Page 105 of Dark Breaker

“I can’t reach your friend Fabio by the way,” Carlo says. “Is the number in your phone correct, or has he changed it?”

“It should be right,” I tell him.

“Hm, it goes straight to voice mail,” he replies.

That’s a bit troubling, considering how desperate Fabio was to reach me earlier. I hope my brothers haven’t started their war with his family already.

“How did you get my passcode?” I ask.

“I used to unlock phones for a living,” he explains.

Typical stalker skill.

“Why don’t you try calling him on your own phone?” I press. “Maybe my provider doesn’t offer service out here.”

“I can’t find my phone,” he replies. “Dropped out of my pocket somewhere on the beach when I was dragging Nunzio out there. Probably swept out to sea by now.”

I shrug. “Karma.”

“Does he have another way to find you?” Carlo continues. “Did he put a tracker app on your phone, for example?”

“Like you did before I switched out my own phone?” I ask accusingly.

He gives me that weird grin. “I thought you suspected.”

“You were always showing up at random times, no matter where I was,” I reply. “Though switching phones didn’t really help me, to be honest.”

He giggles. “I put a GPS tracker under your Vespa. The Tracki Mini. You heard of it? Got if off Amazon.”

“You sneaky asshole,” I tell him. “That’s how you did it.”

“I am sneaky, aren’t I?” he says, seeming delighted. Except for those eyes. “I’m going to make a good gangster, aren’t I? Sneaky. Unafraid. Willing to do anything for my girl.”

“Crazy…” I add.

“And crazy,” he agrees. “The most important quality. So did Fabio install a tracker or not?”

“I don’t think he did. Sorry, if you want Fabio to come here, you’re going to have to try someone else on my contact list. Like Angela.”

Carlo fervently shakes his head. “I don’t want anyone else to know. It has to be Fabio and Fabio alone. I’ll have to think this through a bit more.”

“Something that doesn’t come easily to you,” I mock.

Those dead eyes study me. “He’ll answer his phone later. He’s probably in some area where there’s no signal at the moment. It happens.”

Carlo doesn’t realize that when Fabio comes, it won’t be alone. He’ll probably bring an army.

Oh, I’m so looking forward to it. I don’t think I’ll watch what he does to Carlo though. I don’t want to see, not at all. It won’t be pretty.

Carlo suddenly drops to one knee and for a moment I think he’s going to propose or something, but then he slams his mouth against mine and begins kissing me.

It takes me a moment to recover from the shock, and then I bite down on his lower lip, hard enough to draw blood. I don’t release. I just hang on, mercilessly, trying to pretend I’m biting a particularly chewy steak or a beef jerky. The coppery taste of blood in my mouth isn’t helping.

I fumble for the handgun protruding from the front hem of his pants, but he reaches it first and then presses the muzzle against my temple.

His eyes are staring directly into mine, only inches from my own. For once I see some sort of emotion in them. Defiance. He’s daring me to keep biting his lips.

I release him, because I know he’ll shoot me if I don’t.