Fuck you. I spit straight into his face.
Miller’s face turned beet red. “See, told ya. He understands us just fine.” He then clocked me a good right hook. Pain fired through the entire left side of my face and my jaw felt like it was going to come unhinged as the corners of my vision blackened.
Stay awake. Stay awake. I urged myself, blinking several times. Miller walked over and grabbed a towel from my counter, wiping his face as my left eye began to rapidly swell shut.
“Alright then,” Angelo said, moving closer to me. “I’m going to make this real easy on you. Same offer I made her friend. Tell me where Gia went, and you and your dog both live.”
I didn’t believe a damn word.
“Don’t be stupid like she was,” he added.
Even if I did know where Gia was, I wouldn’t tell him. And he’d probably kill me anyway, regardless. There was no outcome where I walked out of this alive. Hope probably knew that as well, and I was about to pay the same price as her to keep Gia safe.
Unless…
They were gonna have a helluva time understanding me on a good day, now with my jaw pretty swollen it would be next to impossible. Maybe if I could convince them to untie me, so I could write. I’d at least have a fighting chance.
“I talk, tell everything,” I spoke with a nod, and I could tell from their expressions they didn’t understand.
Good. Right where I wanted them.
“Come again?” Angelo said, taking another long drag of his smoke.
“I said, I’ll talk,” I repeated. I couldn’t hear it, but I could feel how garbled it was. Then I began babbling nonsense.
G’s husband stood, frustrated, and dropped the cigarette butt into my kitchen sink. I could see him yelling at the other men, but he was too turned to the side for me to make out many of the words. “…and hit him…jaw, you imbecile.” I caught the last bit though. He was pissed at Miller for clocking me in the jaw.
Yeah, you and me both, fucker.
Angelo then stalked over to my table, grabbing the pad and pen that Gia and I had been writing on earlier that day. Thankfully, I’d tossed the note between us into the fire before I’d composed my new one to her.
He then stomped back over to me and bent down, getting close to my face. “I’m going to have Paulie untie your hands. Don’t fuck around with me.” He dropped the pad and pen to my lap and backed away. Crossing his arms over his barrel chest, he nodded to Paulie.
The rope loosened behind me and, finally, my hands were free. I rubbed my aching wrists, covered in rope burns, cracked my knuckles, then picked up the pen.
I wasn’t sure how I was going to take all three of them out with a pen as my only weapon, but I’d figure something out. I had to. What I needed to do was buy some time. Maybe, just maybe, Archie would get some of his strength back. He was no attack dog, but I knew he’d fight like hell for me if push came to shove.
Even so, the odds were stacked against us. Death was probably inevitable, but at least I’d die fighting with my best friend by my side.
I looked to Miller and made a motion for a drink of water. “Fuck you,” he said, flipping me the bird. “You wife-killing bastard.”
Rage boiled in my belly. I couldn’t decide which of the two of them I wanted to kill more. Angelo or Miller. Ultimately, it would be Angelo that I needed to set my sights on. He was the threat to Gia. Miller was just a crooked cop, an idiot, and a dick. Other than his looks, I honestly couldn’t see what Alex saw in him. But the truth was I didn’t need revenge for my scorned heart. It wouldn’t give me back what I’d lost.
“Just get him a fucking drink,” Angelo said, waving his hand dismissively. He reached into his pocket and lit up another cigarette.
Reluctantly, Miller got up and filled me a glass of water from the sink. I took several long gulps, much of it spilling out the side of my busted lip as I watched Archie from over the rim. He too was lapping up water from his bowl. Good boy. Drink up. You’re gonna need it.
“Alright, that’s enough,” Angelo said, and Miller took the glass from me. “Now write.” He nodded, and I put the pen to the paper.
I just hired a housecleaner. Not even sure it’s the same woman you’re looking for. She was here earlier today, but skipped town. I honestly have no idea where she was heading.
Paulie hovered in my peripheral. I could see his gun drawn out of the corner of my eye. I lifted the page up and turned it toward Angelo, sticking to my same story.
“Liar,” he said to me, smoke billowing out of his mouth. He looked over to Miller.
“Car…not seen…town…on…mountain somewhere.”
I tried not to worry about the fact that Gia hadn’t made it down either pass of the mountain. I pushed the thoughts of the car going off the road out of my mind and focused on the task at hand. Try and get out of this alive. If I did, then I could go search yet again for someone I loved in the mountains.
“Do you want to try and answer that question again?” Angelo asked me.
I lifted my palms and shrugged, like what else you want from me.
“I saw her emails to her friend, saying just how in love she’d fallen with such a good man,” he said. “So, I’m going to ask you again, do you want to tell me where she is?”
Right as I looked down at the paper, Miller came over and clocked me again. Fucking hell. Once the ringing in my head stopped, I looked up at him spit-shouting at me.
“You some twisted, sick, pervert that likes to hurt pregnant women?”
I was seething mad, only seeing red. He was close enough still that I could reach him, but not yet. Keep it together, dude; bide your time. I was going for the bigger fish, just had to put the right bait on the hook.
“Her IP address came from this geographic area,” Angelo said. “Had trouble zeroing in on it, until I got the call today.” He gave Miller a nod.
Well fuck. I didn’t know she’d been emailing Hope. She should have used a VPN, but only dorks like me probably knew that.
“I warned you not to lie to me.”
I ripped the paper, tossed it to the floor, and went to the next sheet.
If this is any indication on how you treated your wife, it’s no wonder she left you.
I held it up for him to see. Yeah, I was antagonizing him, but I needed to draw him close to me. Physically. Right now, he was too far away from me to do any damn good.
I flipped him the middle finger. “Just fucking get on with it.” I wasn’t sure if he could make out a damn word, because I could barely move my jaw. “You gonna bark all day little doggie, or are you gonna bite?” I spewed out one of my favorite quotes from Reservoir Dogs.
Come on dude, fucking bring it in closer.
Angelo’s dark gaze shot to Paulie and he gave him a nod, as if to say go for it.
Well fuck. That backfired.
I braced myself for whatever would happen next. Paulie put his gun in his holster, and walked over to me. Suddenly, in one swift movement he lifted my left arm, twisted my hand inward and pushed all of his massive weight into me. I yelped in agony as pain shot through my entire arm. I felt every bone in my wrist crack, and I dizzied, nearly blacking out.
Don’t pass out. Don’t pass out.
I wasn’t gonna get to Angelo. He was still a good five feet away and not stupid enough to come near me. This was my only chance.