21
Massimo
I’m in the upstairs hallway, pacing back and forth in front of my bedroom. Stefano is on the phone, but I’m hardly listening—I’m thinking about those sweet pussy lips and how good she tastes.
“Massimo?” Stefano asks.
“Sorry, say again?”
“How’s our captive today?” Stefano asks.
“Good, just dropped off some breakfast, she seems to have accepted her fate.” I seem to be getting better at lying to my brothers. That troubles me.
“That’s where we want her to be,” Stefano agrees. “Resigned, broken. Completely under our control. You were always good at breaking people.”
“Yeah,” is all I can say. If I’m truly in control, why is my cock still throbbing so hard?
“Luciano told me you sent him and Rosa out to run some errands,” Stefano reveals.
I squeeze my phone tightly, anger quickly replacing my hunger. Luciano wasn’t supposed to mention anything to my other brothers. Did he bring up the kidnapping part? Is Stefano trying to catch me in a lie?
I decide that Luciano wouldn’t betray me like that.
So I bite back my anger and say: “Yeah, I asked him to make a courier run for me. It’s a bit tricky, running my business out of a new location while having to watch over a hostage.”
When Stefano doesn’t reply immediately, for a moment I’m worried that I just gave myself away and he knows I’m lying.
But then he says: “You need to work on switching your business to a remote model. That’s what I’ve done. I have underlings who handle all the dirty work and I mostly just sit back and bring in the revenue. Outsourcing, bro.”
Irritated, I ask: “So, were you calling only to check on our hostage, or is there something else?” I really just want to hang up at this point.
“I do have news,” he tells me. “Giovanni Amato is asking for more time to come up with the cash to pay for his bid. He doesn’t want to meet tomorrow.”
Maybe that’s good. It means more time for me and Angela, because I’d have to delay the exchange with the Rizzos, too.
I shake my head. No. I’ll only be postponing the inevitable. Today is our last day. I don’t know if I could bear stretching this out by another forty-eight hours.
“Unacceptable,” I tell my brother.
“I know,” he replies. “Giovanni has the money. I’m sure of it. He’s just buying time for the Amatos to track her down. Someone in the Ustica police force leaked the news of masked men sighted at the cove—Amato thugs have been seen crawling all over the area. Some of my associates are telling me the Amatos have also cased nearby vineyards. It’s a good thing you moved when you did. I think, at this point, the Amatos plan to case every house and villa on the island before they give up.”
“It’s a big island,” I remind him.
“All right, so we’re agreed, I’ll tell Giovanni to fuck off? We either trade tomorrow, or she goes to the next highest bidder.”
I nod. “Tell him that.”
“It’s going to be so fun meeting him in person and explaining that we’ve already traded his precioussignorinato the Rizzos,” Stefano says. “Bet you’re looking forward to putting a bullet in his back. I’m almost thinking we should do it tomorrow, rather than letting him stew over her loss for a few days. But that’s up to you, of course.” When I don’t answer, he adds: “By the way, Luciano did mention you’re working on an ‘alternate’ plan, but he didn’t want to give me the specifics. Care to enlighten me?”
My jaw tightens. So Luciano did flap his mouth off. At least he didn’t bring up the kidnapping part. Or did he?
I’m going to have to reevaluate just how much I can trust him. Then again, I probably shouldn’t be so hard on him, as we usually never keep anything from each other, and I’m the one who’s more at fault here.
I take a deep breath to calm myself down. “Just something I’m cooking up in case of a no-show by both parties. I’ll reveal the details tomorrow morning.”
“Can’t you tell me now?” Stefano insists. “I’m your brother, aren’t I? Someone who’s invested a lot into this plan. Someone who always has your back.”
“I’m still working on it,” I state firmly. “I promise, I’ll reveal it all to you as soon as I can. Just proceed as if everything is still a go for tomorrow.”
