Armando’s breath caught, and I reached back to try to reassure him. Meanwhile, Bunny threw his arms around Nana and moved her off to the side, putting himself between her and the men while she yelled, “What the fuck is going on? Who are those dickheads with guns in my kitchen?”
Cavendish raised his hands in a placating gesture and said, “Now, now. Let’s all take a breath, shall we? There’s no need to get ourselves worked up.”
“How did you find me?” My voice sounded like gravel.
The man smiled. “We got your name from your uncle, Flavio Bianchi. Just FYI, he’s not a very good person. He threw you under the bus minutes after we found him, in an effort to save himself. We traced you to New York, but then you pulled an impressive disappearing act. We might not have found you if Mr. Dombruso here hadn’t started poking around and asking questions about my employer. Once we looked into him and found out you were related, we put this house and his under surveillance, figuring you’d show up eventually. Andvoila, here you are.”
“Did you kill my uncle?”
He was still smiling, his tone light and conversational, as if we were old friends. “No, of course not. What would that accomplish? Instead, we punished him by taking away the only thing that mattered to him—his money. After we drained his bank accounts, we cut him loose. He’s probably out there trying to find a new scam as we speak. If he’s successful and actually rebuilds his fortune, that too will be confiscated.”
I wasn’t sure if I believed they’d let him live, but I had more urgent concerns. “What do you want from me?”
“Mr. Ashcroft has a business proposition for you. I’ll be happy to tell you all about it once we arrive at the airport.”
Before I could respond, Nana shrieked, “He’s not going anywhere with you, you fucking low rent Bond villain wannabe!” She grabbed a vegetable peeler and tried to lunge at Cavendish, which caused two of the guns to swivel in her direction. Fortunately, Bunny had a strong hold on her. He picked her up and moved her farther away while she kicked and fought and cussed a blue streak.
I had to get these men out of here before they hurt someone, so I said, “Okay. Let’s go,” and started to head for the door.
But then, to my absolute horror, Cavendish turned to Armando and said, “You’re coming too, mate.”
Fear shot down my spine as I growled, “He’s not a part of this!”
“But he is, Mr. di Pietro. He’s what’s known as leverage, in case you start to feel uncooperative.” I wanted to punch the smile off Cavendish’s face.
When I glanced at Armando his eyes were huge and he was frozen in place, like a mouse that was trying to avoid a bird of prey. I turned back to Cavendish and tried to lie. “He’s no one to me. I barely know him.”
Cavendish sighed and pulled a phone from his jacket pocket. “We both know that’s not true, Mr. di Pietro.” He tapped the screen a couple of times before turning it toward me. A video of Armando and myself was playing, which sent a shiver down my spine. It had been taken maybe half an hour ago, when we were hugging and kissing out on the sidewalk.
I whispered, “How did you get that?”
“Like I said, we’ve been watching this house, as well as Mr. Dombruso’s. All we had to do was hack into the doorbellcameras of your neighbors across the street, and we had round-the-clock surveillance. Funnily enough, our facial recognition software almost sent us after your second cousin Mike a few weeks back, but we caught the mistake before collecting the wrong man.”
Suddenly, all the guns swiveled around so they were pointed at Dante. I had no idea what he’d been up to since he was behind me, but Cavendish clicked his tongue and said, “Now, now, Mr. Dombruso, this isn’t really the time to try to be a hero, is it? Not with your beloved grandmother in the line of fire.”
Dante snarled, “I’ll fucking kill you,” which seemed to amuse Cavendish.
“Let’s not be ridiculous. I know you’re used to being a big fish in a small pond, but now you’re swimming with sharks.” He turned to me and said, “We really must go, Mr. di Pietro. Bring your lover and follow me.”
He left the kitchen, but the men with guns remained. I didn’t know what to do, but when I turned to Armando, he got up and took my hand. “Let’s go,” he whispered. “We can’t let them hurt your family.”
Another thug was waiting by the front door, holding our overnight bags. He said, “I need your phones,” and when we handed them over, he opened the door and followed us out.
There were two black SUVs with tinted windows double-parked in the street. My heart was pounding, and Armando’s breath sounded quick and shallow beside me as we slowly walked to the vehicle the thug indicated. I wracked my brain, trying to think of some solution to this, but I came up empty. There were still men inside the house with guns pointed at my family, and if we tried anything, someone might get hurt. I had to believe a chance to escape would present itself at some point, but all we could do for now was follow instructions.
We climbed into the back seat, and the man with our bags shut the door behind us, which locked automatically. There were two men in the front seats. The one who wasn’t driving held up a gun and said, “Don’t get any ideas. I don’t want to shoot you, because it’s a pain in the ass to get blood stains out of leather upholstery.”
Once the SUV started moving, I turned to Armando and said, “I’m so fucking sorry.”
Armando whispered, “What’s going on, Tory? I feel like I’m in a nightmare that I can’t wake up from.”
“Remember when you and I agreed to make up fake back stories?” When he nodded, I said, “I… didn’t.”
“What?”
“That was all true. I really was an art forger. I worked for my uncle, who trained me from the time I was fifteen. He was in charge. He hired thieves to steal artwork and replace it with my forgeries. This went on for years, until he tried to rip off a very powerful man named Ashcroft. Our thief got caught, and I’ve been on the run ever since. Or, I was. Until today.”
Armando slumped in his seat and whispered, “I really am in a nightmare.”
