19. Vito
Chapter 19
Vito
“For someone about to be reunited with her mother after being held captive and tortured most of the day, you sure don’t look all that happy.”
Andy gives me a sour look. “Mom and I aren’t exactly on friendly terms.”
The leggy redhead is a knockout in her body-hugging lime-green Dior gown. I’m still on the fence about whether my navy double-breasted suit jacket adds to her look or not. Even though she was shivering when I gave it to her, we spent a hot second arguing about where I got the balls from to assume she needed my help.
With anything.
Ever.
She’s barefoot, almost exactly my height. She took off her shoes as we watched Savage and Nyx storm off toward the villa’s front door. They looked like they needed their space, so I didn’t bother following them.
We took the stairs instead, Andy staring around with a sour expression at all the artwork and furnishings we passed, as if she expected to be jumped by ninjas any second. Or maybe she’s not a fan of ostentatious cartel couture. Even I’ll admit things are a bit loud in here, what with all the gilded mirrors and velvet upholstery.
I point to the master suite up ahead, the large double doors firmly closed. The guard stationed outside is watching us with the same matter of fact gaze that most of them wear inside the villa.
“This is us.”
We walk another two paces before Andy grabs my beige polo shirt in a fist and pulls me to the side.
“Jesus! Watch the wool! This is a?—”
“Say some fancy designer brand and I’ll knee you in the fucking balls.”
I chuckle at Andy’s fierce expression. “You sure you’re Viv’s daughter and not Nyx’s sister?”
Andy rolls her eyes. “Are you ever serious?”
I cock an eyebrow as I drag my gaze down her spectacular body. She’s not emaciated like most of the women I get my hands on. I used to think I was into skinny, but Andy’s curvy figure is doing heinous things to the same dick she seems so intent on kneeing.
“I’m seriously considering stalling this meet and greet so we can go somewhere a little more private, if you know what?—“
Her eyes narrow. “I wouldn’t finish that sentence, if you know what I mean.”
A soft click makes me look down.
I stare at the Taurus pointed directly at my dick. “So that’s what happened to Dolce’s sister.”
When in the hell did she have time to go through the glove compartment? Nyx and Savage practically leapt out of the car when we arrived, so I barely had a chance to grab Gabbana, never mind start a search party for the Taurus’ missing twin.
When my eyes climb back to Andy’s, she studies me and then slowly withdraws the gun and slips it back inside her jacket. My jacket.
So that’s where she hid it.
“You have my attention,” I tell her as I take my packet of cigarettes from my pants pocket and light one. “Now what are you going to do with it?”
She grimaces at the plume of smoke I breathe out, coughing and waving her hand in front of her face like I’ve dropped mustard gas on her.
“Christ.” I extinguish the cigarette against a nearby statue of a supplicating virgin, leaving the crumpled butt in the woman’s cupped hand.
“What do you think happened to Nyx? She looked pretty…messed up when she came out.”
“Fucked if I know.” I shrug, and then point at Bryan’s door with my chin. “Let’s go.”
She pulls me back, creasing my shirt even more. “I didn’t trust that Patrick guy one bit.”
I frown at her. “Look, babe?—”
“Don’t call me that.”
“—there’s stuff happening here on levels you’re not even aware of.”
She glares at me. “Ex-cuse me?”
I roll my shoulders. “Cartel things, if you know what I mean.”
Andy sniffs, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Yeah, didn’t think so. See, you’ve got a lot of street smarts, but the thug life operates on a whole different spectrum.” I wave at her to follow as I head for the master suite. “Now come on, stop stalling.”
I hear her scoff, “Thug life,” behind me, but she does it quietly so I let it go.
“Thanks for the help back there, buddy,” I tell the guard sourly as we get within earshot. “She almost blew off my scrotum.”
He chuckles as he opens the door for us.
“Dick.”
Andy falls behind when we step inside Bryan’s master suite.
