Speak Easy (Speak Easy 1)

“That’s enough from you,” Angel said, holding his palm up to Enzo and then glaring at him. “You made mistakes too.” He turned back to Raymond. “You said you made a deal for a percentage of Jack O’Mara’s operation?”

“Yeah.” Raymond rocked forward on his toes and jabbed my shoulder again. “She said fifty percent. Half.” He nodded at me, as if I was supposed to back him up.

“Is this true, Miss O’Mara?” Angel asked.

My throat was so dry I could barely speak. “I—I’m sure my father will make a deal with you once he’s released.”

“That ain’t what you said before!” Raymond exploded. “She said we’d be partners! And her pop wouldn’t cross me because she’s gonna be my fancy!”

“You’re out of your fuckin’ mind,” seethed Enzo, his teeth bared.

“You shut up!” Raymond marched over to his brother, and it stunned me how alike they looked in their fury, face to face that way. “And you stay away from her! You got your own fancy. Now I’m getting everything I want!”

I couldn’t stand it anymore. “What’s a fancy?”

“He means fiancée.” Enzo stared Raymond down, fists balled.

“I know what I mean!” Raymond yelled. But his voice came at me through a tunnel as his words registered. Enzo has a fiancée? The whole time I’d known him, he’d been engaged to that squeaky little girl? The club spun around me.

When I focused again, Angel was speaking. “Where is he, Raymond?”

“The cabin outside Pontiac. The one with the still out back.”

Enzo looked at me then, and I injected my stare with pure venom. He shook his head, as if to say I didn’t understand. But I understood. He was a bastard, just like the rest of them, only better looking. I set my face in stone and looked away. I wasn’t sure why it shocked me so much, but it did.

Angel motioned to his guards. “Bring Jack O’Mara back to the city. I have a prior engagement tonight, but I’ll speak with him tomorrow.” He turned to Raymond. “He’d better still be there. And the money too.”

Raymond colored again. “It’s there.”

“Good. Until we’re sure, we’ll just keep his daughter safe and sound here. Now will someone take her to a nice room and let her relax? See that she has everything she needs to be comfortable.” He came toward me and I shrank back.

“No need to be frightened, cara. We’re going to work together now.” He leaned over and kissed each cheek. His lips were cold.

#

I refused to look at Enzo as he followed his father out of the club. After I retrieved my shoes, a guard led me to a room much like the one I’d been in before—still no phone and no way to get out the window. I sat on the bed, my head pounding. After a short time, a maid brought a tray of roasted chicken and vegetables. She set it on the dresser and left without speaking, and I stared at the food for a few minutes. It looked and smelled so delicious, it wore down my determination not to accept any favors from the DiFiores. I ate every bite. And licked the plate.

A few minutes later, the maid brought a stack of white towels and some soap, a toothbrush, and a tube of Colgate. I looked at the maid in disbelief, a timid woman probably in her forties, wearing a black uniform with a white apron. “So what am I, then, guest or prisoner?” I asked her.

“Miss,” she said, leaving the room without ever meeting my eyes.

I sighed. The truth was probably somewhere in between.

After I cleaned up, I put on my chemise but left the dirty blue dress on the chair. Once I got home, I planned on burning it. Crawling into the bed, I got under the covers and looked out the window. My mind was reeling as I tried to digest the horrors I’d experienced.

I’d been kidnapped at gunpoint. Robbed. I’d seen a man shot to death. I’d made a deal with Raymond to free Daddy and been taken hostage myself. I’d learned that Enzo has a fiancée.

Somehow, it was that final thought that tore the first sob from my chest.

Why? I thought angrily, tears leaking from my eyes. Why the hell should it? It wasn’t as if I’d thought I would marry him. We never should have fooled around in the first place. Had he owed me the whole truth? Admittedly, part of our spark was how forbidden it was. And I’d already known about Gina, although I’d assumed she was only his girlfriend. So what was I so mad about?

Wiping my eyes, I flopped onto my side and curled into a ball, considering a new wrinkle. Did I have feelings for him I hadn’t admitted to myself, or even recognized? But that was ridiculous! An intense physical attraction like ours didn’t mean anything. He told me himself I drove him crazy. We don’t even really like each other, for God’s sake. Maybe Gina’s the one to feel sorry for, a future with a man like that.

But I couldn’t bring myself to pity her.

#

A while later—a glance out my window showed a black sky—I heard a soft knock. It wasn’t Raymond’s hamfisted pounding, so I went to the door. “Yes?”