why do you want to go into the city?”
“I was hoping we could go shopping.”
I rolled my eyes without answering her.
“I heard that Saks Fifth Avenue is having a sale and, you know, it’s always better to get stuff in the sale. You save so much money.”
“Did you bring any money with you?”
“Well, I don’t actually have money. But I was thinking, seeing as we might be getting engaged...” She looked at me hopefully.
“Not going to happen, Valentina. It’s not going to happen tomorrow or any other day. In fact...” I was about to continue when Giorgio came running through the door, his face red and purple and nervous and immediately I jumped up.
“What is it? What’s going on?”
“We’ve got a problem, Luca. We’ve got a problem.” The words came from his mouth quickly.
“What’s the problem?” I could feel my heart racing. “Tell me now. What’s happened?”
“We were too late. Someone else got to it before us.”
“What are you talking about?” I looked over at Valentina, and even though she was pretending not to listen, I could see that she was paying very close attention. “Come to my office, we’ll talk there.” I looked over at Valentina and I smiled. “Have a good evening, Valentina. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“But, but what about tonight?” she said, giving me a seductive smile. “I was hoping we could get to know each other a little bit better.”
“I thought you were worried about those white sheets,” I said softly and she blushed. I walked out of the room, slamming the door behind me, and then Giorgio and I hurried to my office. I closed the door and then I walked over to him. “What is going on? Tell me now.”
“Luca, I swear to God, I didn’t know that this was going to happen.”
“What has happened?”
“Enzo Russo.”
“Yes?” I was immediately still. Cold fury filled me as I heard my enemy’s name.
“Enzo Russo’s got Anabel.”
“What?!” I shouted loudly, almost shaking the whole house. “How has Enzo Russo got Anabel? How does he even know she exists?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know what’s going on.” Giorgio looked panicked. “I had a plan. I had a plan. Someone was going to go to her apartment with a pizza and, and—” He broke off and looked down at the floor.
“Giorgio, what happened? What do you know?”
“I don’t know what happened. We sent someone with the pizza to Anabel’s apartment and she wasn’t there. We spoke to her neighbor, this little old lady, and she said that Anabel left the house about thirty minutes ago. She didn’t know where she was going, but she hurried out with her keys in her hand. We waited and we waited and nothing happened. And then, well...”
“Giorgio, tell me exactly.”
“I don’t want to say.” He paused.
“Tell me.”
“One of the guys who was standing at the corner—”
“You took multiple guys with you? I thought I told you to do this alone.”
“I know, I know, but you know I can’t do it alone. She might have recognized me.”
I let out a deep sigh. He was correct. Even though it had been years, Anabel had met Giorgio, once or twice. And if she would have seen him tonight, she would have known exactly what was up. “Okay. So you took a guy with you. What did the guy see?”
“He saw one of Enzo’s guys in the street.”
“Okay, and?”
“And he saw a woman get into the car with him.”
“Okay. And? He always picks up women. We know Enzo has a different woman every night, it’s his thing.”
No, this woman... she wasn’t coming willingly. Her body was slumped on the ground almost.”
I didn't say anything for a few seconds. I clenched my fists. “And you’re telling me that this woman was Anabel. Are you sure?”
“We’re pretty sure. We went into the bodega on the corner and they got a video camera. I went and I looked at the video footage myself, Luca, and it was her. It was her.” He let out a sigh. “So what are we going to do?”
“This was not the plan, Giorgio. You know this.”
“I know, I know.” He looked pissed off. “I told you this was a bad idea. I told you that—”
“No, no. Be quiet. Be quiet! How did Enzo get Anabel? And why did Enzo get Anabel? I need some answers right now.”
“I don’t know, Luca. We ain’t got any men inside Enzo’s anymore. Not after what happened. We got no one. He doesn’t trust no one. He’s only got his three men.”
“We need to find out. We need to get in contact with one of those three men. We need to infiltrate them.”
“All I can think, Luca, all I can think is someone told him the plan.”
“How would someone tell him the plan? It is just you and me. You’re the only one that knew that I needed you to kidnap Anabel tonight and bring her back here. You’re the only one that knew.”
“Obviously not, Luca. We got a rat.”
“Who the fuck is the rat then, Giorgio? You’re running the house. You’re my underboss. Your eyes and ears should be on everything that’s going on here.”
“They are, Luca. They are.” He grimaced. “I got a couple ideas, but I just don’t know. I trust my men. I trust all the men, Luca. They wouldn’t do this.”
“So then who would?”
“I don’t know, Luca.”
“We got to get to Enzo’s.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Luca. After what happened last time, he will kill you. He will kill me. He will kill every single one of his men as well. You know that.”
“Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck! I don’t know what to do.” I was screaming and I was shouting, I didn’t care who heard.
“Luca, you gotta keep your voice down. If Valentina hears you, she might call her dad, and then we’re in even more trouble.”
“I thought you took away her phone, Giorgio.”
“I did take away her phone, but you know these women, who knows? She’s got other means, you know. Maybe she has another phone. I’m sure her dad didn’t just trust you that much.”
“This is not happening. This is not happening.”
