Page 12 of Hidden Ties (Made Men #11)

TEN

THE LOONEY BIN

V alerie chewed on her Twizzlers, deep in thought.

After showering and putting on some fresh clean clothes, she felt a lot better considering she was worth two million dollars.

Sal hadn’t left yet, still concerned she might pass out from her hot shower.

She had half a mind to feel a little bit embarrassed about her tirade but, luckily for her, she no longer gave a fuck.

Valerie had already experienced the most embarrassing moment in all her life when she’d gotten arrested, followed by her temper tantrum in the back of the cop car.

It was hard to feel any embarrassment after that, not to mention she had already shown Sal her true imp self.

Taking another Twizzlers from the bag, she couldn’t believe her predicament. How the hell was she supposed to find out who was framing her without her computer?

The phone ringing in Sal’s pocket gave her a bright idea. She might not be able to use electronic devices …

But Sal could.

He definitely wasn’t as skilled as she was, but I’m sure I could talk him through it.

The hardest part was going to be the fact she was going to have to play nice with him for a little bit longer.

“I’ll bring her in.”

Catching the end of his phone call, Valerie grew worried. “Bring me in where?”

Sal gave her a smile. “That will ruin the surprise.”

“I-I don’t want to go back to jail.”

When he saw the worry in her eyes, he let her know he had no plans of taking her there. “I wouldn’t take you to jail. Besides, I’d get way too much enjoyment seeing you arrested again.”

With her eyes turning to slits, any fear of being taken back to a cell were gone, knowing he would, in fact, love to see that again.

She was about to tell him to fuck off and kick rocks but had to remind herself that she needed him.

“Let’s go.” He motioned for her to move toward the front door.

“You’re really not going to tell me where we’re going?”

Sal shook his head. “Nope.”

“Fine.” She got up, rolling her eyes, and headed out with him.

It wasn’t like Salvatore Lastra was dangerous in any way, right?

Officer Daniels’ fear and warning of Sal entered her mind, but then she almost practically laughed.

Nah! Hell, he wore glasses, for Christ’s sake. Dangerous men didn’t wear glasses.

When an image of Jeffery Dahmer popped into her brain with those big fugly glasses, she decided to actually go into her destroyed computer room and pick up her bat.

Sal giving her an incredulous look made her say, “Just in case you do get any ideas, ’cause so help me God, if you do take me to the police department”—Valerie gave the bat in her hands a flourishing twirl—“they’ll be charging me with murder next.”

Sal swallowed. “Good to know.”

They walked out of the house; he headed for his Cadillac while she moved toward her car.

“Oh, and I’m driving. You can give me the directions as we go.”

“No—”

“Do you want to go or not?” she asked, tossing the bat on her shoulder.

This time, it was his eyes rolling back at her stubbornness before he got something from the glovebox of his Cadillac that she couldn’t make out before it disappeared in his suit jacket and headed toward the passenger side of her car.

Obvious by the way he was looking at her 2005 Scion XB, he thought it was a shit box.

Smiling victoriously, she didn’t care what he thought. Sal’s car was more of an antique than hers.

She got in the car and placed her bat between the driver’s side door and her left leg, out of his reach.

“Of course, you leave your keys in the ignition, too,” he grumbled, finally getting in himself.

“Sure do,” she said, starting the old box-looking car and relaxing. One thing was for certain: Sal was no Dahmer.

Dahmer never would have told a single woman not to leave their keys in the ignition or to find a better hiding spot for their key than under their front door mat.

As they journeyed on while she took his directions with somewhat difficulty, it didn’t take long before the direction they were going seemed somewhat familiar to her.

“Right, not left!” he corrected in a rush when her wheels started turning the wrong direction. “And fucking slow down a bit.”

Sal was clearly frustrated by now, and she didn’t miss the curses under his breath, along with him saying, “How the hell do you play video games and don’t know your lefts and rights?”

Letting his curses slide, she took a long stretch of road, wondering where the hell he was taking her. Then she immediately realized she had taken this way almost every day on her way … to work.

Almost certain he was taking her to the Horseshoe, she couldn’t understand one thing. But why?

“Pull over here.”

“Here?”

“Yes, here!” he shouted exasperatingly with all patience lost.

Doing as he asked, she pulled over and put the car in Park . “Why are we going to the Horseshoe?”

Sal cleared his throat. “We’re not.”

Every hair on her body stood up in warning as she suddenly realized he wanted her to go to the place across the street from the Horseshoe.

The suit.

The Cadillac.

Lucca Caruso bailing her out.

Officer Daniels’ warnings about Sal.

Holy fuck.

Valerie swallowed hard, wondering what her next move should be, knowing she was sitting right next to a made man.

This whole time, her biggest enemy had been a glorified gangster, a legit mobster whom she had snooped on, cussed out, and to top it all off, ate Taco Bell in his car just to piss him off.

She desperately gripped the steering wheel, wanting to reach for the bat.

She was stupidly brave, but she wasn’t that stupidly brave.

There was no winning in this situation. Sure, she could whack him before he whacked her, but then what?

The mafia would send her a gutted fish before the morning came.

Understanding that she had put the puzzle pieces together after sensing her fear, he spoke in a calming tone. “No one’s going to hurt you, Valerie. I promise.”

