“Uh huh. She certainly is.” I could swear I hear something like affection in his voice. But of course, he’s only mocking me. “And what exactly is your version of nothing?”
“It’s justnothing!” lashes out Debbie. “I fed her and the kid, I let them sleep on my couch, I gave the baby some books and toys… I’ve been nothing but nice! Your girl is the one who’s nuts! A total psycho! Wanting to take all my money away! That’s what she was doing, robbing me!”
“Hmm.” His one arm still crushing me to him, he lifts me up by the chin so that my face is turned toward his. “Is that so, Lia? Are you my naughty girl?”
My whole body is shaking with humiliation and anger. “F-f-fu…”
“Don’t say it, Lia,” he growls, his eyes glinting. “Don’t make a bad situation worse.”
His words send me into a new nervous spiral as he turns back to Debbie. “Alright. Show us the key.”
“The… what?”
“Colt,” snaps Moretti’s underboss, finishing off his third glass of whiskey. “Believe it or not, as much as I’m enjoying the show, I got other shit to do than watch you terrorize an idiot waitress and spank my boss’s daughter-in-law. So let’s just get this the fuck over with, man. Hand her to me.”
Logan keeps his eyes fixed on Debbie, ignoring him. “Go on. The key. Or you know what, let’s make it easy. Just get out all your cash. Put it on the table. Careful, because I don’t repeat myself. I know you believe me when I say I know how to use this.”
He doesn’t even have to pick up the gun he’s set on the table before she’s scuttling off, then walking back a lot more slowly with a thick wad of bills that she lays grumblingly on the table.
“Go on,” she sniffs. “Rob me. All my life savings, that’s all. Go on and rob me.”
“Well, Lia?” says Logan, loosening his hold on me. “There you go. Take it. That’s what you wanted, wasn’t it?”
I stare at the rolls of cash, wondering what the trap is. “It’s fine,” I mumble.
“Really? You went through all the trouble of forcing her into this diner at knifepoint, but it’sfine? Take the fucking money, Lia.Takeit.”
“I don’t want it,” I lash out. “I never wanted it! I was just… I was just… I was trying to take back what’s mine,” I finish lamely.
“Well, then, take it,” encourages Logan.
I thrust out a trembling hand to grab the two twenty-dollar bills Debbie took from me that first morning. They look like the very same ones. I slowly bring them back and stuff them into my pocket while Debbie looks on in confusion.
“So let me get this straight,” chuckles Logan. “You held her at knifepoint for forty dollars?”
“They weremyforty dollars,” I snap, shame turning into anger.
“Uh huh. Pretty sure they weremineactually. The ones you stole from me after you drugged me. Ring any bells?”
I have to bite my tongue to keep from cursing him out again.
“That’s okay,” he says, holding me to him in a way that feels like ownership. “We’ll consider it an investment.” He lifts his eyes to Coltello again. “I’ve spent eighty dollars on her. Forty when she was twelve, forty one month ago. That’s how much she’s worth, so if you want her, you’d better fork it over.”
I’m seething with rage as Coltello lets his head fall back, barking out a shout of laughter. “Cazzo!That’swhat this is all about? Eighty fucking dollars? Done, man. Done. You’ll get your money’s worth, don’t worry. Fucking hilarious.”
I sag against Logan’s chest, completely overwhelmed, hopelessness, anger and shame washing over me. I feel so much worse than when he tied me up and I thought he was going tostab me. This is it. This is really it. The end of the line. The man I’m in love with, handing me over to my murderous husband. No, not handing me over.Sellingme.
For eighty fucking dollars.
I’m suffering so much that I barely realize I’ve just given a name to my feelings for him.
It takes me a full minute to realize that the loud, embarrassing sobs I hear are coming from me. But instead of mocking me, Logan’s hand is back to stroking up my back. Which only makes me cry harder as I cling to him, looking to the man who’s selling me for eighty dollars for comfort.
Fuck! What’s wrong with me! Stop it, Lia! Stop it!
Still laughing, Coltello makes a pretense of searching his inner pockets. He must know he doesn’t have the cash on him, just as I do. That’s something the administration pride themselves on. They don’t carry money. Only their crew does.
“It’s gonna have to be an IOU, Colt,” he says at last, his mouth twisted in an ugly smirk.
