Speak Easy (Speak Easy 1)

“He’s driving back to the cabin to pick up my father, I think. He took off after pawing at me a little while ago.”

“He pawed you?” He picked up his head, anger darkening his face.

“Yes. In the room upstairs where he stashed me early this morning.” I shivered.

Enzo put his hands on my shoulders and looked me in the eye, his handsome jaw set. “I won’t let him hurt you. I promise. Now—”

“You take your fucking hands off my girl!” shouted Raymond, coming out from behind the bar and pointing a sawed-off shotgun at us.

Enzo shielded me with his body. “Put that down! Have you lost your goddamn mind?”

Raymond fired into a chandelier and I screamed. Crystal and glass fragments rained down from above, clattering onto the tables and floor.

Enzo’s hand reached into his coat, but Raymond quickly trained the gun on him. “Not gonna happen that way, brother. I’m done letting you take everything. That girl and her pop’s operation are mine now. And I’m getting the rum shipment back. So you can just stick to your own rackets and your own girl for once.” He moved toward us and grabbed my arm, pulling me from behind Enzo and then shielding his own body with mine as he backed up. “Call Pop. Get him down here.”

“Let her go first.”

“Do it!” screamed Raymond.

“Raymond, calm down,” said Enzo quietly. “Don’t be stupid.”

I cringed at the word.

“I’m not stupid!” Raymond gripped my arm even harder. “And I’m sick of everyone treating me like I am. If you call me names again, I’ll kill you right here.”

“No!” I met Enzo’s eyes and silently begged him to play Raymond’s game.

Enzo looked at us a moment longer and went behind the bar to make the call. Raymond’s breath was hot on my neck. “This ain’t the way I wanted it, doll. You shouldn’ta run off.”

“I’m sorry,” I whimpered. “I was just scared. Please don’t shoot anyone.”

In a moment, Enzo appeared again. “He’s on his way down. Now let her go, Raymond. You made your point.” He put one hand in the air and with the other, reached into his coat and removed his gun, which he laid on the bar.

“Fine.” Raymond released me and I could breathe again. “You sit there,” he ordered, pushing me onto a nearby chair. Enzo met my eyes and nodded slightly, as if to reassure me, but my bones were rattling in my skin. After a minute, the door behind the bar opened again, and Angel strode through, followed by two guards. He looked furious.

“Raimondo, che diavolo hai combinato? Enzo says you removed Jack O’Mara and abducted his daughter?”

Raymond’s chin jutted as he gestured at me with the gun. “She was in cahoots with Scarfone. I’m using her to get the booze back.”

“That’s funny, since you’re the one who told him about it in the first place,” Enzo snapped.

“I did not! You don’t know nothin’ about it!” Raymond jabbed me in the shoulder. “She knows where it is. She’s gonna help me get it back. And I made a deal with her pop for a percent of his operation.”

Angel’s anger simmered beneath the surface, his face ruddy but his tone calm. “Raymond, you acted without thinking and without talking to me. What have I told you about that?”

“I figured you’d be glad I was taking matters into my own hands.”

“Do I look glad?”

Raymond, looking less sure of himself, shifted his weight from one foot to the othe

r. “No. But I can get the shipment back. She said—”

“Of course she did.” Angel glanced at me. “I’m sure she said any number of things to convince you to let her go.”

“But I didn’t let her go.” Raymond perked up. “I still got her pop too. And the ransom money.”

“Congratulations,” spat Enzo. “You did one fucking thing right.”