Entrapment (Morelli Family 7.5)

“I’ve only had a few hours,” Adrian states. “Relax. I’m gonna put it together tonight. Or, I was, but now that you’ve cut your day off short, I assume I have to go guard Mia again?”

Technically he probably doesn’t. Mia isn’t going to try to escape right now; we’re in a good place. Even if I got a little spooked and needed a breather, it’s not like that’s enough to scare her off if raping her didn’t do the job.

I still want her watched, though. Just to make sure Vince doesn’t go after her. He hasn’t seen her since their interaction in the hall, but he vibrated with visible rage at dinner last night. Her empty seat between us, him likely tormenting himself all through dinner with mental images of me fucking her. Knowing that once dinner was over, I would go upstairs and do just that, but unable to do a goddamn thing to stop me.

Just to be on the safe side, I nod at Adrian. “Stay posted outside her door tonight until I come up.”

“All right. I’ll put someone else on Leroy.”

We spend a few more minutes catching one another up—he tells me about his conversation with Mia’s piece of shit mother, I tell him I’ve narrowed down dates for Dubai. He won’t be going with me, but with me out of the country, Adrian will have to keep the ship afloat.

Our conversation is interrupted when Dante storms into the study, brown eye blazing with anger. “What the fuck is going on over here?”

“Nice to see you, too,” I offer, dryly.

“Why did you call off my guys? Did something happen with the girl?”

I don’t feel like explaining to my brother or Adrian that I’m going to keep her for myself, but I do have to give them some kind of explanation. The loyalty test was a good idea. We do need to know if she would talk about us, especially Adrian, who she could frankly nail with what she saw. Adrian has wanted me to ease up on her though, so he hasn’t dared pry, probably for fear I’d change my mind.

“Nothing has happened,” I tell Dante. “The plan has changed.”

Dante scowls. “Why has the fucking plan changed? If nothing happened, the plan doesn’t change. That’s not how plans work.”

I take a second, trying to assemble the best and briefest explanation while still helping Dante understand why it’s no longer necessary. “When the plan was formulated, we didn’t know Mia. We assumed she would be normal. She isn’t. Despite all that’s been done to her, she isn’t angry or vengeful about it. She doesn’t want to hurt any of us. If we send Conroy and Hernandez to talk to her, she isn’t going to say anything at this point.”

“Great, if she’s not going to say anything, then send them,” he says, still not understanding the problem.

“I need to save them,” I tell him. “Right now I’m certain she wouldn’t tell on us, but if I send them to try talking to her now, I can’t make the same move later when she hates me and wants my blood.”

Now Dante scowls at me. “Why the fuck doesn’t she hate you? You said you had a plan.”

“I did. It… has gone slightly off track.” I feel Adrian’s gaze on me now and it makes me irritable. I’m not going to share Mia’s experience with me here in the study. It’s none of their fucking business. “It doesn’t matter,” I say, simply. “The point is, she’s not going to talk.”

“Bullshit,” Dante says, slamming a hand down on my desktop. “We don’t know this fucking girl. We don’t trust some little high school idiot because you’ve got a taste for her pussy. I could give a fuck less if you chew her up and spit her out, but we’re testing her first. Are you fucking kidding me with this shit? This is Beth all over again.”

“This is not Beth all over again,” I snap, more tersely than I intend. He’s speaking right to the heart of my own fears.

“Yes, it fucking is,” Dante argues. “Look, I’m not trying to be an asshole, I know she still rubs you raw, I get it. Trust me, I fucking get it. But you’ve already put this whole family in jeopardy once before with that stupid rat whore. No one blamed you then, it was a learning experience. But it’s not a mistake if you do it again. Then it’s a choice you’re making to put your dick before this fucking family. That’s not a choice that the head of the family can afford to make. You want to keep Vince’s girlfriend? Great, I don’t give a fuck. But hold up your end of the bargain first. You were supposed to make her hate you and you were supposed to send our guys to see if she would talk. Now you’re sitting here telling me she doesn’t hate you and you called off our fucking men? That’s fucking unacceptable.”