“Oh,” she says, sounding surprised. “Did your phone die?”
“No, I don’t have it on me,” I say, wondering just how much to reveal. I don’t want to stress her out, what with the pregnancy and everything, so I decide to keep it brief. “Listen, can you do me a favor? I don’t have Mateo’s phone number, but I need to talk to him. Could you give him this number and have him call me right away?”
“Sure. Is everything okay?”
“I’m not sure,” I say honestly.
“I’ll get it to him right now.”
“Thank you.”
I hang up that call and dread courses through me. I cradle the phone in my hands, staring at it, my heart starting to race with the adrenaline suddenly moving through me. I want him to call and I don’t. I don’t want to ask him to come here. I don’t want to hear doubt in his voice, knowing he’s wondering if he can trust me. I don’t want to know if I’m right and he won’t even come for me.
“What am I supposed to say?” I ask Mark.
“I just need you to get him on the phone and let him know you’re really here. I’ll do the rest.”
“This is a terrible idea,” I inform him. “If you’re not a bad guy, I don’t want you to get killed, and this seems like a really good way to get murdered.”
“I’m going to use you as a human shield,” he informs me.
My phone rings.
I nearly jump out of my skin, and my heart slams around my chest, anticipating his voice on the other line. I don’t even think I’m in any real danger—from Mark, at least—but this feels incredibly daunting. I desperately want to answer and very much don’t at the same time.
Swallowing, I accept the call and put the phone to my ear. “Hey.”
“What’s wrong?” he asks, immediately.
My heart jumps again. Anxiety pours through me, partially because of his no-nonsense, alert tone, and partially because I’m afraid of this conversation on so many levels. “I’m okay,” I begin, because that seems important. “But… I’ve sort of been taken?”
“Taken?” he asks sharply.
“Um, some guy came to the bakery—a Castellanos guy, I think. He mentioned Antonio. I’m not with him,” I add, looking to Mark, who finally stands and comes over, but doesn’t take the phone yet. “Mark from the bakery…”
Now Mark takes the phone. “Mark here,” he says, with not nearly enough fear. This asshat should be shaking in his boots! “I work for Salvatore, not Antonio. I don’t want to hurt Mia, but I need you to come alone to get her.” He pauses, listening to Mateo’s response, I guess. “Like I said, I don’t want to hurt her; I just can’t have you bringing your goon squad along. I didn’t even intend to do this, but you guys hit our guys, and weirdly enough, nobody’s very happy about it. I have no back-up, I sort of went rogue to save Mia, so I’d really like to leave this hotel room alive.” He grimaces, falling silent. “Jesus. I wasn’t—it was just the first place—” He stops again, raising his eyebrows and looking at me.
I shrug, because how am I supposed to know?
Holding up a finger at me, he heads for the door, opening it, and heading outside.
I hear mumbling, but I can’t make out what he’s saying. A few minutes later he comes back inside, no longer on the phone.
“I thought he wasn’t supposed to have a temper,” Mark states, looking at me like I’ve lied to him.
I shake my head. “He doesn’t.”
“Oh, yeah he does. I expected even-keeled sociopath. I’m very disappointed in the reliability of reputations right now.”
I can’t bite back a little grin. “He was really mad at you, huh?”
“I thought I was joking about him being your boyfriend,” he states, raising an eyebrow.
“You know Vince is,” I say.
“Does he?”
I attempt to bite back a little smile, but I fail horribly.
—
Mark keeps watch out the front window. There are only windows along the front of the unit, none along the sides or the back, so according to Mark, we do not have a great position. He says this as if we’re on the same side, and I’m still not positive we are, but I’m being optimistic.
I point out he should’ve considered that when he was picking a place. He reminds me that this wasn’t something he had time to plan. I guess I can’t argue with that.
This not being a plan is also why I think he probably really isn’t trying to kill Mateo. If this was a plot, it would be going more smoothly, right?
“He’s here.” Mark swallows, backing away from the window and coming over to grab me. I wasn’t sure he was telling the truth about the human shield thing, but apparently he was. “If he tries to kill me, can you please speak up on my behalf?” he requests. “I could’ve left you here and got the hell out of dodge, but I’m trying to make peace and I really don’t want to die for my efforts.”