Vendetta(70)

I struggled against his arms. “Get off me!” I shrieked. I dug my nails into his fists as hard as I could until they snapped away.

“Fine,” he replied. “Just get out of my face.”

I jumped back, widening the gap between us. “You’re a sick freak!” I shouted, raising a fist at him as adrenaline pumped in my veins. “How could you do that to me? To anyone!”

Robbie’s grin stretched into his bruised cheeks. “Oh, come on. You must know that banging Michael Gracewell’s daughter means serious novelty points.”

“You mean raping,” I spat, circling him.

“Don’t tell me you’re going to try and fight me?” he sneered.

He was the ugliest person I had ever encountered. “I hate you.”

“Relax, Sophie. I wouldn’t even touch you now.”

The way he said my name like it was some dirty word made me feel physically ill. “You’ll pay for this!” I watched with satisfaction as the color drained from his face. His eyes grew wide and he hugged himself tighter. But I was wrong to think my words had suddenly started to scare him, because Robbie wasn’t looking at me anymore; he was looking over my shoulder.

Out of nowhere, a third voice joined our conversation. It was eerily calm in contrast to our heated exchange.

“Ciao, Robert. Long time no see.” I would have mistaken the dulcet tone as familiar — friendly, even — if I weren’t so sure it belonged to Luca Falcone. I watched Robbie throw his hands up and recoil as Luca stepped out from behind me like he had just sprung up out of the grass. How long had he been there, listening? I turned around, searching for his brothers, but he was alone. “I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation,” he said calmly. “I hope I’m not intruding.”

“Get the hell away from me, dude, or I’ll call the police.” Robbie’s voice quivered an octave higher than usual and the smugness rapidly vanished from his face.

“Robert,” Luca said. “I think you need to calm down. You seem very highly strung.”

“You broke my ribs!”

“Only a couple,” said Luca dismissively.

“What do you want?”

Luca’s fake-friendly voice was almost more harrowing than his threatening one. “I just want to talk to you about something, is that acceptable?”

He took another step forward and Robbie stumbled backward. “I don’t know you. What the hell would we talk about?”

“Doesn’t your dad own a furniture business?”

Robbie’s eyes widened. “How do you know that?”

Luca took another step, closing the gap between them. “It’s common knowledge, right?”

“I guess.”

“And you work for him, don’t you?”

By now I could only see the back of Luca’s head as he made his way forward, ignoring my presence completely.

“Yeah, I do,” Robbie said, sounding fractionally more confident.

“Good.” Luca crossed his arms. “Let’s put our little bit of history aside for just a second, OK? The past is the past, and I think we should move on from it. This is really none of my business anyway.”

Robbie nodded like one of those bobble dogs on car dashboards.

“I’m in the market for some new furniture, believe it or not.”

“Really?”

“And I thought, to make up for our unfortunate run-in a little while ago —” Luca pointed his finger at Robbie’s bruised face, twirling it round and round for added effect. “Do you remember that?”

“Y-yeah.”

“And that?” He indicated toward his rib cage.

“Obviously,” Robbie hissed, cradling himself with his meaty arms.

“Well, I thought, to make amends, that I might send some business your way. I need a lot of stuff.”

Robbie relaxed his shoulders.

“I’m not a bad guy,” Luca continued, and I got the sense he was smiling — an event rarer than a solar eclipse. “So why don’t we talk some stuff over?”

“Now?” Robbie cocked an eyebrow. “The movie’s about to start again. Why don’t we do it when I’m at work?”

“The matter is time-sensitive, so let’s talk now.” Luca clapped his hand on the back of Robbie’s neck. “Come on.” He pulled him away from the park and toward the trees. “Wave good-bye to Gracewell,” he prompted. “She’s going to be staying here.”

I sensed the warning in his words, but as I watched them disappear behind the taco truck, I found myself contemplating an unexpected dilemma. The movie’s about to start, I reminded myself, yet my feet were leading me toward the trees and not back to where Millie was sitting on the lawn, waiting — impatiently, no doubt — for the tacos I now had no intention of buying her.