With her gut betraying her, telling her to trust him, she figured it was his job to get people to trust him, and he was good at it. Too good at it.

“Lucca Caruso just wants to talk.”

“ L-Lucca Caruso ?” she mouthed, almost unbelieving. When he confirmed with a nod, she licked her parched lips. “He’s your boss, isn’t he?”

“Yes.”

Well, he didn’t lie, at least.

Heart racing, she still held tightly to the wheel. She had been baiting a man who was most likely a dangerous individual, based off Officer Daniels’ warnings that, in fact, weren’t so baseless after all, making her realize she wasn’t stupidly brave . She was just stupid .

“And”—she finally made herself look at him—“if I say no?”

He removed his glasses with a smile and placed them in the front pocket of his navy suit. “Come on, Valerie …”

Her name coming off his lips no longer sounded lame. As she stared at him now without his glasses and his sly smile, he reminded her of a cunning fox.

“You’re not even a little bit curious to meet the man who bailed you out of jail for two million dollars?”

Feeling cornered, she fought back the feeling, knowing he was right.

She, in fact, did. Even though she was a thousand percent certain it would be the dumbest thing, which was saying a lot , she ever would do and without certainty would bite her in the ass.

But, truth be told, getting whacked by Lucca Caruso didn’t sound so bad, considering she was most likely facing life in prison.

A girl like Valerie was never going to survive being locked up without going to the looney bin, anyway.

Leaving her only option to take any and all help from the Boogieman himself … and his sly minion.

“All right.” Grabbing her bat, she exited the car with it in hand. “Let’s go.”

“You can’t take that in,” he scoffed, jumping out of the car to stop her before she could walk right in the front doors.

Valerie stopped to look at him. “Are you telling me you’re not carrying a gun right now?”

Silence met her question. She had her answer.

“Then I should be able to carry a weapon myself,” she said, pushing on ahead as Sal became frustrated again.

“Fucking hell, Valerie.”

However, mistaking him as just her annoying neighbor wasn’t going to happen again, not after seeing him for what he truly was.

Entering the Casino Hotel felt like entering the fox’s den. She just hoped she wouldn’t become his prey.

The concerned glances she got from those gambling in the casino had security on their tail in no time. Only the fact that Sal stood beside her was the reason she was able to proceed all the way to the elevators.

Waiting on the doors to open, she expected one of the many security guards who had accumulated to stop them.

The fact they got in and watched the doors close them inside still without interference as Sal hit a series of buttons told her one thing.

Salvatore was a made man who must be pretty damn close to the top.

She couldn’t help but give him a hard look, wondering how it was possible to misjudge him so horribly all this time.

“Do you even need glasses?” she asked in disbelief.

Sal didn’t answer, clearly preferring to ride the elevator in silence.

Her eyes made their way down to his suit and shiny expensive shoes. “You’re freaking rich, too, aren’t you?”

Again, no answer, causing her to practically blow a bubble with a huff of air.

“Of course, you are. The car you drive is probably just another layer to your facade that you belong like the rest of us, living paycheck to paycheck on Prairie Drive. What a joke …” She laughed at herself.

“I bet you wouldn’t know what it was like to scrape by a day in your life. ”

Those words had Sal hitting another series of buttons that sent the elevator to a screeching halt on its long ascent to the top.

“What is your problem?”

“ My problem ?” she asked incredulously.

“Yes.” He stealthily stalked closer to her with black fury in his eyes. “What is your fucking problem? You’ve hated me since the day I moved in next door.”

Valerie gasped. “I did not!”

“Oh, please, Valerie. You’ve had it out for me since then, and you know it. I’ll never forget seeing your beady little eyes snooping through my window that first night.” With each word, he stepped closer and closer to her.

“My eyes are not beady!” she gasped even louder, in greater offense.

Taking her bat, she lifted it, pointing the end right at his chest. “I only started snooping when what I thought was your girlfriend, by the way, came home because I thought she was way out of your league.” She had let the bat fall to his chest, forcing him back to the corner of the elevator.

“I didn’t have it out for you till you showed up two weeks later with a different girl. That’s when I started to hate you.”

Sal only looked at her like she was crazier than she already was. “And why did that make you hate me, exactly?”

She began hitting the buttons that he had hit when they’d first entered.

“Because only the worst kind of cheater would get a house just to bang a different chick every other weekend. I bet you live on the rich part of town. huh? What? You got a wife and possibly a kid? Or just a long-term girlfriend whose little heart you can’t seem to break? ”

She fucking thinks what?

Pinching the bridge of his nose for dear life while the elevator restarted its ascent, he was afraid he might hurt a woman for the first time in his life if he let go. All this time, Valerie hated him because she thought he was a cheater?

“Christ, Valerie,” was all he could manage to say before he finally got a hold of himself. The woman even had the audacity to point out she had memorized the code that would continue their trip to the top uninterrupted.

His jaw flexed over and over again until the elevator came to its stop and the doors swung open. He stayed in place, letting her go first, deciding to finally speak only as she passed him.

“I’m not a cheater.”

“Yeah, sure, buddy,” she sarcastically agreed with a pat to his back before she disappeared off the elevator.

Looking heavenward, he spoke to the Big Man upstairs, hoping to bypass a confession in his near future.

I’m going to kill her if You don’t.