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“And what happens if I’m kidnapped again?”
“I will send in a rescue team to come get you. Now, take a few minutes to get yourself together and freshen up because we have a meeting at the arena in thirty minutes and you are going to be my plus one.”
He makes his way over to me and pulls me into his arms. The hug is warm, comforting, and safe. It gives me hope he will keep me safe and will always be in my corner.
“Thanks, Arturo.” I chuckle. “I needed that.”
I make my way into the hall bathroom and look at my reflection in the large oval mirror. The woman staring back at me isn’t the one I’ve strived to create. She’s weak and scared and nothing like the woman who fell in love with the man running a mafia empire.
I wash off the long black streaks of mascara that stain my cheeks and give myself a pep talk.
“Arturo believes in you. You are safe, and you are alive. Everything will work out. Now, pull yourself together and be the badass you’ve worked your ass off to become.”
I stand taller and smooth out my blouse before joining Arturo in the kitchen.
“Coffee?” He holds out a travel mug.
“Thank you.”
I follow him outside and head to my car when he stops me. “I’ll follow you to the arena to keep an eye on things.”
He rarely drives, so this might raise suspicions with Giuseppe.
“You don’t usually drive.”
He grins. “I gave my driver the day off. It’s a nice sunny day. I might put the top down.”
He opens the garage, disappears inside, and drives out in his luxurious convertible with the top down.
I laugh and get in my car. True to his word, he follows me the entire way to the arena, never letting anyone cut in between us, even though several cars tried.
He drives to the front of the parking lot to park in his front row parking spot with his name on a plaque. I park in my normal parking spot, grab my bag, and speed walk to the sidewalk to meet up with him.
“Today’s agenda is packed with meetings. First, we have a meeting with the mayor to go over potential housing developments, which we will go see in person. Later this afternoon, we have a meeting with John and Nicholas Valentino. They came up from Florida and want to go over future plans.”
“Did they close on the warehouse yet?”
Arturo looks surprised that I know about the Valentino’s and the plans for the two families to work together, but I’ve paid attention in the meetings.
“Yesterday. Since they bought the warehouse with a dock, we are going to plan a secret shipment down to them. A shipment that Giuseppe Rossi won’t find out about because he will be arrested or preoccupied with another fake shipment.”
“If we can pull that off, that plan is genius.”
We share a smile before heading toward the main arena doors.
Tires squeal through the parking lot behind us. Arturo pulls me through the front door and throws me to the ground just as gunshots shatter the glass doors.
“I think Giuseppe sent some of his men to take us out.” I say as more gunshots ricochet throughout the arena’s lobby.
“We need to take him out the first chance we get before he succeeds in getting the revenge he seeks.”
It’s life or death now, that much is clear. How the hell am I going to balance staying alive and feeding Giuseppe Rossi fake information, all the while keeping Francesca and Joseph out of the loop?
Chapter Ten
JOSEPH
I stareat Nick Valentino through the screen of my computer.