“Who did you work for?”
“A dickhead. I see they’re international,” I mutter.
The man in the back snickers. He’s the same one who laughed when Benny asked if I’d knocked his goon unconscious with a skillet.
Sure did!
“Something funny?” I crane my neck. “You and those soup coolers love laughing at my expense when someone messed up on your end. How do you confuse me with a white woman?”
His smile disappears.
Who knows if she was white. The point is, it’s obvious I’m not her. “Are you the same idiot who verified what Diana looked like before your goon squad snatched me for no reason? That’s what I thought.”
I focus on the other dummy in the room. “Benny—“
“Don’t call me that.”
“It’s obvious you have a few things going on in your life that require anger management and some time in jail. I don’t know you. I don’t know him.” I nod toward his friend in a tracksuit. He and his fresh fade can go to hell too. “What I do know is you two know I’m neither the model nor the person of interest who’s got your lips tight.
“Did you bring me here to torture the truth out of me with that hardware on the table you failed to hide? You’re not cutting me up, Benny.”
I’ve watched enoughDexterto recognize a kill room when I see one. Bringing me here wastes both our time. One would think I earned the benefit of the doubt with how he moaned and groaned into my pussy last night. My ghost will be all through Sicily, haunting his ass until I beat it in the afterlife.
The lines crisscrossing over Benny’s brows deepen. Emotional regulation is an infinity stone needed on the job. The best HR managers are calm under pressure to keep control of a situation. I’m trying my best to stay calm, but he’s tempting me to go upside his head once my hands are free.
Somewhere, deep inside his stubbornness, he knows I’m telling the truth. His guess is as good as mine about where Diana is. I’ve got something for her too.
“My apartment,” I blurt. “If you go to the place I was housesitting in Naples, you’ll find my identification. I’m Bianca Harris. Newly unemployed, born and raised in Baltimore. Let me go.”
“You’ve seen too much.” Benny stands, his lazy print playing in my face.
Sweat builds across my palms as he talks to his buddy in Sicilian. My pulse is in a full sprint, but I repeat the same chant in my head.
I will not die here.
A door creaks behind me. The hairs on my neck prickle at the approaching footsteps. Benny glances over his shoulder and says something in Sicilian.
“Sorry to do this again,” the voice I want to strangle says before a needle pierces my neck.
Dammit!
My fists ball and my teeth grind together. I keep my eyes on Benny, fighting the weight pushing on my eyelids. A desire for revenge mixes with betrayal. I’m out of here the first chance I get.
By any means necessary.
Chapter 14
Who Is Bianca?
Salvatore
“Are we set for shipment at the end of the month?” Elio lifts his caffè shakerato. Froth coats his mustache with more salt than pepper these days. He wipes it away with a cloth napkin.
“We’ll accommodate your request,” I say to the sun’s glare. It’s blinding my phone buzzing on the knee-height table between us.
Andrea
Do you want to go back and get her? The flight is only an hour.
