Page 28 of Kidnapped By the Boss

“Antonio,” Katya filled in. “The Wreckers’ King. He’s an arrogant, snide and deeply terrifying person. He cornered me when I went out on espionage the day before yesterday and asked me to be his Queen. When I refused, he suspiciously let me leave without issue. That was when I told Vince that we needed to postpone our honeymoon.”

“That’s why,” Devrick said, nodding his head. “I was wondering what moved you to change your mind.”

“Why weren’t we informed of that?” Mario asked, looking directly at me. “Don’t get me wrong. I know you’re the boss and you can do what you want, but you’re expecting us to keep the ranks tight around here. We can’t do that if we don’t have all of the information.”

Mario was an interesting man. He’d been my goofy best friend growing up, and had always been more of a jester in my life than anything. However, right around the time that I nearly died, he developed a surprising sense of confidence and seriousness that convinced me he would do fine stepping into the role of my underboss. It still threw me off a little bit when he spoke to me with the new bass in his voice, but though my inclination was to tell him to tone it down, I didn’t want to discourage him from doing his job as I expected him to.

“I apologize,” I forced myself to say. “I was selfish and wanted to spend an entire day and night with Katya because we had to give up our honeymoon. “

Katya immediately piped up. “No, Vincent, I—”

“Due to my negligence as a bossandmy selfishness as a husband, I’ve let all of you down and have caused the deaths of several. I bear that weight solely on myself.” I looked back at Katya to say, “I wouldn’t expect it of anyone else.” She bowed her head and I could tell that she still felt bad. “In any event,” I went back to addressing the group. “Katya was able to unearth where we can find The Wreckers, and now we know how to lure their leader out.”

“As your consigliere, I have tostronglyadvise against using your wife as bait to lure a man out who is capable of this level of death and destruction,” Devrick said.

Katya crossed her arms. “I’ll do it, and I’ll hear no complaints on the matter. This man has ruined my honeymoon, caused death in my name, and threatened my livelihood. I’mdoneletting him run amok. I’ll lure him out, and when the time is right, you all will go in for the kill.”