Chapter 10 Megan
MEGAN
Disappointment spreads like an ink stain when I wake up and discover that Gio is gone again.
But it’s short-lived. The instant I sit up and slide my legs over the side of the bed, nausea sweeps through me, and I stumble to the bathroom, his absence even more noticeable after the way he took care of me the evening before.
There’s a knock on the bathroom door. “Meggie?” It’s Demi. “Are you alright?”
“I-I’m fine.”
I sit on the floor, rest my head against the wall, and regulate my breathing. It must be anxiety making it hard for me to keep food down. I don’t feel like I have a virus, I don’t have a temperature, and I’m not feverish, and between bouts of nausea I’m ravenous.
“Can I get you anything?” Demi calls out.
“No. Thank you. I’ll be there shortly.”
I drag myself onto my feet and peer at my reflection. I look how I feel. Pale. Tired. Scared.
But that’s what Amber’s father wants, and I’m fucked if I’m going to buckle under the pressure now. Not while he has Amber. There’ll be time for that later, and then Gio can take care of me all he wants.
I turn the shower on, undress, and stand under the hot water, my plastered foot outside the cubicle, until the room fills with steam.
Better. I towel-dry my hair, drag on clean clothes, and wander through to the kitchen where Demi is waiting for me, her serious eyes trying to determine what’s wrong with me.
“I’m fine.” I force a smile. The cabin feels empty without Gio. “I don’t need to see a doctor,” I add when she opens her mouth to protest.
“Will coffee help?”
I nod. “And food.”
She furrows her brow as I ease myself onto a seat at the table. “Toast? Maybe it will settle your stomach.” Her gaze travels down my body, and my face grows hot.
It occurs to me then what she’s thinking. That I’m pregnant. But it can’t possibly be that. I only met Gio a couple of weeks ago, and this isn’t morning sickness because I’ve been sick during the day too.
“Toast will be good.” I smile.
You see, I’m fine. I’m not pregnant, I’m worried, that’s all it is.
“Is there jam? I mean jelly. I’m craving sugar.”
In the end, Demi brings jars of jam, marmalade and honey to the table, and we eat our way through a mountain of toast, and several cups of coffee.
“Did you see Gio before he left?” I try to keep my voice neutral. I’m not sure it worked though.
“Uh-huh.” Demi sits back in her seat. She wants to say more but doesn’t, maybe out of loyalty to Gio or because she’s worried about how I’ll react.
“I know what’s going on.”
She nods. “He said he’s close to getting the info he needs.”
Something in her tone snags my attention. “You don’t believe him?”
“Look,” she releases a steady breath. “I’m a cop. I should be out there looking for your sister, not sitting here while they…” She pulls herself up before she says something she shouldn’t. “Let’s just say that I’m not always au fait with his methods.”
“I’ll come with you.” I stand up. Now that I’ve eaten, I feel as though I could run a marathon, if only my foot wasn’t busted.
“Where are we going?”
“To find Amber.”
She deliberates this, her eyes darting around the kitchen. “I can’t take you, Meggie. Not alone.”
“Why?” I watch her closely with my hands on my hips. “Did Gio give you orders to keep me locked up in here?”
Her lips twitch into a smile. “Not exactly.”
“What then? He isn’t your boss.” I sound like a child stomping my foot to get what I want, but frustration is stinging my eyes with unshed tears.
“No, but you’re in my care, and this isn’t a game.” She is serious.
“Fine. I’ll go without you.”
She stands up. “You know I can’t let you do that.”
We face each other. Two strong women on the same side of the fence, both being held back by Gio.
“Please, Demi. What if this guy doesn’t tell him where Amber is? How long am I supposed to sit here waiting for her to walk in one day and announce that she’s back?”
Demi closes her eyes and inhales deeply. “Fine. We’ll give Gio until lunchtime. If he hasn’t gotten anything useful by then, we’ll go out and look for her. Deal?”
“Deal.” I can’t help smiling.
“We’re taking a team with us though.”
“Yep.”
“And if you try to sneak off, I’ll handcuff you myself.”
I swallow. Gio must’ve told her about the meeting with Lucia. Either that or she knows that she’d do the same if her sister were missing.
“Deal.”
We didn’t set a specific time for lunch, but I figure noon will suffice. Meanwhile, I wander from room to room, testing my weight on my foot, and strengthening my leg muscles. I feel better moving around, like I’m doing something useful.
Demi stays out of my way, and I wonder if she regrets agreeing to look for Amber with me. Perhaps she’s hoping that it won’t come to that if Gio gets what he wants from Tommy Romano.
I understand what she meant though when she said that she doesn’t agree with Gio’s methods.
