Page 107 of Vicious Vows

The phone buzzed again. What if it was important?

Do I listen to him?Of course not.

“Hello,” I answered.

There was no response.

“Are you looking for Marchello?” I asked.

“Who is this?” The voice was irritated and abrupt. The odds of this being Nico were very high, but I didn’t want to assume.

“Why don’t you tell me who you are first, then I’ll answer all your questions.” I swallowed hard. “Within reason.”

“I don’t take orders from you,” he said. “But I’m curious.”

“About what?”

“Is this the woman who has totally blown Marchello’s life apart? The one who is responsible for causing him to make one bad decision after another?”

I bit my bottom lip, taking a little pride in the caller’s perception of me.

“The one and only.” I swung my legs over the bed and gazed out at the city skyline. “But I wouldn’t say all of Marchello’s decisions have been bad since hooking up with me.”

“You’re not standing where I am.”

“Is this Daddy Accetti?”

“Where is my son?” he asked.

“He had to leave in a rush.” I slipped out of bed and stretched my back. My sluggish body suffered the consequences of not sleeping all night. Or maybe it was the rough sex Marchello and I had before he hustled out of here.

“He left the phone with you?”

“Not on purpose.” I yawned. “I told you he was in a hurry.”

“And you thought it was a good idea to answer it?”

“I thought it was important, and I was right,” I said.

“Interesting.”

“You are important, are you not?”

“Extremely, but apparently not important enough for my son to remember to take with him the only means of communication we have to one another.”

“Don’t be so hard on him.” I strolled over to the walk-in closet and peered inside. “He’s dealing with a lot.”

“He might be dealing with a lot less if you weren’t distracting him.”

“Hmm…” I ran my fingers through the dresses Marchello bought me when we first arrived at the safe house. “I think he’d have less problems if you came home, don’t you?”

“We would all have less problems if I came home.”

“Can’t you make that happen?” I tugged the forest green dress with the high slit from the closet. “Doesn’t the cartel know you’re more useful to them in New York than you are wherever it is you are?”

“Wow,” he said with a laugh. “Maybe you should be negotiating for me, Ms. Gallanti.”

I’d rather be an Accetti.

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