I was begging my brain to come up with any reasonable excuse that wouldn’t put Gio or my father into more hot water. “I just assumed… Dad has a gambling problem, right? And Giovanni told me that he’s a loan shark.” Anton’s eyes narrowed in my direction and I could see that he was trying to determine the validity of my story. “What?” I snapped.
It took him by surprise. “Nothing. Giovanni didn’t say anything to you?”
“No, why would he say something to me?” That seemed to register with Anton who nodded and then turned to leave, but I reached out and grabbed his arm. “Wait.”
He looked back at me, and I could see his patience wearing thin, but whether because he actually cared or saw some benefit to hearing me out, he was holding it together. “Do you need something else?”
“Well for one, can you please leave the door unlocked?” I begged. “I’m sick of feeling like a prisoner. I’m not going to leave; I don’t have Stockholm Syndrome or whatever. I just want to be relaxed and comfortable.”
Anton let out a sigh like he truly understood that sentiment. “Yeah. I’ll leave it unlocked, just… You know Vince. Don’t make too much noise or anything like that and it’ll be fine. We’ll let you go back to your place in the morning. For now, you should rest.”
“I can do that,” I said. “Also, can I use your phone? I really want to call and check in with Lorie and make sure she got home, but I don’t have my phone.”
“Yeah, of course.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and handed it over to me. “When you’re done with it, just leave it on the dresser or something and I’ll come back for it later.” He used his fingerprint to unlock it and then smiled at me. “Anything else?”
“No,” I shook my head. “Thank you for being understanding. I’ve been through a lot.”
“I know you have.” He set his hand on my shoulder and gave it a little squeeze. “Try to get some rest. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“See you in the morning.”
He turned around then and walked out of the room, and that time I didn’t stop him. I shut the door after him and then looked around, trying to determine where the best spot was to get some privacy. There was a closet to one side of the room and a bathroom attached to the other. My brothers were likely convening in their office on the ground floor, but there could be a chance that they or someone else was listening to me. In order to be safest, I walked into the closet and shut the door, then walked all the way to the far end of the walk-in. I was grateful that I had Lorie’s number memorized and I dialed it quickly, my hands shaking.
“Anton?” Lorie answered after one ring. “Is everything okay? Did something happen with Avion?
“Hey, it’s me,” I said.
She let out a sigh of relief. “Oh. God, I got so scared.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “Where are you right now?”
“We just touched down and I’m on my way to my car, why? What’s up?”
“Okay, I need you to listen to me. I need your help, and it’s going to sound a little insane, but I just need you to trust me, okay?”
“Avion, you’re scaring me, what’s going on?” she said.
I took a deep breath and just dropped the hammer blow. “I need to get back to Gio.”
“Wha—?!” I heard her breathing get a little shallow and it sounded like she was running. “Hang on.” I heard the sounds of her car dinging, likely as she climbed inside, and then her voice got a little further away like she’d put me on speaker. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“I’m not safe with my brothers,” I said. “I can’t quite explain it, but something is off about them. They’re being way too sweet, they locked me in my room at first, and they didn’t come and find me for the reason that I thought they did. Did they say anything to you about why they wanted to come and save me?”
“Why else? Because you’re their sister?” she said. “They care about you.”
It made me angry to hear that, knowing they’d gotten to Lorie, but I didn’t have the time to explain to her why that wasn’t true. “They said they knew why Gio took me. Did they mention anything about that to you?”
“They just said they thought it was political. To try and extort money from them,” Lorie explained. “Avion, you sound a little crazy right now. Are you okay?”
“I don’t really have time to explain, but I can’t stay here. I need you to try and help me get in touch with Gio.”
“I’m not helping you go back to him. You must have just gone a little loopy from being locked up with him. He’s the bad guy, not your brothers.”
“No, you don’t understand… ugh!” I took a deep breath and tried to calm down. Where she was coming from made sense to me. In her mind, she was being perfectly logical, I understood that. I just needed to get through to her. “Do you trust me?”
“You know I trust you.”
“Then, please. I really need your help. I’m not safe here.”
