Nope.
I’m outta here.
Something is wrong.
I hurry toward my car, trying not to break out into a run, so they don’t realize that I know they’re following me. I fumble for my keys before remembering I hadn’t locked my car. I hurry to get in and shut the door. I lock the doors just as the two men reach the vehicle. One knocks on the window while his companion stands guard.
“I can’t help you,” I say loudly as I get the key into the ignition and start the car. The starter turns over, but the car does nothing else. I try again and again until the guy knocks again. “Trouble with your car, miss?”
“I’m fine,” I say, panicked. I grab my purse to rummage for my phone when the window behind me smashes, and I scream. A hand reaches in, unlocks my door, and yanks it open. I scramble to the other side of the car, but an arm wraps around my waist and pulls me back.
I scream again, but if anyone hears me, they pretend not to. People don’t get involved in family business down here.
I’m pulled away from my car and carried to a black SUV with tinted windows. They throw me into the back, and one of the men climbs in with me. I cower on the floor of the SUV. As his partner starts the car to leave, the one in the back grabs my hands and starts to tie a cable tie around them.
“Please, my cousin will pay handsomely if you let me go. Please don’t hurt me.”
“We aren’t going to hurt you, Miss Sorvino. Our boss just wants a little chat.”
He pulls out a black sack, and I shake my head, but he gets it on easily enough and then binds my legs.
“Sit tight. It’s a bumpy ride,” I hear his muffled voice.
Chapter 6 - Miguel
I sit in the chair overlooking the city. Dawn slowly creeps up to the east, and the twinkling lights of the buildings fade away as the sun bathes the city in light.
I haven’t slept…again.
This time it was because my night was filled with thoughts about how I’m going to approach Alessandro. How I’m going to handle this when he finds out his sister has been taken by another family?
Lyle sent a text message a while ago to tell me they had her. They had followed her to La Club, where she was with Dominic, and then she left, and they had tailed her, picking her up at her next destination.
I bring the lit cigarette in my hand up to my mouth, and I take a deep drag. It’s a terrible habit, really, but one I mostly indulge in when I’m stressed.
The door behind me opens, and I hear scuffling as Lyle and Jarred come in and drop a heavy object on the floor behind me. I stand and drag the chair I’m sitting on to the center of the room.
“Put her on there,” I say, stepping back.
They lift her onto the chair, and I eye her out.
“Untie her feet and take the sack off. Let’s take a look at the precious Arianna Sorvino,” I say.
Her muffled voice comes from the sack, “Who?”
I frown and walk forward and rip the sack off.
Kira looks up at me defiantly. Before she can say anything, I turn to my cousins and roar, “This is not Arianna Sorvino! This is Kira Sorvino!”
“She’s exactly as you described her, Don Rossi,” Lyle says defensively. “And she went to La Club with Dominic Sorvino and everything.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose with my fingers. “I can’t expect you two to do anything, can I?”
I put my cigarette out in a nearby ashtray and light another, inhaling deeply and staring at Kira.
“What the hell am I doing here, Miguel?” she demands to know.
“It’s Don Rossi to you,” Jarred seethes, and I don’t correct him.