Page 84 of Ruthless Creatures
I stand there listening for a few moments, but he doesn’t leave. Finally, he curses under his breath.
“Okay, Nat. I’ll go. But I’m gonna be keeping an eye out for you. This isn’t over.”
His boots make heavy thuds as he walks off.
I wonder if by “keeping an eye out” he actually means “keeping an eyeon.”
I have a bad feeling he’s decided to make it his personal mission to keep tabs on me.
I go into the kitchen, sit down at the table, and open my bag. Everything is there as it was, my wallet and phone, lipstick and keys.
I’m shocked when I realize I didn’t lock the front door last night when Kage and I left. I didn’t notice the door was unlocked when we came back, either.
If I’m going to be a mafia king’s queen, I’ll have to be smarter about things like that.
When my cell phone rings, I jump, startled. I don’t recognize the number, so I’m hesitant when I pick up.
“Hello?”
“The leader of the Russian mafia in America is a dude named Maxim Mogdonovich, a Ukrainian. Isn’t that interesting, a Ukrainian in charge? You’d think ethnic Russians would be a little pissed.”
“Sloane! Oh, thank god. Are you okay? You’re safe? Where are you?”
She laughs in delight, sounding like she’s on the lido deck ofa cruise ship, cocktail in hand. “Babe, I’m fine. You know me. I always land on my feet. The question is: How areyou?”
I collapse facedown onto the kitchen table and groan.
“That’s what I thought. Have a glass of wine, it’ll make you feel better.”
“It’s nine o’clock in the morning.”
“Not in Rome, it isn’t.”
“I’m not in Rome!”
“No, but I am.”
I bolt upright in the chair.“What?”
“Stavros has a private plane. We flew out as soon as we left the restaurant. I think he’s terrified your man will string him up by his balls if anything happens to me. I’m really going to enjoy you being the moll of a mafia kingpin, by the way.”
“Excuse me, but I’m nobody’smoll.”
“You don’t even know what it means.”
I hate it when she’s right. “I will if you give me a sec to google it.”
“It means gangster’s female companion.”
“There’s a word for that?”
“There’s a word for everything. Example: You know that little landing at the top of a flight of stairs where you have to turn and go up another set of stairs?”
“Yeah?”
“That’s called a halfpace. Isn’t that cute?”
“You’re drunk. Is that it?”
