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“You’ve got that look, Lexi, like you’re high on texting.”
“High on texting,” Mia mutters. “That’s given me an idea.”
“What does that even mean?” I say, turning away.
Scarlet laughs. “It’s okay. I’m only kidding. Well, not about high on texting being a thing. With Elio, it was more intense than the epidural.”
Ruby giggles. “Yeah, that’s true. Those first few hundred texts… It never stops being special, but nothing can match those.”
Scarlet nods, a dreamy look on her face. “It’s better being married and being with him. Yet there’s something romantic about it.”
Ruby says eagerly, “Yeah, like a medieval fantasy or something, sending letters by horseback, waiting in, in…”
“In your watchtower, looking longingly over the moors… over the moors…”
Ruby laughs, springing up in her seat. It’s so wonderful seeing her so confident and effortlessly bonding with her sister-in-law.
“You don’t have to tell us if you were texting your Prince Charming,” Scarlet smiles.
My phone vibrates again. I check it as a reflex. Then my stomach drops. My heart aches.
“Lexi?” Ruby says, her voice tight. “What’s wrong? Is it Mom? Dad? Lexi?”
The text reads, You’re never going to see Colt again.
There’s a picture attached of Colt, a cut across his face, eyes closed, lying in what looks like the back of a van.
“They’ve got Colt,” I say, my voice breaking.
“Colt?” Scarlet says.
“He’s my man!” I yell deliriously. “He’s my Prince Charming, okay? Okay? And they’ve got him.”
I show her the phone screen. Immediately, Scarlet grabs her cell phone and presses a button. She holds it to her ear. “Elio, the Serpents have got Colt. I’ve got a photo.” She’s mafia queen calm as she listens to what he says, nodding. “We’ll get him back, Lexi.”
Please let him go, I text. You can take me instead.
I didn’t realize Ruby had moved around next to me. I guess she was going to put her arm around me or something, but she sees what I’m texting. She snatches the phone out of my hand. “Lexi!”
I try to get it back from her. “I can’t let them hurt him.”
“You’re not going in his place!”
“What if it was Luca?” I yell.
Ruby stands up, shaking her head. “You can’t do this.”
“They’d take me,” I snap. “I’m… I’m associated with the Marinos through you, Ruby. Right, Scarlet? Mia?” I turn to them. They both stare at me doubtfully. Even Mia, the wild girl who switched the drinks, looks unsure.
“We’ll get him back,” Scarlet says, more confidently this time. “Luca talks about Colt all the time. He sees him as a brother. They won’t let anything happen to him.”
CHAPTER 33
Colt
I wake with ice-cold water flowing down my face. I blink my eyes open and see a hazy electric light. My hands are tied above my head as my feet scrape along the ground. My skin is cool, like I’m naked, except for my underwear. I open my eyes when another mass of water crashes down over me.
Eduardo stands in the middle of a dingy-looking cellar. There are high, thin windows with streetlight shining through. Three more men are in the room, two wearing masks, black with a white image of a snake crudely painted on it, and the third…
It’s Ralph, the worm, the goddamn coward. He’s got a pistol in his hands, and he’s licking his lips. I look around the room. Dante is across from me, in only his underwear, dangling just like me, but he hasn’t woken up yet.
“Your damn vests,” Eduardo says, grinning. His black hair gleams in the light, and his thumbs loop through the belt loops in his cheap-looking pants. He looks borderline unhinged, a man on the edge. That’s good for the city. He’s clearly losing control, which is bad for us. A madman makes an evil kidnapper.
“They saved you,” he goes on. “We managed to drug this one.” He gestures to Dante. “But you were knocked out clean, Colt. Bullet hit your chest, and your head hit the ground. Your poor little head must be killing you.”
“I’ve had concussions before,” I tell him, ignoring how the light blinks. “If you think it bothers me, you’re a damn fool. What’s he doing here?”
Eduardo smirks. “This is a smart man, Colt. He’s told me all about you and that woman. She’s so much bigger than the last one. The burned one.”
“The burned one,” I snap. “I thought you said she was still alive.”
His eyes get hazy like he can’t remember it. He’s on something. Or maybe it’s just this life he leads, making him feel high in a twisted way. “Did I? Oh well. Ralph here is an enterprising businessman. He’s going to help me get into the luxury car industry, and we’re going to take down the Marinos together.”
“Is that what the gun’s for, Ralph?” I growl.
He grins, his eyes just as erratic as Eduardo’s. “I’m going to put a bullet in you,” he snaps. “Then I’m going to put one in your pig.”
