Fuck.
French words and laughter surround me, and I wonder if they’re talking about me. It seems like it from the way they glance away from me when I meet their eyes, and the way they laugh with their backs to me. An unpleasant, sick feeling festers in my stomach and I remember what Tony told me.
They want a fucking spectacle? I’ll give them that.
I lift the napkin sitting on the table to my eyes and I screw up my face.
Cry. Cry, damn it.
Sobs break from my throat just as the door from the front of the restaurant swings open. The French chatter drops as my voice echoes through the restaurant, and suddenly Johnny’s hand is on my back.
“What’s the matter?”
“He took me,” I wail. “He took me from the apartment. I stepped outside f-for some fresh air and he grabbed me. Then he took me t-to his motel—”
“All right,” Johnny says in a leaden voice.
“He had a gun to my head. I thought I was going to die.”
I lift my head from the tissue as the men glance at each other, looking more sympathetic.
“He wouldn’t let me leave—”
“That’s enough,” Johnny says.
“It’s not nearly enough.”
Tony’s gravelly voice rumbles behind me, and my sobs subside as he takes both shoulders in his hands.
“Johnny, I got to talk to you.”
“All right. Let’s go to my office.”
He stands up, and to my surprise Tony tugs my shoulders. “C’mon.”
Making a show of wiping my face, I follow Johnny into the back, passing Tommy’s stony face. We file into Johnny’s office, taking seats behind his desk as he takes his.
“Johnny, we need to—”
“Shut the fuck up.”
My heart jumps at the sudden heat blazing from his voice. His hands grip the edge of the desk, his knuckles white.
“Tommy told me everything.”
Fuck.
“Told you what?”
I stare at Tony, surprised by the hostility in his tone. He’s the boss! You can’t talk like that to him!
“I know the wedding and pregnancy were part of a giant scam. I know about the money, and I’ve already taken my cut.” Johnny fumes at me across the table. “That’s thirty thousand dollars you’ll never see again.”
Behind my simmering fear, I feel a ripple of anger. He has no right to that money.
“I never took a dime from her, John. It is real, she showed me the tests.”
“I don’t give a fuck. You disrespected me by lying to my face. I should fucking kill you.”
Tony clenches the arms of his chair, staring at Johnny. “What are you going to do about Rafael?”
“Why the fuck is that my problem? As far as I’m concerned, he’s Vincent’s problem.”
“He tried to kill me. Did you forget about that?”
Johnny takes a pen from his desk and bends it in his hands, finally hurling it back down.
“That was before I knew you lied to me and brought all this bullshit on this family.”
The breath catches in my throat as the last words fall from Johnny’s lips like a battle-axe. Without their support, we really are fucked.
“I won’t deny that she came to me and asked me to do this for her.”
Johnny smiles bitterly.
“But I never took a dime from her, and she is carrying my kid. That’s a fact. You want to believe a fucking Yankee over me, that’s your fucking problem.”
The boss’ eyes flash dangerously. “I’m not convinced. Your wife gave quite a performance outside, when I know for a fact she left your apartment willingly because I had Tommy watch the place.”
A knock at the door disturbs us, but I’m almost grateful for the intrusion. The tension between the two men is red hot, and deadly. The veins in Tony’s neck stick out as if he was screaming. He turns around and snarls at the door.
“What?”
“Police, open the door!”
“Who the fuck let them in the restaurant?”
There’s a brief moment of silence before the officer knocks on the door again. Having no choice, Tony stands up and opens the door. Men in blue stand at the threshold, Johnny’s men not far behind them.
“Tony Vidal?”
My husband crosses his arms. “That’s me.”
“You’re under arrest.”
TONY
Elena’s face pales as they slap handcuffs around my wrists.
I grimace as the prick cop yanks on them. “What the fuck for?”
“Attempted murder.”
“Attempted murder? On who?”
He ignores my question and reads me my rights as drags me from the office, Johnny’s malevolent face fixed on Elena. No, I can’t leave her right now. I can’t fucking go to jail right now.