“I’ll patch him up and stay until he’s stable, but that’s it. I work tomorrow at noon at the hospital.”
He shakes his head. “You won’t leave here until he’s better. I don’t care if it takes a month. Tomorrow you’ll call into work and tell them you came down with the flu.”
I gape at him.
Shit. I am definitely still a prisoner here.
“My mom works at the same hospital—she’ll be dropping by my house the second she gets off work.”
His blank mask doesn’t change. “You’d better think of something, then.”
My stomach drops.
“Or what?”
He cocks his head, studies me for a moment. “There’s a reason we’re not at the hospital, capiche?”
I nod.
“So think long and hard about whether you want your mom to be one of my loose ends.”
My entire body flushes with ice.
That was definitely a threat.
A very scary threat.
And does that mean I’m going to be one of his loose ends, too? When my usefulness ends, will he get rid of me so I won’t talk?
Ohmyfuckinggod.
I’m in deep shit here.
My knees buckle. I probably would’ve stumbled back except for his grip on my hand.
He pinches my chin between his thumb and forefinger to bring my eyes back to his. “You’ll stay here until he’s better. No contact with anyone outside. And when you walk away—you’ll have enough money to buy yourself a brand new car.” Junior had to give me a ride home from his mother’s once when my car died in front of her house. He knows how old my car is. “Okay?”
I shove at him again, tears smarting my eyes. This time he lets me go. “No, it’s not okay.” I blink rapidly so he won’t see me cry. “You think you have my number just because I drive a piece of shit car? You think you can just kidnap me, take control of my life and make it all right with a wad of cash?”
It’s unwise of me to argue with him. Stupid, really. I don’t even know if his offer of money is real, or just what he’s telling me to make sure I’ll do the job. I do know he can make me do it, regardless.
But I’m just winding up and can’t seem to stop my bluster now. “I could lose my job, you know. I just started there—I only have one day of sick time accrued.”
Junior’s lips close into a flat line and for the first time I realize how lethal he looks. I’ve always focused on the handsome side before. But now? Now I see the visage others must see when they’re pissing their pants and asking God’s forgiveness of their sins before they die.
Because his expression is deadly.
“You lose your job, I’ll cover you, okay? Now stop giving me shit. Your job is here for now, and I expect you to do it well.”
I glare at him, but I don’t dare open my mouth again.
He turns me around, back to face Gio. “Come on, doll, don’t make this hard.” His voice loses some of the steel, bringing in a note of coaxing. “It had to be you,” he says to my back.
I resist the urge to look over my shoulder at him and ask him to elaborate.
“The second you walked in here, you knew what to do. You took charge of the situation. I don’t trust anyone else with my brother’s life.”
Something rigid eases in my chest. “I’m sure there’s plenty of other people,” I mutter.
“No.” He steps closer. He’s right at my back, although not touching me. “It had to be you.” His hands come to my waist, lightly resting there.
Tingles race up and down my spine. My quads tighten and quiver.
“I’ll make it worth your while.” He bends his head down to mine, his mouth close to my ear. “I promise.”
I swear there’s innuendo in that promise. Unbidden, a fantasy I had when I worked for his mom surfaces. One where he pushes me over the kitchen table, taking me roughly from behind while I beg him to be gentle. That fantasy doesn’t seem too far off from becoming a reality now and that should terrify me. Or make me sick.
Instead, flutters take off in my belly and the urge to push him over the edge into his damnable consequences resurfaces.
Fortunately, I’m not that idiotic. I shove the urge back down, bury it under layers of fear and righteousness and vow to never, ever let my attraction for this man show again.
He’s dangerous.
He doesn’t deserve that kind of attention from me.
I can’t even begin to entertain ideas like that.
Chapter 3
Junior
“You call Nico?” Paolo stands beside me as we watch Desiree work on Gio.
It’s 3:00 a.m., and she’s already disinfected, stitched and packed both wounds.
“No,” I bristle. You’d think fucking Nico ran this family now the way everyone looks to him. Yeah, he’s the one who made the Tacones hundreds of millions. He made us legit, took us away from illegal activities just by bringing the old gambling business to a state where everything’s legal.