holds me captive. His eyes lock me in place. A lump lodges in my throat, the pain cutting off my voice. I can’t speak. I can’t move, my limbs are heavy and stiff. Roamyn turns his head from one side to the other. Slow. Steady. With eyes as hard as steel. No emotion. Just a demand, yet barely a movement. Don’t say anything. Don’t act weird. Don’t give them any inclination.
Giuseppe’s bellowing laugh knocks shock through me and I jump in fright. The men notice me. Lucio narrows his gaze on me. I open my mouth to speak but nothing comes out over the beat of my racing pulse.
“Alison, my dear. Be a good girl and get us drinks will you?”
I release the breath I was holding and air floods my lungs. Giuseppe’s ignorance and lack of care for anyone but himself has never been such a blessing.
I hesitate in my nod, terror controlling every movement. Plastering on a smile that’s more of a grimace, I pray nobody notices a tremor rack through me.
But praying had never gotten me anywhere before. Why did I expect it to now?
I shove open the door to the bathroom and spin around to lock it. Leaning my head back against it, I close my eyes trying to regain control over my hammering heart. My lungs continue to work in overdrive as thoughts accelerate in my mind. Did Lucio just notice my slip up at the table? I thread my hands through my hair and pace back and forth. Why is he here? Why now after all this time? Fixing myself up, I breathe in courage I don’t have because I have to fake it. At least until I can get out of here. My life may depend on it.
After calming myself, I move back out and start wiping down the edge of the bar. I call out to Lucio sitting at the other end by himself now his meeting is over and the other men have gone. “My shift’s over. Lindy will be out in a minute so I’m going home.”
“Whatever,” he replies without taking his eyes off the paperwork in front of him. Fear of him noticing my hiccup before with Roamyn fades, but it doesn’t calm my nerves. This past year his interest in me has dwindled to the point he barely looks twice at me, and I’m no longer forced to work at the club nearly every damn day of the week. But I’m still not allowed to go far. I know too much. I’ve seen too much. There are secrets everywhere in this city. Everyone is somehow in bed with their enemy. Trust is broken. Loyalty becomes a foreign concept. No one survives without keeping secrets and breaking a few laws. It’s not right. It’s not wrong. It’s just reality.
I slap down the towel and grab my stuff so I can get out of here as fast as I can. I ignore the craving for a hit to squash my nerves, help me process whatever the hell just happened because I know he won’t be far. I know Roamyn will be waiting for me and the last thing I need is to be high in the presence of a cop. Even if the cop is Roamyn. Unease winds me up tight. I can’t shake the feeling that this is just the beginning.
A black SUV pulls into the curb just ahead of me. My heart skips. Roamyn used to own one of them. My pace picks up a little faster and the dark window slides down revealing Roamyn inside the driver’s side.
“Get in,” he demands from behind his aviator sunglasses.
I look both ways down the street and when I see no one I recognize, I jump in the other side and we pull straight out into traffic.
I turn to him. “What the hell was that?”
He doesn’t look at me. Just stares ahead, his face is devoid of any emotion.
“I don’t have time to explain. I’m taking you in. This time, I’m not giving you a choice. You move from that seat and I’ll arrest you.”
I shake my head in disbelief. What the hell? “No. I deserve to know why.”
He ignores me.
“Hey,” I snap. My patience is wearing thin, confusion spiraling crazy thoughts filling my head with conspiracies. “Tell me what’s going on or I am getting out of this car.”
He turns to me. Finally.
“You weren’t supposed to be in the club. We got told you weren’t working there anymore.”