“I told you it wasn’t a good idea, Luca.” Giorgio bit down on his lip. “I told you.”
“Yeah, you told me, but what are you going to do to fix it now? Because I need Anabel in this house. What the fuck is Enzo Russo going to do to her? He is a cruel bastard.”
“You’re a cruel bastard too, Luca.”
“Yeah, but Anabel owes me. She doesn’t owe him.”
“But Luca.”
“Yes?”
“Maybe Enzo thinks she does owe him.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You know, Luca, you know.”
And the problem is, I did. All my sins were coming back to haunt me, and now, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do.
Chapter 10
Anabel
“Wake up, bitch! Are you still alive?” a loud man was shouting at me as my eyes fluttered open. His hand was on the gag in my mouth, pulling it down. I sputtered slightly, trying to get my breath. “Don’t scream. I’ll put it back in,” he said meanly.
I stared at him. It wasn’t the same guy that had been here earlier. I didn’t know who this was. He didn’t look familiar to me either.
“Who are you?” I asked him, my voice croaking. My mouth was dry. “Can I have some water, please? I’m thirsty.”
“No, you can’t have any water. What do you think this is? The Hilton?”
I just stared at him in response. Okay, so this wasn’t going to go well.
“Enzo! Enzo! She’s up.”
I sat there waiting and then the man from earlier came into the room. He was still wearing the suit. He had a smirk on his face as he looked at me.
“Hey, there, pretty. So you decided to rejoin us, did you?”
“
I never wanted to join you in the first place,” I spat out.
“Hey, you got a smart mouth on you, don't ya?” He walked over to me and grabbed my chin with his rough fingers, pulling my face up to look at him. “You know what I say to girls with smart mouths? I say keep your mouth shut and your legs open. That’s the only thing I want open from you, you hear?”
He put his hand down to my knee, and I took a deep breath. What was he going to try and do? He chuckled as he stood back up.
“You wish, honey. I don’t want to touch you. I don’t need that from you.” He walked over to the door, but he didn’t leave.
“Giuliano, untie her arms and untie her hands, okay?”
“But boss, what if she tries to run?”
“You think she’s going to run away from us? You think she could even get out of this room? She has to get past you. She has to get past me. We can both stop her easily.”
“Okay, boss.”
Giuliano looked down at me and undid my hands. The rope fell off and I waved my arms about. Every part of my body felt weak still.
“Can you untie the rope from my waist and my shoulders as well, please?” I asked softly, looking over at Enzo who was obviously the boss.
“You don’t get to ask me anything, you hear, girl? I do what I want to do and I do it when I want to do it.”
“Okay, sure. Whatever. Can I ask you one question though?”
“What is it?”
“Why am I here?”
Enzo looked at me and laughed again, a deep, evil sound that I’m positive I’ll remember for the rest of my life. “Why are you here? Why are any of us here? You believe in God, girl?”
“Yes.”
“Well, you shouldn’t. He cannot save you now.”
I could feel a trickle of sweat running down my forehead. I’d never been more scared in my life. Never.
“Oh no, don’t tell me she’s going to cry, Giuliani. Don’t tell me she’s going to cry and make me feel sorry for her.”
“What’d you want me to do, boss?” Giuliano walked over to Enzo and they stared at each other for a couple of seconds.
“Take off all the ropes and take her to the shower.” Enzo looked angry. “Let her have a shower. Get her some new clothes then bring her to the office, and then I’ll talk to her.”
“Thank you,” I said. “Thank you, that means a lot.”
“Don’t be thanking me just yet. Giuliano will be in the bathroom with you.”
“What?” I gasped, almost shrieking. “Oh, what do you mean?”
“I said Giuliani will be in the bathroom with you, bathing you, getting you all nice and clean, so I wouldn’t be too excited just yet.”
“It’s okay. I don’t want to shower. I’m okay.” I shook my head vehemently. There was no way that I wanted that nasty, ugly, pudgy man to touch me. I shivered and closed my eyes. “Oh, please, God,” I muttered. “Please God, please don’t let this happen, please.”
“What’re you saying, girl?” Enzo came forward to me. “What are you saying? I understand what you’re saying.”
“I said please, no, just tell me what you want. Tell me why I’m here.”
“Okay then, Anabel. You know a guy called Luca Cattaneo?”
Fuck. Of course, it had to be about Luca. “No,” I lied.
“Really? Huh, that surprises me.”
“Why is that?”
“That surprises me because I heard that you used to be his girl.”
“No, I’ve never been—”
“Stop lying to me right now.” He pulled a knife out faster than I could blink and held it up to my throat. “You lie to me one more time, I’ll cut your throat. Do you hear?”
I swallowed hard and just nodded. No words would escape from my mouth. I was going to piss myself if he kept this up. I could feel the sharp edge of the blade next to my skin. “I have friends, you know, friends that will be looking for me,” I whispered, gaining some strength.
“Really? Last thing I heard, you lived alone.”
“But I was meeting them for brunch and they know I wouldn’t let them down and I know they’ll go to the police because...”
“Because what?”
