There was a long pause on the other end. “What is the plan?” Alex hadn’t asked me this question. I suspected it was because he didn’t think that I would find the woman. He’d been convinced that she was a random woman who had faded into the New York night. I’d been sure that that wasn’t the case.
“I told you I was going to take care of it.”
“Marco…” he trailed off.
I rolled my eyes at his tone. “What?” I asked. “I thought that you were the one who wanted me to take care of it?”
The silence stretched out between us once more. I leaned back against the couch as I watched the door. It had only been about five or so minutes, but I expected the girl to walk in at any moment, and I wanted to be ready for her.
“I can’t talk.” I pulled the phone away from my ear ready to hang up on my cousin.
“MARCO!” he yelled.
I rolled my eyes and placed the phone back to my ear. “What?”
“Don’t kill her,” he told me. There was a firmness in his voice that I didn’t like. I was the enforcer of the mafia. Killing was kind of my purpose. This woman was a threat to me. Right now, neither the police nor the Bratva knew that I had killed Adrian. She needed to be handled, and the only way I could make sure that she wouldn’t talk was to get rid of her.
“Marco…” Alex trailed off, and there was a warning in his voice.
“She’s a threat,” I reminded him. “We take care of threats. We protect the family.”
There was a sharp inhale on the other side of the phone. Alex didn’t like my words. “We don’t kill defenseless women.”
“The wound on the side of my head is a good indication that she’s not defenseless,” I reminded him. I touched the tender spot on the back of my head. I let out a silent hiss. The skin was still tender. I was grateful that I hadn’t needed stitches.
“Marco…”
I rolled my eyes and popped the top off of the bourbon before ringing it to my lips and taking a large swig of it.
“Relax,” I told Alex. “In a few hours, we won’t have anything to worry about.”
I knew that Alex wanted to lecture me more, but I didn’t give him the chance. I tapped the hang up icon, cutting him off mid-lecture.
Sighing, I slid down into the couch taking a big gulp of the bourbon. I talked a good game to Alex, but I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. For right now, I was going to have a drink and wait for my dancer to appear.
I would know what to do once she showed up. After all, there was no escaping me. Not now that I had found her.