“I have your girl–”
I shout into the phone, “If you lay one hand on her, I’m going to tear your motherfucking head—”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hands are off. Nobody’s touching her,cugino.”
“If you scared her–”
“Imighthave scared her a little. Are you scared, Lexi? I’m sorry. She’s all right. Take it easy, cousin.”
“Where are you?”
“We’re in my Range Rover in front of the FBI building.”
“Stay there. Don’t fucking move. Don’t fucking touch her.”
“Easy. Take it easy.”
I don’t trust Carlo’s placation. The guy can be ruthless. He could have a gun on her right now. They might have a hood over her head.
The thought of her being roughed up or frightened by those guys has me pressing the pedal to the floorboard.
“We’re not touching your girl,” Carlo continues to soothe me. “She’s sitting in the car with us having a friendly conversation.”
“I will motherfucking kill you.”
“Bobby’s upset. Tell him you’re okay.”
“Bobby?” Lexi’s voice sounds strangled. I want to put my fist through the dash of the car. “I didn’t say anything. You know that, right?”
“Of course I do, baby. I’m almost there, and I’m going to rip my cousin’s head from his fucking shoulders for touching you.”
“I’m okay, Bobby.”
I’m able to exhale for the first time since I hung up with the don. “I need to get eyes on you, sweetheart. I’m so sorry this happened to you.”
“Okay,cugino.I have to hang up,” Carlo interrupts. “The don is calling.”
The call ends, and my heart flops around in my heart. I have to get there before Al gives Carlo any orders about Lexi.
* * *
Lexi
“Bobby wants us all dead now,” the young man with an Italian accent says with a grin, like it’s funny to have his life threatened. He’s sitting behind the wheel of the Range Rover while I’m sandwiched in the backseat between Tommy and Junior.
Hearing Bobby’s voice, hearing him shouting through the airwaves to defend me, makes my eyes sting with moisture.
The guy in the front seat takes another call but speaks Italian, so I can’t understand what he’s saying, even though I’m sure it’s about me because he keeps glancing over his shoulder at me.
“Maybe you guys should just let me go,” I suggest when he’s off the phone.
These guys scared the crap out of me, and for a solid fifteen minutes, I wasn’t sure if I was going to die or not, but now there’s an apologetic air to them. It’s true that I’m not hurt, just shaken up. They grilled me about what happened in there, and I told them everything, repeating it three times until they finally seemed satisfied.
I think one thing that made this go better than it could have is that they don’t seem to know I broke up with Bobby. I didn’t clue them in, either.
“No, no. Stay in the car. Bobby will come to us. He will need to see you are unharmed before he calms down.”
Suddenly, the backseat door nearly flies off its hinges. Bobby stands there like a gladiator, prepared to kill.