“Because they’re my best friends and they’ll be worried if I don’t show up. They have keys to my apartment. They’ll go to my apartment and they’ll see that I’m not there. And then, and then...”
“And then what, bitch?”
“You’ll get caught. There are cameras all over the streets of New York. When your guys took me in the streets, people will recognize them. The NYPD will recognize them and question them and you’ll get arrested. You’d go to jail for the rest of your life. You can’t just go around kidnapping people. You can’t go around doing this to people.”
“I haven’t done anything to you, girl.” Enzo looked to me and smirked. “And do you think I care? Do you think I’m worried about the NYPD? Do you know how many of them I got in my pocket? Huh! Poor, naive little girl. You really got involved with the wrong guy now, didn’t you?”
“Okay, I did know Luca when I was younger and, yeah, we dated, but it was for weeks, like not more than a couple of months. He hasn’t been in my life in a really long time. I don’t know what you’ve got with him, but taking me is not going to help you. There’s nothing I can do for you. I don’t know his business. I don’t know him.”
“Ah, so you admit it. You admit you and the boy used to be in love.”
“I never said we used to be in love.”
“Ah, I can tell. Yes, I can tell. He always liked big-mouthed weak women.”
“I’m not weak.” Steel in my voice now. “If you think that, you can think again.”
He looked at me in admiration and nodded his head. “That’s what I thought, you got some spunk in ya.”
“What do you want, Enzo?” I was feeling braver now.
“Huh, you think you know my name now, you think you’re smart.”
“Well, Giuliani did tell me, right? I know you’re Enzo. I know he’s Giuliani. I know what you both look like. I’m also an attorney at law.” I wish I’d kept my mouth shut because now they had no reason to keep me alive. Now they knew I could go to the law. Now they knew I could most probably identify them. Why would they keep me alive? I was stupid. So, so stupid. Why had I said that?
“Don’t worry, girl. We’re not going to kill you.” Enzo laughed again. “I can read your mind. I can read all of you bitches’ minds, except for my wife. I have no idea what my wife wants except for my money.”
“She most probably doesn’t want you to sleep around as well, boss.”
“Giuliani, shut the fuck up.” I looked at the two of them and I wondered why Giuliani had said that. A small smile came across my face. He was dumber than me if he thought he could get away with that.
“Luca's got something that I want,” Enzo said finally. “Something that I need. Something that I know he’s not going to give up easily, so I had to take something that he wanted.”
“What’s that?”
“You, bitch.”
“He doesn’t want me, didn’t you just hear me? I haven’t seen him in years.”
“I’ve got it on good authority that he saw you in Miami just a couple of weeks ago, so why don’t you fucking stop lying to me, bitch?”
“Okay, I’m sorry. But it wasn’t a planned meeting. I went there with my friend and her boyfriend, and Luca just happened to be there.”
“Yeah, I know. You know Matteo Calabrese, huh?”
“Kind of,” I said softly. Fuck. Was Matteo involved in this as well? How was I going to tell Emily? If I ever got to speak to Emily again. Oh God, what was going on in my life. Suddenly, a thought occurred to me. What if they kidnapped Emily and Charlotte as well? What if they did something to them? I would never forgive myself if anything happened to my two best friends. “So, what do you want me to do?”
“We don’t need you to do anything, bitch,” Giuliani said. “We’ve got everything we
need to get what we want.”
“What is it you want?”
Enzo scratched his forehead and then thought for a few seconds. “I need you to pay a little call to a mutual friend of ours.”
“Who?”
“Luca, of course.”
Chapter 11
Luca
“Hey, Luca.” Giorgio walked into the office. “You got a phone call.”
“Okay. And?”
“It’s Enzo.”
“Okay, I’ll pick it up in a second. Close the door behind you, okay?”
“Yes, Luca. Oh, and Luca?”
“Yes, Giorgio?” I was angry. My hand was on the top of the phone, waiting. “What do you want?”
“Just think about the family when you decide what you’re going to do, okay? Think about all of us, not just her.”
“I’ll do what I got to do. Close the door.”
He slammed the door closed behind him and I realized he was getting an attitude again. I was going to have to talk to him because the more he did that in front of the other guys the more he was making me look bad. And if I didn’t call him out on it, everyone was going to start copping an attitude. I’d have to warn him that the next time he pulled some shit like that, I was going to have to cut off a finger or something. I didn’t want him to hate me, but business was business. I picked up the phone. “Hello?”
“Luca, is that you? It’s me, Enzo, your old buddy, your old pal.”
“It’s me. Giorgio, you can put down the phone now, okay?”
“Yes, Luca.”
I waited until I heard the click and then I said, “What are you fucking doing, Enzo?”
“Hey, Luca, is that any way to speak to your old buddy? How long has it been? One year? Two years? Five years? I don’t know, but it’s been too long.”
“Enzo, we have never been buddies. What do you want? Why do you have Anabel?”
“So you heard I have Anabel already, huh? Hmm, interesting. Interesting.”
“How do I get her back? What do you want?”
“You know what, Luca? You know what a little birdie told me?”
“No, what did a little birdie tell you?”
“A little birdie told me that you were going to kidnap Anabel last night.”