I get it, it’s a lot to take in. It looks like the entire Baroque Era got drunk and threw up in here. It’s a godsend that most of the place is cloaked in shadows, the available light concentrated in the sleeping area of the massive chamber where Bryan’s king-sized bed is, else we’d have been blinded by all the gold-plated fixtures.
Bryan’s girlfriend, Viv, looks up when we head in their direction. She’s lying propped up beside him, her pudgy feet sticking out from beneath a ruby-red cashmere throw that’s pulled up to her shoulders.
God, please don’t let her be naked.
When she squints over at us and notices Andy, she jumps up so fast her tits are still swaying behind her silky dress robe by the time she reaches us.
“Andy, baby!” She throws her arms around her daughter. Andy immediately stiffens up, and then relaxes almost reluctantly into the embrace. If Viv had been wearing her usual killer stilettos, she’d have been at eye level with her daughter but, barefoot, Andy has two inches on the older woman.
“I don’t believe it. I thought I was dreaming. What are you doing here?” Viv says when she finally pulls back, and if the tears in her eyes aren’t method acting, then shit, I guess she’s really glad to see her daughter again.
It might have made me nostalgic for a mother’s love, but honestly, I don’t even remember mine.
She died a few months after I was born, some or other complication from my birth. Sergio never speaks about her either, and the family photos I’ve seen were few and far between. I’d almost say it’s too painful for him, but then I’d inadvertently be admitting he has a heart, and even after nearly three decades on this earth, I still haven’t seen proof.
Watching Andy reunited with her mother, though? It makes me wonder if mine ever looked at me the way Viv is looking at her daughter.
Such bright hope, maybe even a touch of wonder.
Viv grabs Andy’s hand, lacing their fingers as she pulls her daughter toward the bed. “Come meet my Bryan. Oh, he’s going to be thrilled!”
I tap out a cigarette from my pack, look over at Bryan’s bed, and hesitate. Maybe not the best idea to be smoking close to someone who looks like he’s been knocking on Death’s door for the past hour and is about to start ringing the buzzer.
Sighing, I shove the cigarette back and inch closer to the bed, not wanting to intrude, but always too nosy for my own good.
“…told you she would come!” Viv holds Bryan’s hand, gently worrying at his arm as if she can somehow rouse him from his near comatose state.
Damn, Savage’s father looks even shittier today than he did yesterday. The fuck is wrong with the old man? I’ve never seen him look this bad, not even the time he took three bullets to the gut in a shootout.
Andy seems just as concerned as I am. Without a word, the redhead peels Viv’s fingers off Bryan’s wrist and gently moves her mother aside so she can lean over the bed.
I know she’s Viv’s daughter, but I still feel a current of unease spear through me at seeing her so close to Savage’s dad. I rip my phone out of my pocket, hastily typing out a message while trying to keep an eye on Andy at the same time.
Vito
Brought Andy to Viv.
She’s doctoring Bryan.
Get here when you can.
I move a little closer, coming to stand just behind Andy. “We all good here?”
Andy peels back Bryan’s lids, so smoothly that it’s done before I realize I should be protesting. I grab her arms, drawing her away from the bed.
Dragging, when she doesn’t come willingly.
She jerks out of my grip. “What the hell are you doing?”
“You shouldn’t be touching him.”
“Because you want him to die?” Her voice is low, but there’s such fervor in it that I blink at her in astonishment.
“Yeah, he’s not looking great, but…”
She snaps her eyes away from me. “Mom, tell me there’s some kind of medical equipment in this palatial dump.”
Viv glances at me, then back at Andy, a worried frown creasing her brow. “Ooh, I don’t know, baby. Some of the nurses carry this big red bag around. Is that?—?”
“Yes, that’s it. Where can I find it?” But Andy’s already looking around, not even bothering to wait for her mother’s response.
“I think…” Viv points to the night stand. Andy glances at her, then ducks behind it.
