Page 94 of The Right Garza
“What?” I ask.
“I have been trying to keep you busy, because when you look likethat, scared and sad, it…doesn’t make me feel…good,” he says in bland tone. “I don’t always like being the bad guy, you know.”
I’m quick to shake my head, quick to lie, “I’m not sca—”
“Ask me again,” he cuts me off.
“Ask you what?”
“What I’m afraid of.”
This pulls an eye roll from me. For the past three days, after every intense encounter he has with someone or every time I watch him strong-arm someone into doing what he wants. Every time someone storms out with subdued rage and whispered threats, or every time we visit “a business associate” and leave with them glaring daggers at his back, I would ask him, “What are you afraid of, Stefano?”
He is a man unafraid of having enemies but seems to revel in pissing people off. Death does not at all seem to be something he fears. Which is why I’ve asked him the question over and over, to which he would always reply, “Nothing.”
“I’m serious,” he says to me now. “Ask me again.”
I sigh wearily and indulge him. “What are you afraid of, Stefano?”
Leaning forward, he places his elbows on the desk, clasps his hands to his lips, and gives me a different answer this time around. “Falling in love.”
Interest piqued by this unexpected answer, I sit up from my slouch. “Really?”
“As I have told you, the Garzas don’t need us, so they don’t ever come to us for anything. It has always been the other way around,” he says. “Now, for the second time in a matter of a few months, I have my cousin by the balls, at my mercy. And I cannot express to you what a victory that is for me.”
His smile is so smug, so evil, yet so damn disarming. Hot, handsome villains should never be a thing. It’s so unfair. “And how could that have happened, Lexi?” He replies before I can decipher if that’s a rhetorical question or not. “Love. That is what that shit does to you. I do not ever want to be in the position my cousin is in right now. The horror.”
“But what if it was a family member for you?” I ask him. “Youdidsay you value family.”
He grunts. “One thing all Castellos have agreed on is that if any of us are caught in a situation that would mean the downfall and demise of the entire family, we let them die so we can live on to avenge and fight another day. My family knows never to pay a ransom for me and dance like a monkey for anyone. Let me die, then come back stronger and fucking avenge me.”
“That’s…wow.” I don’t even know what to think about that. On the one hand, it makes sense, but on the other hand, it would suck to be caught in a deadly situation and know that no one will be coming to save you.
“When you are in love with someone,” he continues, “it’s a whole different ballgame. So trust me, Trenton will not only find and bring that bitch to us, but he will also make sure that every penny of my five million dollars is there.” He shakes his head and rocks back in his chair. “That love thing is the deadliest, most dangerous thing on earth.”
“Well then,” I say with a wicked smile, “I hope youdofall in love one day. Madly.Deeply. Uncontrollably. You fucker.”
Chapter TWENTY-EIGHT
“What do you want to do?”
Trent
“Where is she?” Igrowl through clenched teeth, white-knuckling the phone at my ear.
Stefano’s cavalier voice travels through the connection. “Curled up on the couch across from me in a hot Chanel number. I think she is pretending to be asleep so she doesn’t have to deal with me. Her toes are wiggling, though. Such pretty toes. Do you lick them, cousin?”
Always with the bullshit. I can almost smell the stench of smug on his breath. “Let me talk to her.”
“This ahostagesituation, Trenton, not a babysitting gig. You can’t just call and ask to talk to your baby and I’ll hand over the phone.”
“The day I start murdering people,” I grit out, “you’re gonna be the first on my list, motherfucker.”
He laughs, and it’s drenched in hubris. “I will already have died a thousand deaths by the time you ‘perfect’ half-breed Garzas dare to cross over to the dark side.”
I hang up and resist the urge to smash my phone through the windshield.
We’ve just touched down in Montana, following a trail on Alvin Matthews. A Background check was done on “Ellie Harper” months ago after her little stunt with Lexi in Vegas, so I’d already known she’s not who claims.
