Chapter 2 - The Debt That Wasn’t Mine
Dominic’s car had bulletproof windows.
That should have made me feel safer.
It didn’t.
Leo sat across from us.
“Thomas is gone,” he said.
Dominic’s expression hardened.
“Paul?”
“Still at the club.”
“Keep him there.”
Leo glanced at me.
“What did you see?”
“Thomas near the prep station.”
“Doing what?”
“I couldn’t see his hands clearly.”
“And the envelope?”
“I saw it afterward.”
Dominic leaned forward.
“You’re certain the decanter was compromised?”
“No.”
Leo raised an eyebrow.
I continued.
“But Thomas wasn’t supposed to touch our premium liquor. Paul suddenly reassigned me. Both were terrified. Thomas had an envelope he didn’t have before.”
Dominic studied me.
“You noticed all that?”
“I’m a waitress.”
“So?”
“Nobody notices us. That means we notice everybody.”
Leo smiled.
“I like her.”
Dominic ignored him.
“Where do you live?”
“Queens.”
“Alone?”
“Yes.”
“Family?”
I hesitated.
“My father disappeared six months ago.”
“Why?”
“Gambling.”
Dominic’s gaze sharpened.
“How much?”
I looked out the window.
“One hundred fifty thousand.”
Leo stopped smiling.
“Who holds the debt?”
I didn’t answer.
Dominic did.
“Castellano.”
I turned.
“How did you know?”
“Because nobody else would chase a twenty-year-old daughter for her father’s gambling debt.”
I stared at him.
“So you know what they do.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“And I don’t approve.”
I laughed once.
“You’re a mafia boss.”
Leo coughed to hide another laugh.
Dominic’s expression remained flat.
“Being a criminal doesn’t require me to agree with every criminal.”
Fair point.
The SUV suddenly turned away from Queens.
“Where are we going?”
“My house.”
“No.”
Dominic looked at me.
“No?”
“I’m not going home with a stranger.”
Leo blinked.
“You do understand who you’re talking to?”
“Yes.”
“That usually makes people more cooperative.”
“It’s two in the morning. I’m exhausted.”
Dominic folded his arms.
“Your apartment is no longer safe.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Thomas saw you warn me.”
My argument died.
Dominic continued.
“If Castellano ordered this, they’ll assume you know more than you do.”
“So what happens?”
“You stay somewhere protected until I understand tonight.”
I stared at him.
“And then?”
“Then you go back to your life.”
Neither of us knew how impossible that promise would become.
His home was a Manhattan townhouse protected like a fortress but decorated like somebody’s actual home.
An older woman appeared in the foyer.
“Dominic?”
“Rosa, this is Emma.”
Rosa looked at my uniform.
Then at the clock.
Then at Dominic.
“No.”
Dominic frowned.
“No what?”
“You are not interrogating that child at three in the morning.”
“I’m twenty.”
Rosa looked at me.
“You’re a baby.”
“Rosa—”
“She eats first.”
Leo whispered to me, “Nobody outranks Rosa.”
“I heard that,” Rosa said.
“Exactly.”
Twenty minutes later, I sat in an enormous kitchen eating pasta.
Dominic stood by the counter.
His phone rang.
Leo answered.
His face changed.
“What?”
Dominic straightened.
Leo looked at me.
Then at him.
“They searched Emma’s apartment.”
My fork stopped.
“What?”
“Door was forced. Place turned over.”
My hands began trembling.
Dominic noticed.
“They’re looking for something,” he said.
“I don’t have anything.”
“Maybe they think you do.”
“Why?”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
“Your father.”
I stared at him.
May you like
“What does my father have to do with this?”
“That,” Dominic said, “is what we’re going to find out.”
