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“Stop biting your nails. You’re going to destroy them.” Weaving her arm through mine, she leads me to the couch where she pushes me down before taking a seat beside me.
“They’re going to get your mom. Trust me, Lux. My brothers have had to deal with kidnappings before and they’ve never lost one man from it.”
“Really? I guess that makes me feel a little better,” I mumble.
“It should. Having grown up in this world, you get acclimated to the dark side very quickly. They’re professionals.”
“It’s a quarter to ten,” I say, glancing down at my phone. “Do you think it’ll take long? What happens if thirty minutes goes by and they still haven’t contacted us?” I throw my head back into the couch cushion. “Shit, I should’ve asked when was an appropriate amount of time to start panicking if I haven’t heard back from him.”
“I don’t think whatever he would’ve told you would have helped. The panic is already full on.”
My phone rings, causing my head to snap up, but I don’t recognize the number. Matteo already entered the necessary numbers I need, so who could this be?
“Hello?” I answer.
“Luxtyn, it’s me, Angelo.”
Izzy eyes me warily. I mouth,Angelo, letting her know who I’m speaking to.
“Oh, hi,” I say.
“I hope it’s okay that your husband gave me your number.”
“Oh, of course. Yes. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to come off cold, I just have a lot on my mind right now.”
“Understandably so. Matteo updated me on Char. I wanted to come over and make sure you have support.”
“Izzy’s here, so I have support.” I wince at how abrasive that comes off, realizing he might think I’m rejecting him. I need to start working on things with him because he is my dad and I want us to have a relationship. It’s not something I ever thought I’d have. It’s not something I ever thought I’d need. But now that I’ve been given the opportunity to have it, I don’t want to squander it.
“But if you’re already on your way over, then I could definitely use another person,” I add.
I swear I can hear the smile in his voice. “I’m almost there, actually. I’ll be pulling up to the gates in a couple of minutes. If you could let the guards know I’m coming, I’d appreciate it.”
“Of course. Yes. I’ll do just that. Um, I guess we’ll see you soon, then.”
“You will. Talk to you in a bit, Luxtyn.”
Izzy’s brows are furrowed.
“Angelo’s almost here,” I say. “He wants to be here for support. That’s okay, right?”
“Um, yeah. I guess.”
“Are you sure? If you’re uncomfortable with him being here, I can just tell him I’ll see him tomorrow or something.”
She shakes her head and puts on a smile. “No, no. Of course he can be here. He should be here. He’s your dad.”
I let out a sigh. “Okay, cool, thanks. How do I tell the guards?”
“I can do that for you,” she says, and pulls her phone out from her hoodie pocket. Putting her phone on speaker, she calls down to the guard post and lets them know Angelo will be arriving soon.
“Ms. DiMaggio, your brother never informed us that Angelo Mancini would be coming tonight. He specifically ordered us not to let anyone in or out,” the guard on the other end says.
“That’s because he didn’t know. But Angelo Mancini is the don’s wife’s dad. You’ll let him through when he shows up, please.” This isn’t something I’ve ever realized before, but Izzy can be intimidating when she wants to be. The rigid tone in her voice as she told the guard to let Angelo through was the closest I’ve ever seen her act like Teo. I guess the similarities between them don’t just lie in their looks.
The guard on the other end pauses for a moment before caving in with a sigh. “Of course, Ms. DiMaggio. We’ll call once we’ve let him through the gates.”
“Thank you,” she says before hanging up. “Sometimes being a female in this world is hard. You have to be stern. Put your foot down. Make sure they know you’re not one to fuck with, because if you don’t, you’ll never get the respect you deserve.”
