His Irish accent carried across the space,“Relax.Conor just wanted to know why there are Amato men at hisproperty.”
From behind us Luca yelled, “Ask him why his bitch of a daughter kidnapped my brother.”
Sean raised an eyebrow.“Anything else you’d like me to add?”
“Tell him he’s lucky we haven’t started a war over this,” Luca said.
“Let me call him,”Sean said.
Seansat in his BMW with guns still trained on himwhileIremainedfrozen in place with my hands pinned to my neck. It mortified me to think he was relaying this to my father. While Sean was speaking to my father on the phone, Luca moved closer to Sebastian.
“Think he’s calling in reinforcements?” Lucasaidwith an excitement I didn’t like in his voice. No boss should be this keen to go to war.Sean stepped out of his car before I could tell Luca how ill fitting he was to be runninga crimefamily.
“I spoke to Conor, and he wanted to emphasize to you that he did not send Selene after your brother,” Sean said.
Luca remained silent for a moment, that glimmer of excitement fading from his eyes. Then he jerked his head in my direction.“Is this going to be a problem?”
Seandidn’t even look at me when he responded,“No, it isn’t.”
His answer wasn’t surprising, but a hint of pain stillclawed atme. I’d known that my father wouldn’t be coming to rescue me. Not only did he not want to start a gang war, but he’d always emphasized to me that we needed to stand behindour actions. I made the decision to take Sebastian hostage, and I would have to deal with the consequences.
A nearby guard stroked his MPS, just waiting for the opportunity for me to look wrong at Sebastian, so he had an excuse to gun me down. Sean turned away from me and stepped back into his car.
I was on my own.
???
Once Sean’s car sped away, the door to thetruckopened. Once we reached the car, I tried to step up into thebackseat, but I only had a foot of leeway between my ankles.
“Get inside,” Sebastian ordered.
“I can’t,” Isaid, showinghim that my foot wouldn’t go high enough.
Sebastian’s powerfularms deadliftedmy stomach and thefrontof my thighs. Before I could react, he tossed me into the backseat like a rag doll. My face was pressed against the leather seat. The scent of conditioned leather stung at my nose. I wanted to sit up, but I also didn’t want to make a sudden movement and have them shoot me.
“Can I sit up?” I asked, mortified that I even had to be asking the question.
“Go ahead, but do it slowly,” Sebastiansaid.
I slowly dragged my legs towards the floor andtwistedmy body into a seated position. I kept my eyes trained on the empty front seat, thankful I didn’t have to see anyone’s reaction. When I was finallysitting up, two beefy guards moved to the seats beside me. They immediately pressed their guns against my head.
“Put your guns away,” Sebastian growled.
“But sir…”
“Youheardme.”
The men put their guns in their suit jackets.
Another beefy man squeezed into the driver’s seat. For a moment he watched me in the rear view mirror.
“Don’t fucking move,”the driver said whileSebastian circled around to the front of the car.
I wanted to nod, but that would mean moving. Their gunsmight be put away, but there was no reason to set them off. I’d been in this business long enough to know when the odds were against me, and this was definitely one of those times.Sebastiansettled into the passenger seat and calmly glanced at me. And against my betterjudgment, the tension in my body relaxed.
The car roared to life, and we headed out of the driveway in silence. Without moving my head, I checked the rearview mirror. The entire line of cars followed behind us. Just as they had been yesterday, the windows were too tinted to see who was inside.
A few minutes later we turned off the tree-lined streets, andonto the freeway. Two cars bracketed us on either side, matching our speed perfectly. In front and behind us, another two sports cars stayed only a few feet away. They were obviously blocking my car in.Just in case I overtook control of the car.
