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Brunello snorts. “That’s not going to happen. We don’t negotiate, and we don’t trade in women.”
Relief spreads through me, and finally, I exhale. “I’m glad the tried-and-true family values still stand. I’ll need you at the trade-off, Bruno. It’s our only chance to catch Lance before he sends the drive to the authorities.”
Melissa wraps her arms around my waist, her cheek pressed to my chest to calm us both.
Antonio’s reply brings no cheer to the grim situation. “Lance won’t be at the trade. He’s not a fighter, and he knows it. He’s smart, not strong. He’d have the place wired so he could tap in remotely. If I’m placing a bet, I’d guess he would demand to see the girl, then have us put her in a cab or something to send to him. Then once she’s gone, he’d tell us where the thumb drive is stashed. Or he’d take the girl and screw us over.”
I grumble under my breath because that’s exactly the kind of shit a snake would play. “Then we need a better plan. We’re not handing Melissa over to him.”
My woman tightens her arms around me, as if I am the buoy in the storm she must cling to, or she’ll be swept away.
Brunello pauses, and already I don’t like whatever he’s about to say. “We could always put a tracker on the girl. Play nice and turn her over, then go on a retrieval for her once we have the drive.”
Domani always backs up his twin, if only not to have to form an opinion himself. “That works.”
Melissa angles her face up at me, concern splashing across her pretty features.
“It doesn’t fucking work!” I shout at my twin older brothers, surprised at my volume. “You’re not using her as bait. Melissa is not moving from where I stashed her. She knows not to leave the hotel room.”
Domani’s voice is emotionless, as always. “Which hotel?”
I rattle off the name. “She’s staying right here, Dom. There’s no way we’re sending her to Lance, even if we plan on getting her back.”
Melissa steps back from me, her teeth digging into her plump lower lip while she wears her worry on her face like makeup.
Antonio chimes in with an unhelpful, “If we can follow her tracker to Lance’s location, we’d need to wait to pounce until she actually has eyes on him. Then we can come in and deal with him.”
“No!” I shout. “That is not fucking happening. Think of a better plan!”
“What room is she in?” Domani asks.
“Melissa is with me, Domani, and that’s where she’ll stay. You’d better be prepared to go through me if you think you’re going to put her in a cab with a tracker and call it good enough.”
I can hear Antonio typing on his keyboard, ratting me out before I can properly protest. “He’s in room 302, Domani. Only room paid for with cash. Get the girl and be at the trade-off spot. I’ll get the tracker ready and meet you there.”
“No! No! Do you hear me? This isn’t happening!”
But Antonio and Domani have already hung up. It’s only Brunello’s voice that stays with me in my own personal hell. “Giovanni, it’s going to be fine. She’s not going to have to do anything but get into a cab and ride to Lance. She’ll have done her job in no time, and we’ll get her back on her feet, far away from him. I’ll bet if you asked her, she would do anything to get him off her tail. This is nothing, Giovanni. No risk at all.”
When Melissa looks as if she is considering Brunello’s logic, I shout into the phone. “That’s bullshit! No risk? Really? That’s the lie you’re willing to gamble her life on? Lance is a huge risk, Brunello! Lance stalked her all the way from a different town. She had to turn her life upside-down to get away from him, and you want to send her back into his clutches? We paid his salary! We employed a fucking stalker. And sheisfree of him. I’m making sure of that. Sending her back to him is for our benefit, not hers.”
Brunello pauses before responding. “We made a mistake, employing Lance, and we’re rectifying the situation. We need that thumb drive, Giovanni. And then we need to put a bullet in Lance’s head. Do you understand that? This is more than some girl’s sanity on the line. This is your ass in jail. Mine. Domani’s. Antonio’s. Everyone in our organization. We need that drive.”
“I swear, if Domani comes through the door of this hotel room, I will kneecap him. He’s not taking her!” My voice is quaking, my grip on the phone tight enough to turn my knuckles white.
When Bruno speaks again, there is a knowing lilt in his tone. “What’s going on with you? You know this is the right call. We have to deal with Lance now before this gets too far out of our control.”
“Fuck you and fuck your control!” I shout at my brother. I never yell at Brunello. He never needs to be rebuked like this. He makes the right call most of the time. But today he’s out of his mind if he thinks I’m going to surrender the only woman I’ve ever cared about.
That thought strikes me hard across the chest. I barely know Melissa. I don’t know her middle name or what career she’s in or working toward. I don’t know the first thing about her, except that since I first laid eyes on her, I knew she was perfect.
Melissa gently strokes my wrist until my fingers unclench from my phone so she can take it in her hand. “Brunello, is it?” her small voice asks.
My eldest brother clears his throat. “I take it I’m speaking with Melissa?”
“Yes, sir. I have questions about this whole thing.”
“Ask away. It’s ultimately your choice if you want to go along with the plan. But if you want Lance out of your life for good, it’s the only way I see that we can help you be free of him.”
