“You need to turn the fuck around, and don’t ever let me catch you out of Florida again. It won’t end well.”
“You tapping that?” Matteo asks, batting away Dom’s threat. “I was thinking of sampling.” I’m sure Dominic’s eyes scream murder when Matteo speaks up again, clearly amused. “Pussy’s that good, huh?”
Matteo has to be pushing around three hundred pounds, a lot of it muscle, his hair as greasy as his clothes, his thick nostrils flaring as he eyes me with a look that turns my stomach as his knife comes into view. A hunting knife at least nine inches long. Panic zings through me as I turn and scan my room for anything I can use and come up empty. I step out onto the landing behind Dominic as he speaks up.
“Cecelia, baby, get back into your room, now.”
The door across the hall opens and Tobias appears, a similar gun in hand as the one Dominic discarded when he steps out, his eyes sweeping me with relief before he glances down at Dominic.
“What’s good, brother?”
“Got this handled,” Dominic replies, his voice lethal. “Speaking of brothers, Matteo. Where is yours tonight?”
“You know him,” Matteo shrugs, “probably out at the club.”
“Actually, he’s in here, resting,” Tobias says, jerking his chin over his shoulder. “You should join him.”
I peek over Tobias’s shoulder, and he shakes his chin subtly. I school my features.
Don’t fucking react.
There’s no one in that room, which means the other half of the Spanish Lullaby, Andre, is somewhere in my house. Have they been here the whole time?
Just as the thought occurs to me, Tobias’s eyes drift past me and widen, and he lifts his gun, training it just above my shoulder.
“Come to me,” Tobias says in a steady voice as I leap into the clearing between the two doors. Tobias jerks his chin in an effort to get me to back up more, and I plaster myself to the wall behind me just as Andre appears at the threshold of the bedroom door, where I was just standing. There’s a knife in his hand similar to the one Matteo has. Fear paralyzes me as Andre gazes on at Tobias with black eyes.
“Oh, looks like he showed up after all,” Matteo says with a sickening lift to his voice.
“I must have been mistaken,” Tobias says in a dull monotone.
“Don’t worry, we have more joining the party,” Matteo assures.
Just as he says it, the doorbell rings, making me jump out of my skin.
Ding dong. Ding dong. Ding dong.
Matteo hollers out something in Spanish, and the noise stops.
“Out of respect, we wanted to try and handle this like gentlemen,” Andre says to Tobias by way of greeting.
“Appreciate it,” Tobias says matter of fact.
“Least I could do,” Andre says. “After all, you’re the one who brought me in.”
“And look where that got me.” Tobias’s tone goes ice as he looks on at Andre with disgust. “What the fuck are you doing, Andre?”
“Things are getting a little too light down south.”
“So you take a fucking contract that has to do with my personal interests? Not a good decision.”
“Gotta get paid,” he says as if this is an everyday occurrence. And I’m guessing for him, it is. “I don’t blame you for your interest,” Andre says, eyeing me.
“Don’t even look at her, you greasy motherfucker,” Tobias barks.
“You’ve seen what I can do with this,” Andre threatens, “let’s not get offensive.”
“Tobias,” I whisper hoarsely as a veil of fear-induced sweat cloaks me.
We’re not playing a game with toy guns, extra lives, and Monopoly money.
As much as I’ve witnessed over the last year, as much as I’ve been warned away, I realize I’ve been spared to the point I still felt like the danger was in an alternate reality. This is what they’ve been trying to avoid all along. And now I’m living in my worst nightmare. I could very easily die tonight, and so could the men I love.
It doesn’t get more real than this.
“Let her go, and I’ll pay you twice as much,” Tobias says to Andre.
“Deal,” Matteo says quickly. “We’ll take your money, bro.”
“Andre,” Tobias spits in warning. I look over and see Andre inching toward me. “Don’t.”
Andre stops and gives Tobias a sheepish grin. “Been a long, long time, man. I almost didn’t recognize you in that suit.”
“You like it?” Tobias smiles, and it’s the most dangerous thing I’ve ever seen in my life. He’s going to kill them, both of them.