7
CAMILLE
“Tell me again what happened?” Leo asks as we sit on the floor of my apartment. I’ve already explained it to him several times, but he still doesn’t believe me. It’s not a surprise, considering I’ve been lying through my teeth.
“Like I said, a job went sideways. I was in the middle of a delivery and couldn’t finish it because it got interrupted. Gabriel happened to be there at the right time and pulled me out of it.”
“Interrupted as in you didn’t finish the job? What was it? Is the person who hired you going to come after you now? And how in the world did my brother just happen to be there?”
“You know I can’t divulge the details of a job,” I remind him. “And I have no idea how Gabriel happened to be there. Maybe you should ask—”
I don’t get a chance to finish my sentence before the door opens to reveal Gabriel standing in the doorway. Speak of the devil. This time, he’s not alone. He’s flanked by men on each side, one of whom I think is hisconsigliere, the other two appearing to be soldiers. He has the same look in his eyes that he had when he chased me behind the subway station. I’m instantly horrified by what I anticipate will happen next.
“What the hell?” Leo barks at his brother. “Have you ever heard of knocking?”
“Please don’t tell me you’re here to knock me out and kidnap me again,” I say with a roll of my eyes.
“Excuse me, what?” Leo asks, looking shocked and completely confused. “What the hell is going on here? Either one of you care to explain?”
“Sorry for the intrusion,” Gabriel says in a less-than-sincere voice. Without a moment’s hesitation, he lifts his hand and signals for his two soldiers to launch forward and grab me. One grips the underside of my elbow, pulling me up off the floor where I was sitting with my legs crossed. The other promptly grabs my arm, wrapping his entire hand around the meaty part of my upper arm and squeezing until I wince.
“Let her go!” Leo says as he puffs out his chest and tries to push the soldier away. But Gabriel’sconsigliereintervenes and steps between Leo and the men who have me.
“Sorry, Leonardo,” the man says with a droll smile as if he’s not really sorry at all. “But you’re going to need to sit this one out.”
“What are you talking about? I’m in thisborgatatoo, and this is my best friend. Let her go!” He turns and glares at his brother, who has no readable emotion on his face at all. “Let her go, Gabriel, and then you can explain what the hell this is all about.”
While they bicker, I try to wrestle free of the two Adami soldiers. “Nick, a little help here?” one of them says as theconsiglierewalks over to assist them. It makes me happy to know that I’m not making it easy on them.
“Gabriel told me you wouldn’t come along easily,” theconsiglieresays. “I can see he was right.”
“Nick, is it?” I spit at him. “You can’t just go around kidnapping people.”
“Well, this doesn’t have to be a kidnapping. You could come along all nice-like.”
“Fat chance,” I hiss.
“Let me put it this way,” he says slowly as he leans in closer toward my face. “I know the exact same spot to hit that Gabriel used to knock you out the first time. So, there’s always that option if you prefer it.”
I immediately stop fighting, because the last thing I want is to be rendered unconscious again and wake up God knows where. I stand there between the two soldiers, glaring at Nick and listening as Gabriel and Leo have it out with each other.
“You need to let me handle this,” Gabriel growls in a low voice.
“Handle what? No one’s told me what’s going on. Camille’s my best friend and if she’s in trouble, real trouble, I need to know about it.”
“She’s definitely in trouble, Leo. And that means she’s safest with me.”
Leo’s face is turning red, and I can tell that he’s both worried and pissed off. But Gabriel is bigger, older, and also backed by his men, so there really isn’t anything Leo can do to stop him from taking me.
I’ve had enough. I twist my arm around enough to free it from the soldier’s grasp and then reach out and dig my nails into the side of his face. He howls and reaches to cover the gash my nails left in his skin, while the other soldier lets go and takes a step backward away from me.
“She’s rabid!” the guy with the oozing gash shouts.
For a moment, I smile about the huge stink being made over the small amount of damage I’ve done, and the fact that I scared the other big burly man enough to drop his grip on me. But my tiny victory is fleeting, because another hand reaches out to grab me, wrapping around my waist and pulling me so tightly against him that it momentarily takes my breath away.
“Play nice,” Gabriel says sharply as he puts his face down next to my ear. His grasp on me is so tight that I can’t even wiggle. I look down to see his forearm bulging as he squeezes it against my waist.
“You’re crushing me,” I gasp, but he doesn’t let go.
