Entrapment (Morelli Family 7.5)

“Just me,” I add, as he finds the spot empty.

Sighing heavily, his arm drops like a rock over the side of the bed. “Jesus fucking Christ, Mateo.”

“I can’t sleep. Let’s go out.”

He sighs again, rubbing his eyes and groaning with annoyance. “I was sleeping.” He grabs his phone, squinting at the display as it lights up and tells him what time it is. “Seriously?”

“Quit bitching and get dressed,” I tell him, leaning back in the chair. “We need to go grab supplies. I want to go after the boyfriend.”

“Which boyfriend?” he asks, still a little foggy from sleep.

I roll my eyes at the stupid question. “Shelly Mitchell’s old boyfriend. Which other boyfriend do I care about?”

“Vince,” he mutters, pushing up off the bed and crossing to the dresser to retrieve his weapons.

That drags my mood down a little. I hate Vince. I want to punch him in the throat, then shove him head first into a toilet and hold him there until he drowns. His last moments would be terrifying as he struggled, sucking shit-laced water into his lungs.

That makes me smile. That’s a nice thought.

I sigh with pleasure. I want to do that. Less supplies anyway.

“What do we need?” he asks.

I glance up at Adrian as he pulls on a shirt. Recalling who we’re actually going after, I consider. “We’ll take him to the warehouse. Joey just cleared the place a couple days ago. We won’t need too many supplies—our handguns, some rope, some plastic, some duct tape. I want to make him suffer, but we don’t need to get too creative.”

“All right. I’ll call a couple people.”

“We don’t have to go to all that trouble.” I extract my phone, shooting Alec a text message. “We’ll take Alec along in case we need help, but I’m sure we can handle it on our own. It’s one middle-aged pervert, not Rambo.”

“You’re going to do heavy lifting?”

“I have some aggression I need to work out,” I state, eyes on the phone. Alec is still awake so he takes no time at all to respond. “Alec’s in,” I tell Adrian, deleting the message and tucking my phone away.

“Why can’t you sleep?” His tone is even enough, but my defenses rise and I ignore the question.

I stand and grab the book off his end table—a ratty old copy of Oliver Twist. “Still reading this? Hasn’t anyone written a better book by now?”

“Slick,” Adrian states, rolling his eyes.

“I’m just saying, there has to be something more recent that would interest you. At least buy a new copy, for God’s sake. This one’s falling apart.”

“I like that one,” he states, as defensively as I felt when he asked why I couldn’t sleep.

He likes this one because Elise bought it for him. When Adrian was stuck in the dungeon, she asked Maria to stop at a used bookstore on the way home from grocery shopping. She wanted to get something for him to read so he didn’t go crazy down there alone. It was a cheap, scratched up copy from the 50’s. Adrian treasures it like a mint first edition.

He’s such a fucking sap.

“Tell me something,” I say, my tone casual. “How do you know you love a girl you’ve never fucked?”

“No.”

“I’m just curious.”

Adrian grabs a jacket out of his closet and tugs it on. “Tell me why you’re dragging my ass out of bed in the middle of the night to go fuck up Mia’s old abuser and I’ll consider talking to you about Elise.”

That’s a bad deal. I’m not that curious.

He knew I wouldn’t be, so he finishes getting ready in silence and we head downstairs to meet Alec. He’s still dressed in a sharp wine-colored suit with a black dress shirt and shiny black loafers. He must’ve been at the club. His dark head is down, eyes trained on the screen of his cell phone when we approach. He quickly ties up whatever he’s doing and slips his phone into his pocket.

“Where are we going?” Alec asks.

I don’t stop walking, so Alec follows Adrian and me to the door. “Got some trash to take out,” I tell him.

“Enzo?” he guesses.

Adrian takes that one. “Nah, Enzo’s been handled. This one isn’t business, it’s personal. Mateo’s pet project.”

Faint curiosity laces his tone. “That so? Is this about Mia?”

I sigh, rolling my eyes and stepping outside. Adrian moves ahead of me, looking around by instinct as we head for the Escalade.

“I didn’t mean it that way. I wasn’t ragging on you. I think it’s nice you found a pet. You’ve been a damn sight more pleasant to be around the past few days. Shouldn’t have let Vince take her back.”

Adrian frowns, glancing back at Alec. “Have you been drinking?”

Alec grins, holding his thumb and forefinger about an inch apart. “Little bit. Don’t worry though, I’m okay.”

Adrian turns his unamused stare on me. “Are we really going to take a half-drunk Alec as our back-up?”