“Just using the little girls’ room.” Vienna flutters her eyelashes at him and puts a hand on his arm. “That’s okay, right, Lance?” She subtly pushes her boobs out. The top she wears is low cut and shows her delicious breasts, which Lance doesn’t miss at all.
He licks his lips and smiles at her with a grin that simultaneously looks creepy and threatening.
“Make it quick, or I will come in and drag you out,” he threatens, and Xavier steps between them, that dead expression back on his face. I watch as Lance steps back and swallows nervously.
“Back off,” he demands. “I don’t want to see your hand on either girl again, or I will cut it off.”
He blanches, but a scowl crosses his face. “The bitch touched me.”
With a movement so fast his arm almost blurs, Xavier backhands him. Lance growls and reaches for his gun, but Colton is there in a flash, pointing one at Lance’s temple. “Don’t even think about it.”
“Mario will hear about this,” Lance threatens and drops his hand, and Xavier smirks.
“What do you think he will do? I gave him everything he ever wanted.” Xavier waves a hand in my direction, and I flip him off. “I can do no wrong, and the minute her signature is on that pieceof paper and I put a baby in her belly, I will secure my position as heir to the Russo-Maricuso families and be untouchable.”
The men behind Lance shuffle uncomfortably and step back as Lance’s hands squeeze into fists.
“You’ll fuck up, and when you do, I will be Mario’s right-hand man again, and I will kill you, but I’ll start with your wife, then your boyfriend, and then these two, and once I’ve made them bleed and plead in front of you, I will finally put you out of your misery.” He tilts his head and looks at Vienna and me again. “Actually, maybe I’ll keep these two bitches and use their pussy and asses until they are nothing more than holes. After all, it isn’t like she really wants to marry you, is it?” He nods at me.
“You’re dead,” Colton murmurs, lowering his gun. “Maybe not right now, but you better have eyes in the back of your head, because I am going to make sure you aren’t on this earth much longer.”
Chapter Five
The tension is thick, and the men behind Lance are twitchy. All it’s going to take is a stiff breeze, and things will turn into chaos. Although there aren’t many people around today, I won’t risk any innocent person being caught in the crossfire. A gun battle in the middle of the courthouse doesn’t exactly scream subtle. The police would be here within moments, and no amount of people on my payroll would be able to sweep that sort of thing under the rug.
The three of them continue to have their stare down, but I’m done with it. I turn my back on all the male posturing and push into the bathroom. I hear Vienna’s heels move quickly behind me, and the door closes, blocking off the sounds of the rest of the courthouse. I ignore her and head to one of the stalls. Just as I’m closing the door, it pushes open, and she shoves inside, putting a hand over my mouth.
“We need to be quick. Lance will come in here. Nothing is as you think it is, I swear. We are in a terrible situation that none of us can get out of. I told the boys we should explain everything to you, but our phones are bugged, and we are watched continuously,” she explains breathlessly, and I yank her hand away from my mouth.
“Any of you could have said anything the whole time you’ve been living with me,” I snarl, though doubt starts to creep up on me.
She shakes her head. “The house has been bugged the whole time. Colton managed to make them glitch whenever you were alone with Sage, Ben, or Suzy so Mario didn’t hear any of your plans, but we paid for it, and it would have been suspicious if all the bugs kept glitching.”
“The bruises on Addison?” I ask, remembering what I saw on the little girl. “She’s yours?”
Tears well in Vienna’s eyes. “Yes. We don’t have enough time to tell you everything, but I swear, we had no choice, but that doesn’t mean everything that happened wasn’t real. We fell for you, but she’s our daughter, and they would punish her either physically or emotionally every time we refused. It was just easier to go along with what he wanted.”
“Why didn’t you try to get her away?”
“We are followed all the time, and we don’t know where he keeps her either.”
I cross my arms and shake my head. “It doesn’t matter, I can’t forgive you.”
She sighs and steps back, opening the door and retreating. “I know, and I probably can’t forgive you for killing Sage or Casey, because she was never a part of this. She and Gio weren’t part of the plan, and we didn’t even know they had been sneaking around until recently.” Her eyes are sad as she glances away, no longer able to look at me. “Be quick, Tori, and do what you need to do. They will come in and drag us out. Oh, and your phone doesn’t have a bug on it yet, because Colton told Mario he physically needs it to install one, but I expect that will change as soon as we get home.”
She allows the door to close, and I’m frozen as I try to process everything she just told me. A knock on the outside door hasme scrambling for my phone, pushing all that information into a little box at the back of my brain to examine when I have more time.
I send Agent Garcia a text, advising him of the incoming heroine and fentanyl delivery at the wharfs. Hopefully he will be able to intercept it. Then, I send a text to Ben, letting him know I am okay and that my phone is going to be compromised, and that I will message him from a burner as soon as I can. After, I delete both messages.
I flush the toilet like I was using it and put the phone in my pocket, not waiting for a response. Ben will know better than to respond.
I open the door and move to the sink to wash my hands, studying Vienna in the mirror as I do. Now that I look closely, which I haven’t done for two weeks, I can tell she has lost weight. Her clothes are a little looser on her than normal, and her eyes are red with dark circles under them. I don’t think that’s just from crying at Sage’s funeral.
She stares back at me with dead eyes. It’s like all the lightness and joy has left her, leaving behind a shell of the woman I had gotten to know and like.
I open my mouth to say something, but before I can, the door opens, and Colton stands in the doorway.
“Let’s go. Xavier can’t distract him any longer, or blood is going to be spilled.”
