The Woman in the Trunk - Jessica Gadziala Page 0,39

as my hands fumbled, nearly dropping one of the boxes there before I finally found a lever near the back, and when I pulled it. It let out a hissing sound as the lock released.

Carefully, I grabbed the edge of the cabinet, pulling it away, back and all, exposing another of the apartment's massive windows, but this one with a sill that lifted.

Close.

So damn close.

I pulled the window up, feeling the humid summer air slap me in the face as I glanced outward, making sure the fire escape was there, intact, usable.

As a whole, I wasn't afraid of heights. I'd grown up in high-floor apartments for most of my life. But not penthouse high, that was for sure. My stomach felt wobbly as my hands grabbed onto the slatted metal bottom of the fire escape.

I wasn't entirely sure how I was going to make it down in a rush without tripping, then possibly falling to my death, splattering on the pavement below, but I knew it was my only choice.

My knee lifted as my hands moved further out, trying to grab the rungs.

Just as I was hauling my body weight up and out, a hand closed around my throat, hard enough to cut off my air, making my stomach pitch, my leg falling instinctively.

He hadn't made a single sound.

Or maybe he had, but I had been deafened by the pounding of my own heart.

"You're one hell of a fighter, I'll give you that," Lorenzo said, pulling my back flush against his bare, hot chest. I could feel the remnants of his warm shower through my clothes, making a shiver course through me as his other arm anchored around my lower stomach, holding me completely captive.

I wasn't sure I had ever felt smaller than I felt in that moment.

"How did you know?" I asked, defeat a sinking sensation inside. I'd never get another chance now. I was fully at Lorenzo's mercy, at my father's mercy, at Arturo Costa's mercy: all these men, not one of which had my best interest at heart.

What an awful, helpless feeling that was.

Awful enough that the impossible happened. Tears burned my eyes, making me close them tight as a humiliating, pathetic strobe-like gasping sound escaped me, a surefire tell.

"Hey," Lorenzo said, releasing my throat, his other hand sliding toward my hip, turning me, pressing me back against the wall at my side. "Look at me," he demanded, snagging my chin, forcing it upward.

"Fuck you," I snapped, keeping my eyes shut.

"Look, I'm not mad," he said, voice a little hopeless sounding as a traitorous tear slipped out between my closed lids, trailing down my cheek. "I'm impressed, actually."

"I don't give a shit if you're mad," I snapped, eyes opening, glaring at him.

"Like the fire more than the water," he said, his thumb moving out to wipe the stray tear off my cheek.

"Gee, I'm sorry that my complete and utter helplessness is so distasteful to you. I can't say I am a fan of it either."

"Look, hopefully this will all be over at the next meeting."

"And if it's not?" I asked, feeling my jaw start to tremble. "What then? I start having parts of me cut off? I get my throat slit? A bullet to the head? What happens when my father can't pay, Lorenzo? Because, honestly, if that's my fate, you might as well just let me go. I think I'd rather swan dive off that fire escape than have one of you kill me."

"I'm not going to kill you, Giana," he told me, conviction clear in his voice.

"What then? Your father? Emilio? Chris? That guy who was originally supposed to kidnap me, the one who is more vicious than the rest of you? If your father orders it, I know someone will jump to carry through with it.

"No one is going to kill you, Gigi."

"You don't know that. You can't say that. You don't run this family. You don't get to make the calls."

"I make a lot of calls, baby. They might not be as flashy as the ones my father makes, but trust me when I say that when it comes to your life, I can find a way to spare it."

"By what? Sacrificing my father? Indebting me for my entire life? Gee, what a wonderful future I have in front of me."

"Oh, Gigi. You're too fucking young to be so hopeless. We'll figure it out."

"And I'm just supposed to trust you on this?"

"Have I lied to you? I've been as up front with you