Page 93 of Enzo
“He would keep me medicated, but I tricked him, I stopped the meds stopped eating so I could get out of this tiny window. I had one chance to get out, and I ran. He can’t find me, Enzo. I’m not going back.”
“You’re not going back,” Jamie spat.
“No fucking way.” Rio added.
Enzo’s jaw clenched and his hands settled on my hips, steadying but not restraining. “How long?” he asked.
“I don’t know, years, I remember turning fifteen, I think, and I made marks on the wall, but I ran out of room, and sometimes I didn’t know if it was a day that had passed. I don’t remember...” The words hung between us. “He started keeping secrets from his bosses, and I was his most valuable asset. The perfect ledger for all his clients’ dirty money. No electronic trails, no paper records that could be seized. Just me.”
“And now John wants his ledger back,” Enzo said, his tone dangerous.
“That thirty million is what he owes to the other two.” I nodded, throat tight. “I won’t go back.” I wriggled to get away, “I’ll kill myself first?—”
Enzo’s hands shot out, gripping my wrists firm enough to stop me but not enough to hurt. His eyes blazed with an intensity I hadn’t seen before. “Don’t you dare say that,” he growled. “Not ever.”
I stilled in his grasp, surprised by the raw emotion in his voice.
“You’re not going back to him, and you’re not going to die. Those aren’t the only options, Robbie.” He loosened his grip, sliding his hands up to cup my face. “I protect what’s mine, remember?”
The possessiveness in his tone should have frightened me, but instead it wrapped around me like armor. I leaned into his touch, letting my forehead rest against his. “You killed for me.”
“And he’ll do it again,” Jamie added.
“We all will,” Rio agreed.
“You don’t understand what he’s capable of,” I whispered. “The people who employed him, the resources they have?—”
“And you don’t know whatI’mcapable of.” The dangerous edge in Jamie’s voice made me shiver.
But it was Enzo I wanted to hear from. “I won’t let anyone hurt you, sweetheart,” he said as I stared at him, tears choking me.
“I know.”
He shifted me on his lap, his hands gentle despite the hard glint in his eyes. “What if we used what’s in your head against him?”
I blinked, struggling to understand. “What do you mean?”
“Those records you memorized—they’re evidence of money laundering, right? Tax evasion? Maybe worse?”
I nodded slowly. “Some of it was cartel money. Human trafficking profits. Arms deals. John specialized in hiding the worst kind of money. There were children Enzo, kids… I only managed to stay alive because I remembered things. And then I stole it all and put it in crypto and he can’t get it.”
Enzo’s lips curved into a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Then we have leverage. If John wants you back so badly, it’s because you’re a liability. You could expose everything.”
“Do you have any names for the other two?” I asked.
“Vinnie knew shit,” Rio snapped. “And you have no idea?”
“No. I never found names in what he made me learn, and they would blindfold me, but I know some stuff. And they know me. If Mitchell has told them… but then he wouldn’t, would he?” I stiffened. “They owned him, he worked for them, and he’s lost all their money.”
Enzo’s eyes softened, one hand coming up to brush my hair back from my face. Something in his gaze made my heart stutter. This dangerous man who held me as if I were precious, as if I were worth protecting. “We’ll figure it all out.”
“I’m heading out,” Jamie said, “Look after him, yeah?”
“Where are you going?” Rio asked.
“Out,” Jamie said.
“I’m coming with you.”
