He yanked it from me, but his expression looked as if he was amused more than he was angry. “You got it under your arm and managed to keep it pinched there the entire time. I’ll admit, that’s impressive.” How did he even know that I had my phone on me? Was someone listening? I scanned the room, but the walls were flat and bare. There didn’t appear to be a camera of any kind, at least not one that I could see. “I can’t allow you to keep it, obviously, but your cunning has been noted.”
In his hand, the phone started to ring. His eyes drifted down towards it, as did mine, and then I looked up. “That’s probably my best friend, Lorie,” I said. “I just told her I was dealing with an emergency and she’s probably freaking out. If you don’t let me talk to her and tell her everything is fine, she’ll keep calling or get her dad involved. He’s the police chief.”
Giovanni looked as if he wanted to snap my phone in half when I said it. It brought everything into clear perspective for me. Giovanni may be good-looking. He may be charming and authentic. But at the end of the day, he was a mobster, an incredibly dangerous one at that, and he kidnapped me to make good on a debt that my father had which had nothing to do with me. He was a monster, and if I allowed myself to think anything other than that, I was going to wind up in real trouble.
The phone stopped ringing as Gio and I both stared at it, but then it started up again immediately. I knew Lorie well. She was overprotective and nosy by nature. “She won’t stop until I talk to her.”
He sighed at me and I could see the gears turning in his head. He looked borderline stressed out, not that I could begin to imagine what a kidnapper is thinking. “I didn’t want to do this, but I need to make sure I get my point across.” He held my phone out to me, and as I took it, he swiftly moved his hand to the waistband of his pants and brandished a gun. He pressed it directly against my head and cocked it and tears immediately filled my eyes. “You will tell her that you’re going on vacation and won’t be available for a little while. If I hear even an inkling of something untoward, it won’t be good for you.”
I nodded and then shakily pressed the button to answer the call and lifted it to my ear. “Hello?”
“Avion!” Lorie yelped. “What the hell is wrong with you?! You can’t just tell me you’re having an emergency and then stop responding to my calls. Are you hurt? Do I need to call my dad?”
“No!” I screeched. “N-no. It’s not that serious. Sorry. I was maybe being a little dramatic before.”
“You sound terrified. What’s wrong? Where are you?”
“Home,” I said, trying to force my tone to even out. “Sorry, when I said I had an emergency before, I realized that I didn’t buy a new swimsuit for this vacation I’m going on.”
“Vacation?” Lorie said. “What are you talking about? Aren’t we supposed to go out tomorrow? You didn’t say anything about a vacation.”
Shit. I forgot all about that. “Y-yeah. I was gonna call you in the morning and see if you wanted to get a coffee before I headed to the airport. My dad just sort of sprung it on me at the party last night.”
“Oh, because of his stepping down?” Lorie asked.
“Maybe,” I said. “He’s making it mandatory, so…”
“Okay, well sure, let’s get coffee in the morning then,” she said. “God, don’t scare me like that.”
My heart dropped. I was panicking andnotselling this lie well. “Well, here’s the thing, I wanted to try and have coffee in the morning, but then my brothers said they wanted to meet first, so I may not have time.”
Gio’s eyes narrowed, he was clearly losing patience with my inability to lie well, but what did he expect? I’d been kidnapped and had a gun pressed to my temple. That sort of thing didn’t suddenly inspire A-list acting skills.
“You just said we could,” Lorie said. “Are you sure you’re okay? You’re not making any sense.”
“I know. This was all sprung on me so suddenly, so I’m struggling to get all my ducks in a row. I’m okay, I promise, I mean apart from the fact that I’m being forced to go and schmooze with my dad’s contacts. You know how they are.”
“Ugh, they’re probably going to get all handsy with you. I’m sorry.”
“That’s okay,” I whimpered.
“Well can you call me when you get there at least? Show me whatever pool or beach you’re staying on. I’ll live vicariously through you.”
“I’ll do my best. My phone service gets so sketchy when I leave the city.”
“…riiight. I get that.” Then she sighed. “Okay, well I’ll let you go. Please be a little more discerning in how you describe emergencies in the future. You scared me half to death.”
“I’ll do that, I promise.”
“Okay, girl. Love ya. Bye!”
“Bye.”
The call ended and I looked down at my screen just in time to see the phone die altogether. That was it. My last official shot to try and save myself was dead and gone.
What was going to become of me now?
Gio pulled his gun back and stored it away and then he pulled the phone from my hand. “You’re not a good liar.”
