“I do know,” he replied, “I know more than you know. Take your sister and drop it.”
“What condition is Holly in?”
“She’s mine.”
I sucked on my teeth at that answer, which was delivered slowly and with a tone that couldn’t be mistaken. It meant ‘none of your fuckin’ business’.
“This about revenge against us? For what you may assume was our involvement in the deaths of two of your family members? Because ---”
“No. If that were the case you wouldn’t be getting your sister back. You and your brother did me a favor. Between you and I. Do not repeat that; I will deny it and I’ll seek to ensure there are consequences if you do. This is about her being mine, which she’s been for a lot longer than the few months you’ve known her sister. I’m merely making this peace offering to show you there’s nothing
unresolved between our families. I did you a favor by rescuing your sister. You return that favor by backing off where your sister-in-law is concerned.”
“I don’t think you understand my position. My wife spent two years enslaved and Holly is---”
“I warn you, you do not wanna attempt to take her from me. You do not.” I heard a noise with his ‘not’, as if he’d slammed his fist down with that word.
Zack put his hand on my shoulder. I shrugged him off and got to my feet out of frustration.
Fuck!
He considered Holly his property, without a doubt, and he wasn’t about to voluntarily part with that property. This would have to get dirty.
“What condition is she in?” I pushed, learning toward the phone.
He didn’t answer. I wasn’t surprised.
“Let me rephrase,” I bit off, losing the thin thread of control I still had, but he cut me off again.
“I will allow Tessa to see her briefly so that you may put your wife’s mind at ease.”
“What about allowing Holly and her sister to meet?” Zack offered.
“We can discuss that at a later time. After your business in the East with our other acquaintance is done.”
Did Romero know that we were about to take Kruna down? Who did he know there? I looked at Zack. I couldn’t read him.
“Can Dario speak to Tessa briefly? It’ll put minds at ease,” Zack requested.
“All right. A minute.”
We waited for at least five minutes.
“Hello?” Tess called, her voice trembling.
“Tessa?” I asked.
She started to whimper, “Dare?”
“You okay?”
“I wanna come home.”
“Zack is coming for you tomorrow. He’ll bring you to Tommy. I gotta go out of town but Tommy’ll be there. You ever meet Zack?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, everything’s fine. The girls are all looking after your boys. They miss you but they’re not frightened. They’re getting spoiled by all their aunties. Okay? They’ll be there when you get to Tommy. Everything’s gonna be okay, sweetheart. This guy’s got you safe and comfortable?”