“That was the plan, yes. I’m still not sure why it didn’t work.”
“Oh, I can answer that one. Carlos only has one son, and his name is Eddie. When the Anton Gambino name came up during an investigation, we knew right away something was off.”
“And you knew this how?”
I grinned mischievously. “Eddie is one of my best friends.”
Juarez chuckled as he shook his head. “That would do it.”
“So, what is your real name?” I narrowed my eyes at him. “I’m betting it’s Fernandez. Am I right?”
“You are.” The man swept his arm down and bowed. “Hector Fernandez, at your service.”
I started to reach for another sticky note to write that down, but the sudden sound of a gun clicking froze me in spot.
“Ah ah ah, that one name cannot be added to your little storyboard there.”
Didn’t matter. I wasn’t going to forget it.
Juarez, or rather Fernandez, glanced at his watch. “We’re going to have to speed this up. I imagine your husband will be back soon.”
My eyes instantly narrowed, anger stealing all of the amusement I found in this situation. “Did you kidnap my mother?”
“I did, but my men have orders not to harm her. I know how much you care about people, so, much like I did with the bomb threat back at your old residence, I needed a distraction to get your husband’s SWAT team away from here so we could talk.”
Okay, that was a little unnerving. He seemed to know more about me and my life than I was really comfortable with. That was never a good thing where a psycho was concerned.
“You’ve obviously done your research, but I think you missed a few things.”
“Oh?” Fernandez mused. “Please, enlighten me.”
“One, you’re in my house, which means you’re not getting out of here unless I want to let you out.”
Fernandez waved his gun back and forth. “I could shoot my way out.”
I pulled my gun and waved it around just like he had. “You can, but you’ll be dead before you can escape.”
I hoped.
“Two,” I continued as if we both weren’t pointing guns at each other, “I routinely work with the FBI and DEA, not to mention my husband’s SWAT team. I’m also the nephew of the police commissioner, so I work with him when he needs me to. So, even if, by some miracle, you did escape, they would all be after you.”
Fernandez’s eye twitched.
“Three, not only am I protected by my husband’s SWAT team, I have a full security staff on the grounds, including a former Mossad agent. I’m very close with Carlos Gambino, Vinnie Castellano, and I have a blood pack with the former head of the Irish mob out of Chicago. So, trying to hurt me is a very bad idea, as you might have learned when you kidnapped me and tried to sell me as a sex slave.” I made a tsking sound as I shook my head. “You really should have stayed in prison.”
“Prison is so…restricting.”
Like I fucking cared.
“How did you actually get into the house?” And why hadn’t Brant stopped him? More importantly, where the hell was Brant?
“I was already here when your home went into lockdown,” Fernandez replied. “I snuck in yesterday and hid in one of the spare bedrooms.”
Okay, that made some sense, but… “How did you sneak in?” I wanted to know so we could fix that. I couldn’t have dangerous people sneaking into my home.
“I merely waited until nightfall and then snuck in from the riverfront. Things seemed pretty busy at the time, so it was rather easy to come in through the kitchen entrance and make my way upstairs.”
So, security door on the kitchen. Got it.
