Page 76 of Forgotten Comeback

“It’s a yes or no question.” I cut her off.

“Yes, I drugged you.” Fabio appears, dressed in an Italian suit and with an emotionless expression. “Sodium thiopental. More commonly known as truth serum.”

My skin prickles, and I fight the urge to run back to the guest room and slam and lock the door. Instead, I cross my arms and stand my ground. “And you see no problem with that?”

“My wife was kidnapped from your house; I had to make sure you weren’t involved. I apologize for my methods, but not for my motive. I will dowhateverit takes to keep Katerina safe. Which now includes her not leaving the house without her security team.” He says the last part to Kat.

“No arguments from me,” Kat tells him.

“Will someone please tell mewhyGavin kidnapped me and Kat?” I ask.

Fabio and Kat exchange something silently before he reaches into his suit jacket pocket. Producing a thick envelope, he tosses it on the counter.

I grab it and peek inside, my eyes going wide at the thick stack of hundreds. “What is this for?”

“You keeping your mouth shut,” he says coolly.

My eyes narrow to tiny slits. “So you’re buying my silence?”

“I could kill you, guaranteeing your silence.” It makes my blood run cold how this man speaks so casually of my death.

“Fabio,” Kat chides.

“But that would make my wife unhappy,” he concedes. “If investigators come calling, you were here at the beach house with Katerina and have no knowledge of the fire.”

“But it’s more than a fire,” I point out. “Dominic’s body was at my house.” And I don’t feel too bad about it; the man would’ve raped me, but for a certain psychopath…not that Gavin’s absolved of his crimes. “Or what’s left of his body…”

“The family will take care of everything,” Fabio says.

“What am I supposed to do? I have nowhere to go,” I say, hating the desperate edge to my voice.

“Stay at my condo until everything’s sorted,” Kat offers.

“What iseverything?” I grit through my teeth.

Fabio taps the envelope. “That iseverythingyou need to know.”

And with Kat’s nod of affirmation, that is everything I need to know.

My friend is part of the Parisi family, and I’m not.

Chapter

Thirty

Gavin

A natural gas explosion caused a house fire, killing a man and his elderly neighbor…

I toss the newspaper on Inferno’s desk, pacing back and forth like a caged animal. “We’re supposed to do nothing about John?”

“John had an out and chose not to take it,” Inferno says. “Either he has a death wish, or he has a plan.”

“Did you know John was into…”

“Dick?” Inferno finishes for me.

“We don’t know if that’s true or if Romeo assumed it.”