That hardly seemed fair. It wasn’t like he asked my brothers to storm his compound and kidnap me. “I understand. I’ll stay away,” I said. “I’m pretty hungry. Would you be willing to get me some breakfast?”
“Sure. I’ll go let the kitchen staff know. Do you want it here or in your room?”
“My room please,” I said with a smile.
The goon smiled back at me and then drifted off down the hallway, at which point I immediately turned and began following the subtle sconce marks towards the stairs and elevator. I didn’t know if there was much I could say to make the situation better, but if Anton’s phone would be considered an asset and could get Gio out of trouble, then it was worth it. I found the stairs with ease and took them up one floor, then walked opposite the arrows to get to the centermost room on the fourth floor, which was Gio’s office. The screaming and stomping sounded even louder from up here, so much so that I almost turned tail and ran, but I remained resolved. Gio saved me, I owed it to him to do what I could to help him.
I lifted my hand to knock on the door when I actually heard some words coming from the other side of the door. It was a new voice, one that I didn’t recognize at all, and it was thundering so loud it was shaking the walls. “I’ve taught you way better than this!” he bellowed. “How could you go and storm the Narzand’s territory and start a turf war over somewhore?”
The word cut across my skin like a knife, but then I heard Gio. “She’s not a whore!” he snapped back. “Even if you are my father. I won’t stand for you talking about her that way.”
“She’s not like the rest of her family, Merrick,” Milli said. “Avion… she’s good people. She could be a valuable asset to us. She was worth saving, not just because your son has developed an affinity for her.”
“You can speak well of her now, but when I needed you to find her you were fucking useless,” Gio barked.
“Just because you’re impatient doesn’t mean I wasn’t doing my job. I would have had her in a few more hours if you hadn’t cowboyed your way in. It could have been handled with much more finesse and we wouldn’t be in this situation at all,” Milli hissed back.
“Enough! Both of you! I don’t want to hear…”
I stepped back trying to put some space between me and the door and the floor creaked. All three voices went quiet, and I tried to stand perfectly still, not even breathe, to not be noticed further. It was completely silent for about thirty seconds when all of a sudden the door to the office opened and a hand came flying out.
“Merrick!” Gio and Milli screamed.
The hand wrapped around my neck and pulled me into the room, slamming me against the wall of the office. I noticed both Gio and Milli coming forward, but I held out my hand to stop them. For whatever reason, I wanted to prove that I could take a little bit of the rough and tumble.
“So, this is what all the fuss is about, huh?” Merrick growled into my face. “I don’t see it.”
“Let her go,” Gio hissed.
“I’m okay,” I grunted out. “My name is Avion.”
Merrick lifted an eyebrow. “Avion Narzand. I know all about you. You’ve been causing problems for me lately.”
Milli stepped forward. “She didn’t…”
I stabbed a finger out at him to stop. Merrick followed my finger and then his eyes came over to me. “What? You think you’re a big kid, now? You can play with us?”
“I’m not trying to,” I responded. “I just want to help.”
“And how would you help us?” Merrick asked.
I held up Anton’s phone. “I have all the information you could ever need on Vincent, Anton, and Curtis Narzand.”
“And you’d give it to us?” Merrick asked. “How do I know this isn’t a setup?”
“My brothers tried to kill me last night and your son saved my life. I promise you, I wouldn’t betray you.”
Merrick studied me for a moment before finally stepping back, releasing his hold on my neck, and sending me dropping to the floor. Milli actually rushed over to me and grabbed my arm to lift me up. For the first time, I saw him look at me with something other than disdain as he murmured, “Are you okay?”
I nodded, relying on him to hold my weight as I recovered from the lightheaded feeling as a result of nearly being strangled to death by Merrick. “I’m okay.”
Merrick pointed at me with a glare set about his face. “You listen to me. You may have these two wrapped around your finger, but I’m not so easy to sway. I’ve spent my entire life building up this empire and if you do anything to ruin it, your death will be slow and painful, do you understand?”
“Yes,” I said. “Got it.”
“Tell them everything you know about your brothers and father, and it had better be good. I’ll find out if it isn’t.” He flashed a leer at Milli and Gio before walking out of the office, slamming the door so hard behind him that it caused the drywall around the frame to crack.
Gio bolted around his desk and up to me, snatching me from Milli’s arms and looking at my face. “Are you okay? I’m so sorry that happened.”