She pulls out a bulging EMT duffel with at least three pockets on the outside that I can see. She hastily zips it open and rummages inside, coming out with a stethoscope. Nudging Viv aside with her elbow, she slips the business end of the device under Bryan’s monogrammed silk pajamas, near his heart.
I glance at my phone. I guess she’s not standing over Savage’s father with a fucking knife, but this isn’t protocol. Viv’s cleared to be this close to the capo of the Domingo cartel solely because she’s fucking him. I think at least a handful of us are silently praying her presence will rouse more than his dick, getting him back on his feet before he kicks the bucket and leaves the cartel in shambles.
Savage hasn’t responded to my message.
Probably too busy rutting Nyx. He tends to do that when they’ve been separated for long periods of time, like more than ten seconds.
“Jesus,” I mutter, shoving my phone back in my pocket. “Hey, how about we step away from the fragile old man and have a chat, me and you?” I call over to Andy.
She throws me a righteous glare over her shoulder, her finger at her lips to shush me.
I hold up my hands in surrender. “Yeah, alright, fuck.”
Viv steps back, her hands clasped in front of her chest like she’s praying as she glances back at me with watery eyes. “Let her be, Toto, dear. She’s so good at her job.”
“Which is what exactly?” Andy said Doc had a job for her, but I don’t recall torturing that info out of her with my flogger.
Viv widens her eyes at me almost comically. They’re plastered in makeup, slightly smeared from her nap, but why the fuck bother when it’s obvious Bryan isn’t taking notes?
“She’s a nurse, honey.”
“Right.” I cross my arms over my chest, studying Andy as she moves the stethoscope around Bryan’s chest, trying to, I don’t know, find a better angle to listen to his heart or whatever. “She go to school and stuff?”
Viv let’s out such a world weary sigh, I immediately regret asking.
“Jesus, nevermind.”
She shakes her head, then grabs my hands in a rattle of gold bangles before I lurch out of reach. “It’s a long story, Toto.” She pats my hand. “You take me out for sushi one day, we’ll talk.”
I grit my teeth, but it’s useless telling Viv not to use nicknames on people. She stops for like one day and then starts up again, sometimes with a different, even more humiliating nickname, as if to punish you for objecting in the first place. Learned that lesson the hard way. She used to call me Vee. Now all I think about when she speaks to me is that scruffy little dog from the Wizard of Oz movie.
Exasperated, I look over at Andy. She has Bryan’s wrist in her hand, her phone in the other. She gently sets his arm down and turns to look at us, throwing the stethoscope’s tube over her neck like a fucking doctor.
“What the hell is he still doing here?” she says, not even bothering to lower her voice. “This man needs to be in ICU.”
Viv claps her hand over her mouth, but just as quickly pulls it away.
“You know it doesn’t work like that, baby. They’ll kill him, or arrest him.”
“He’s dying either way. At least he stands a chance in the hospital.”
My curiosity is flaring up again. “What’s wrong with him?”
Andy scoffs. “How the fuck should I know?”
I smirk at her, shaking my head. “Okay, playtime’s over. If you want to visit with your mom, it’s gonna have to be outside. He needs rest.”
“He needs like a bazillion blood tests and a ventilator,” she snaps, pulling her arm away before I can touch her. “His heart rate is forty-five, he’s barely fucking breathing, and unless he only got shot yesterday, that wound should be looking a hell of a lot better than it is.” She pulls her mouth to the side, eyes slitted. “If you want him to die, just put a bullet in his brain. It’ll be a lot faster.”
“Don’t say that, Andy!” Viv squawks, setting off a percussive riot with her bangles as she waves at her daughter like she’s shooing a fly. “He was getting proper care. Doc! The man you went to see. He was looking after my Bryan. Wonderful man, so knowledgeable.”
“Guess I dodged a bullet there, Mom. That guy doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing,” Andy says bitterly, throwing us both a backward glance as she storms for the door. “ Your Bryan will be lucky if he makes it to next Tuesday.”