Chapter 14 #2
“Relax, Savannah,” Lyam says. “This is Princess. She’s tame.”
He strokes the long neck of the snake. I shudder when it flicks out its tongue.
“What are you doing with that thing wrapped around your neck?” I completely forgot he had snakes for pets.
He shrugs and grins. “I was cold.”
“I can knit you an actual scarf,” I mutter as he enters the room.
“You interviewed in here?” Lyam asks. I see his gaze catch on the open door to the second room. His brows rise. “You’re my fucking idol, Thayer.”
Thayer shrugs, scowling, and sits in a chair.
He jerks his chin to a chair for Lyam to sit in, then gestures for me to come to him.
Lyam looks curiously from me to Thayer, then back again.
I can tell there are questions he wants to ask.
I hope he doesn’t ask them because I don’t know the answers myself.
When I reach Thayer, he pulls me onto his lap. My cheeks flame while Lyam watches as Thayer whispers in my ear, “Even in front of my brothers, you belong to me. You’ll do what I say and when. Is that clear?”
I wonder if this is part of the job, part of the scam, for me to masquerade as his slave and hide my identity. I wonder if he’ll still be like this when the people after me are no longer a threat.
I wonder if I want him to.
I gasp when he grips my leg. “Answer me.”
I nod. “Yes. Yessir!”
Lyam doesn’t even look at us.
So this is normal for them, then. My whole body warms against Thayer’s, as he wraps his arms around me like he’s buckling me into a seat, only the seat is him. I shiver when he puts his mouth to my ear. “Very good, Savannah. You passed the test.”
Without explanation, he pulls out a laptop and hits the power button. Fabien and Nicolette sit on the screen in front of us, and here I am sitting in Thayer’s lap.
There’s no turning back. Even if this was part of the act, there’s no reason for him to have me sitting on his lap when no one else is here, and no one else can see me. I know then that Thayer’s making an emphatic declaration for his brothers to see: we’re together.
Fabien’s gaze darkens, and Nicolette looks as if she wants to reach through the screen and smack Thayer. I’m suddenly glad it’s hard to make eye contact on a conference call.
I swallow hard and lace my fingers in Thayer’s.
Nicolette pulls herself together and gives me a little wave. I give her a little wave back.
Phew.
I want to reach out into the screen and hug her. I want her to tell me it’s okay, that no one else is going to die because of me… including me.
I want her to tell me what it’s like being in love with a mobster.
Fabien clears his throat. “Savannah, how are you?”
“Other than being nearly smothered by your very overprotective brother? I’m peachy.”
Nicolette smiles and actually laughs. “Tell me about it.” She turns to Thayer. “Thayer, are you taking advantage of my little sister?”
Oh, yeah, my sister and I have a lot to talk about.
“Taking advantage?” he asks in that voice that I immediately know means business. “What do you mean?”
I sit up straighter, even though I’m on his lap. “No one’s taking advantage of anyone, Nicolette, and you and I have a lot of catching up to do.”
Nicolette blinks. Lyam laughs out loud, and Fabien clears his throat. “Tell us what happened, Lyam. Fill us in.”
Lyam straightens in his seat. “Nicolette, Savannah, you’re family now. No reason to hide anything.” He strokes his damn snake. She practically purrs.
I sit still, listening and hoping that the damn thing can’t reach me.
“First, I want to know how much you two know.”
Nicolette’s eyes widen. “About what?”
“Who we are. What we do.”
Nicolette looks at Fabien. He shrugs. “Go on.”
Nicolette smiles. “You guys are a badass crime ring. No one fucks with you. You’re friends with the Rossis.
You help their Italian wine business as a front, and God knows what you do behind the scenes.
Fabien’s like the C.E.O., Thayer’s the scary one who kicks ass, and Lyam’s the smart one who knows all about operations and computers and shit like that. ”
Lyam’s eyebrows rise. “That’s a little more than I thought you’d know.” He turns to me. “You follow?”
I nod. “Of course.”
“I have networks I run. Servers,” Lyam continues.
“I’ve got spies and accomplices from here to the States, throughout Southern Asia, and in multiple cities throughout the world.
If I want to flag someone or something, it’s done.
So as soon as you became an eyewitness, I put out feelers.
Someone saw you. That someone asked around, looking for answers.
Your waitress at a nearby restaurant pulled your tab, where you signed your real name and used a credit card tied to your real address. ”
Fabien curses.
“It was only a matter of time,” Thayer says placidly. I look at him in surprise. His grip tightens on me. “We knew they’d find her. She’s too difficult to hide. She doesn’t blend in like other girls.”
He runs his hand down the length of my thigh, out of the sight of the others.
“You act like you expected this,” Nicolette says, her tone hard.
“I did,” Thayer responds. “Why do you think I brought her to a place where I was most feared?”
The Savage. They call him The Savage.
My heart beats rapidly.
It’s time I found out why.
“Where you’ve got the most control,” Lyam says as if he understands this perfectly. “Of course. So rumor has it she’s been traced back to us.”
What has he done?
“Is Maman safe?” Fabien asks.
“Yes.” Thayer’s voice rumbles behind me. “I’ve had her moved and tripled her guard. No one will touch her.”
I feel the wall of his chest at my back, the tightness of his arms around me. Thayer’s a fortress no matter the threat.
“It looks like they circled Paris first, but the second trip, they took Cousin Milo with them. They interrogated and beat him and dropped him back on our doorstep. He won’t tell me what he’s confessed.”
Oh my God. One person dead, another in hiding, and a third beaten because of me? Where will this stop?
Fabien nods. “I’m not worried. They took him because he’s an easy target, but even he doesn’t know where you are. We’ve done well not to disclose the information on your whereabouts.”
Thayer nods. “Only members know about us.”
I turn to them. “What about the new hires, though? Were they all members?”
Lyam nods. “Yes.”
The doubts I had before resurface now that I know those women, the ones who applied for the job of willing servants, are already members here.
“Well, how do you know that the members don’t talk, though?” I mean, that part seems obvious, I would think.