Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 73042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
“You’d go to prison rather than work for me.”
It’s a statement, not a question. And we both know the truth of it.
I don’t answer. I just keep staring him down. I’m convinced at some point he’ll look away.
I’ve got to hand it to the old man. He’s got more balls than any other octogenarian I’ve ever met.
But he doesn’t know all the balls that I’ve got.
He doesn’t know what happened to me in Europe. What I endured, and what I rose from.
No one knows.
And no one ever will.
27
RAVEN
To my surprise, CJ doesn’t grill me about Vinnie. When she looked from me, to Vinnie, and then back to me again, I was certain she was putting two and two together.
She’s already convinced I had sex, and when I looked at Vinnie, damn… Did I give away my secret?
I could feel how warm my cheeks were, how warm my chest was, how my legs wanted to give way beneath me.
But I held myself together.
Once he’s gone, all CJ says is, “My God, he’s hot, isn’t he?”
“Very handsome,” I say.
She smirks. “Handsome shmandsome. The man’s a god.” She looks at the card again. “Vincent Gallo Junior. Vincent Gallo. What a sexy name.”
As if I needed reminding.
“It’s been fun,” I say. “But I should probably call my Uber. It’ll be a long wait and—”
CJ shakes her head. “There’s never a wait here.”
“I thought you had a car to use?” I say.
“I do, but this is a burb. I have friends over from time to time who drink a little too much and need to call an Uber. You should be able to get one pretty fast.”
“Still, it’s a long drive.” I grab my phone out of my pocket.
She grabs my arm. “Can’t you stay a little longer? We haven’t really gotten to talk much.”
“Maybe for a little while.” But then I look at my watch. “You know? I probably shouldn’t. It’s been so fun, Ceej, and you’ll come to the ranch this weekend. Mom and Dad will be thrilled to see you too.” I pull up the Uber app. Great, there’s a ride five minutes away.
I give CJ a goodbye hug just as a Toyota Prius drives up to the house. “See you Sunday.”
“Can’t wait,” CJ says.
I leave and hop into the car after checking the license plate. “Hi, I’m Raven. You’re Johnson?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He adjusts his phone on his hands-free car mount. “I see we’ve got a long ride ahead of us.”
“Yeah. And if it’s okay with you, I’m exhausted. I may just try to take a nap.”
“Ma’am, that’s fine with me.”
I lean into the back seat and close my eyes.
I think about Vinnie Gallo.
And I wonder why he wants to see CJ’s employers, the Puzos.
But I can’t bring myself to care too much, because this is the most comfortable Prius I’ve ever been in. The seat seems to conform to my body, and I must fall asleep because in what seems like only about ten minutes, the car stops and Johnson says to me, “We’re here, ma’am.”
I shoot my eyes open. “Already?”
But before he answers, he gets out of the car and slides in the back seat next to me.
“What are you doing?” I ball my hands into fists. I didn’t kick leukemia’s ass just to be raped in the back of a car by an Uber driver.
“Nothing, ma’am. I just need to talk to you.”
“About what? And if you touch me, I swear to God—” I put my hands up in front of my face.
“Calm down.” He grabs my arms and forces them to my sides. “No one’s going to hurt you.”
“You already have. You’ve violated my rights.” I reach into my pocket to grab my phone. “Uber will hear about this.”
He knocks my phone out of my hands. “I’m pretty sure they won’t give a shit since I’m not actually an Uber driver.”
“Then how did you respond to my call?”
He grins. “Technology is easily hacked.”
I let out a bloodcurdling scream.
He clamps his hand over my mouth. “Don’t do that. It won’t be good for either one of us.”
I try to respond, but his hand over my mouth makes it impossible. I breathe heavily through my nose until he finally removes his hand.
“We good? You’re not going to scream?”
I let out another bloodcurdling scream.
“Jesus fucking Christ.” He clamps his hand over me again. “We’re in an isolated area, and no one’s going to hear you, ma’am. So please don’t do that again.”
For a criminal, he’s being terribly polite. It’s creepy.
He removes his hand slowly. “All I want to know is what you were doing at Giacomo Puzo’s house.”
“None of your business.”
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way, ma’am. I don’t want to hurt you.” He forces his gaze onto mine. “But I will if I have to.”
I don’t yet have the physical strength to fight this man. There was a time, when I was younger and healthy, when I could kick ass nearly as well as my brothers and Robin. Unfortunately, that day is not today.