I don’t know what’s going on in the other cabin, but they’re not sharing a couple of beers over a game of cards or a Hangover movie.
I still don’t know how I feel about it, but I do know that Gio has put me and Amber before his business and before his family, and he’s doing it the only way he knows how.
And without him…
I’m limping around the bedroom when I hear something that makes me freeze. Vibration. Sounds like a phone.
Then I spot the glow of a device beneath Gio’s tablet on the nightstand on his side of the bed.
I move around the room as quickly as I can, banging my knee on the bedpost in the process, my heart knocking against my ribs.
My hands tremble when I retrieve Gio’s cell phone from beneath the tablet before it cuts out. The word Unknown is staring at me from the lit screen.
What should I do?
In any other circumstances, I would assume that it’s a scam call and let it ring out.
But this isn’t any normal situation. My sister has been kidnapped.
My best friend is dead. Gio’s sister has been handed over to a Russian mafia mob in some kind of sick twisted deal to antagonize Gio.
And Enzo is trying to save the family business in New York.
Before I can talk myself out of it, I hit the green button and raise the handset to my ear. “Hello?”
“Hello?” It’s a woman’s voice. “Where’s Giovanni?” She has an accent.
What do I say? My brain chooses now to operate in slow mo like it’s hoping my tardiness will end the call before I make matters a whole lot worse than they already are.
“He isn’t here.” Jeez, I sound like a kid answering a call that’s for my parents’ ears only. “Who is this?”
“Bianca.” Pause. “Who am I talking to?” Before I can get my words out, she says, “Is that Megan?”
How does she know about me?
“Yes.” I’m frantically trying to snatch hold of what little Gio told me about his sister and what has happened to her. I should’ve asked for more details, but whatever was going on, it sounded bad. Probably the understatement of the fucking century. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
“I’ll live.” Now that I know who she is, I can pay attention to her voice, and the urgency in her tone is unmistakable. “Megan, I need your help.”
“M-my help?” I must not have heard her correctly.
“Don’t hang up. I need you to listen to me.”
“Where are you, Bianca?”
“I can’t tell you, but it’s unimportant. Giovanni is keeping someone hostage in Vermont.” Pause. “You’re with him in Vermont, right?”
“Yes.”
She must be talking about Tommy Romano. How does she know about that too? Is someone watching us and reporting back to her? But that makes no sense. Gio said that she was in trouble because of her husband.
“I need you to set him free.”
The words buzz around inside my brain. There must be some kind of mistake. Bianca can’t possibly want me to get involved in Gio’s affairs.
“Megan!” Her voice snaps me back to reality. “Are you still there?”
“I’m still here.”
“Gio should never have captured Tommy Romano. If anyone finds out… Look, this won’t end well. For anyone. I need you to find a way to let Tommy go.”
“Me?” I shake my head even though Bianca can’t see me. “I-I don’t know. Gio won’t listen to me.”
“No! Gio mustn’t know about this.”
Alarm bells start ringing in my head. There’s a reason why she doesn’t want Gio to know. But I can’t connect the dots because she called on Gio’s phone, and she couldn’t possibly have known that I would answer, so what would she have said to her brother if he’d picked up?
“I don’t understand.” My voice sounds feeble compared to the urgency in her tone. “I shouldn’t get involved.”
“Newsflash, Megan. You already are involved. Your sister is missing, right?”
“Right.” I stare at the door, praying that Gio won’t walk in while I’m talking to his sister. “How do you know—”
“Tommy Romano, the guy my brother is holding captive, he’s the pin in this whole fucking grenade, Megan. If he goes bang, so does your sister.”
My heart is thudding, and I feel queasy again. “Wh-what do you mean?”
“I mean that The Fish won’t be happy if anything happens to Tommy, and you can kiss goodbye to ever seeing your sister alive again.”
Bile rises in my throat, and I swallow, the burning sensation lingering at the back of my tongue. “I … don’t know what you want me to do.”
“Find a way to let him go.”
“But—”
“I can help you find your sister, Megan.” She pauses, giving me a chance to process what she just said. “Gio isn’t the only one with contacts. If you do this for me, I promise I’ll help you. I know how it feels to lose people who are close to you.” Her tone softens.
“I’ll try,” I find myself saying before I can talk myself out of it.
Because if she’s telling the truth, and Tommy Romano is the key to finding Amber, then how can I refuse?
“Good girl.” She sounds so much like Gio that my breath hitches. “I knew that I could trust you.” She ends the call.
I’m still standing there, my foot throbbing, Gio’s phone in my hand, when Demi calls out, “Everything okay in there?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
I quickly shove the phone back underneath Gio’s tablet, trembling from head to foot.