Chapter Eight
“You know who you’ve reached. You know what to do.” The message center beeped and Alex tried to breathe normally and keep the panic at bay as he coasted down I-1 toward Cutler.
“Celina, it’s Alex – again,” he growled out. “Look, I don’t give a flying fuck if you’re getting laid, but I saw that fat old man leaving the restaurant without you so I don’t know where you went when your car is still there. I don’t want to call your old man so don’t make me…”
He disconnected the call and screamed, “FUCK!” as he pounded on the steering wheel.
I should have fucking known she’d pull some shit like this!
Like everyone else, he knew Celina’s reputation for evasion but he had been so sure she would behave.
She isn’t giving fuckface a hard time, he thought, circling the neighborhood. Or maybe she is and he’s not saying anything, the gloating fucker…
Alex was torn over what to do.
It would fucking figure that she’s actually in trouble the one fucking time she’s under my watch.
If he called the don and told him he had lost his daughter, Alex could kiss any promotion goodbye, whether or not Celina was in trouble.
If something had happened to her, he would need to get his legal affairs in order because he would be dead.
But if she’s hurt or kidnapped or some shit and I don’t tell the boss and he finds out later…
Alex was becoming more and more angry thinking about the possible scenarios playing out over and over in his mind. He had been driving around, calling Celina for two hours without having a clue where she had ended up.
He reasoned that she would need to come back for her car and he put a tracker on her car to ensure he would get notified if it began to move, but so far it had remained in the parking lot of the restaurant.
I should call Ariano and find out if there’s any place I should be looking for her, but he would probably go right to Giovanni and tell him I lost the little bitch. That asshole has been a thorn in my side since the day he got dumped here from Jersey.
Before Ariano’s arrival, Alex’s rise through the ranks had been inevitable.
The men were both the same age, but Alex had much more experience in the ways of the family and he couldn’t understand what Giovanni had seen in the snake from New Jersey.
Alex had been sure that Ariano Francisco would be short-lived on the Miami family scene, but instead the bastard had gone from associate to soldier in weeks.
When talk of a new capo had started, Alex had suddenly become worried.
He knew that he had earned the position, but the boss seemed to favor the blue-eyed kid from nowhere.
He doesn’t even fucking look Italian. I don’t care how far north he’s from, it’s not right to be blond.
Still, Alex had been certain he was next in line to be capo.
Even after Giovanni had given Ariano the gruelling but coveted job of guarding his sexy as sin daughter.
It’s better that I’m not in charge of watching Celina full-time. She’d probably fall in love with me and then I’d have to break her heart. I mean, I’d fuck her first but then I’d have to tell her to quit hanging on.
No, Alex was certain that Ariano would fail miserably at keeping Celina reined in, and then inevitably, the promotion would fall directly into Alex’s lap as God intended.
Well, he had been certain. Suddenly, with Celina gone AWOL, he could see his career, and his life for fuck’s sake, flashing before his eyes.
“FUCK!” he roared again, pulling the car off to the side of the road so he could think more clearly.
He dialled Celina’s number one last time but of course, it only rang until it reached voicemail.
“You know who you’ve reached. You know what to do.” Beep!
“That’s it, Celina! I’m calling your father. He can deal with your crazy bullshit. I’ve had enough of this.”
As he hung up, he had this fleeting image of Celina picking up her voicemail messages and laughing as some asshole was going down on her.
“Listen to this idiot!” she laughed in his mind. “Oh yes, right there! That’s the spot.”
He was hard and angry, his face flushed as he banged his forehead against the steering wheel.
Grabbing for his phone, he dialed another number in his contact list.
“Hey, Carm, it’s me,” he sighed, weighing the decision of what he was about to do.
I can trust Carmello. He likes me more than he fucking likes Ariano for sure. He’ll do this and keep his mouth shut.
“You still there, Al?”
“Yeah,” Alex grunted. “I need you to do me a favor but I need you to keep your mouth shut, capish?”
“You know I will, paesano. What do you need?”
“I need you to track Celina DiMarco’s cell phone.”
He paused tensely after he made the demand, waiting for Carmello to refuse.
Instead, he laughed.
“If only this was the first time I’d gotten this call,” he snickered. “Yeah, hang on a sec. I got this.”
Alex’s heart began to thump in anticipation.
He wondered if Carm would be able to find her, or if she was pulling some other stupid stunt.
When I get my hands on that little cunt…
“Okay I got it. Want me to text you the address? It’s in Little Havana.”
“Yeah, text it,” Alex replied, disconnecting his Bluetooth.
A second later, his cell dinged and he peered at the address.
“Now I got you, you little bitch. Think you can make me look like a – “
Suddenly his voice froze and his dark eyes widened in shock.
No…that can’t be right.
But he knew that address. It was etched in his brain like a bad “MOM” tattoo.
His stomach lurched in anger and with trembling fingers, he called yet another number in his call list.
“Yeah?”
“It’s Alex. What are you doing?”
“Sleeping,” he muttered. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Alex drawled slowly, honing his ears for background noise. “You alone?”
“Just me and my right hand, stronzo. What the fuck do you want, Alex? You got a problem with Celina?”
Anger washed over him like a tidal wave and he realized that he was being played for a fool, not just by Celina but by Ariano also.
“Nope,” Alex replied shortly. “Just calling to say hi.”
“Fuck off, Alex,” Ariano replied shortly, hanging up the phone.
Cold fury choked him and he tried to steady his clenched fists.
I was right. She’s fucking him. And not only are they fucking, they’re trying to make me look like a fool in front of Giovanni.
He reached forward to restart the Mercedes, his mind running through bloody retribution scenarios, one after the other.
Get a grip, he told himself tersely. Don’t lose control, and don’t let them know that you know.
No, what he had planned would ensure that no one ever fucked with him again.
And, he thought smugly to himself, I’m going to get my promotion too.