Page 60 of The Mafia's Captive

I take out my phone and open an app I hadn’t used in quite a while. Her tracker is on and working. It is on her body too, according to the app. I breathe out a sigh of relief. She’s in the building, the tracker says. Another deep sigh.

“She’s at the casino. I’ll go get them both.” That comforting anger builds up again as I enter the elevator and push the button to the casino floor. She’s going to get it when I see her. Being mad at me didn’t give her the right to wander off to wherever she wanted, especially in a public place such as the casino. And Rob was going to be in hot water for letting her out. He should know better instead of being swayed by pretty eyes.

The doors of the elevator open to a sparse floor. It’s not as busy as other days and this gives me some relief. Large crowds can be used to hide spies. Smaller crowds also make it easier to look for her. I turn down to my phone to check exactly where she is. It looks like she’s at one of the blackjack tables. Is she playing blackjack? Maybe she was bored and chose to play at the tables for some time. That could be forgiven, I guess. Either way, the close I get to the tables, the more I yearn to see her again. A day away from her and I miss her so much to forgive her for any slight.

The day away from her had given me space to see things from her point of view. She was right about me not telling her about her father. I shouldn’t have done that. She didn’t deserve the hurt I brought on her and I was willing to do whatever it takes to earn her forgiveness. I no longer want to hurt her as a form of revenge. To think about it, I don’t think I ever wanted to do any harm to her. The thought of seeing an inch of her body hurt is anathema to me.

I reach the blackjack tables and scan the room. I can’t find her. The app says she’s here. My heart races. I can’t find Rob, whose large frame should be easy to spot in a place like this. I glance down at my phone again. The red dot is pinging at about twenty feet away from me. I look up. Twenty feet away is… I rush over to the blackjack table where she’s supposedly is. Except she isn’t there, her friend is. Without thinking, I grab her wrist and raise it to her face. She has the bracelet on. Her eyes are wide with shock and so are the people at the table. I don’t care. There’s only one thing I want to know. “What have you done to Corina?”

20

She looks scared for her life. As she should because I’m on the edge of doing the worst. “You better speak if you want to keep your hide.” She starts shaking. Gone is the false bravado she likes to put out. She is like a little girl lost and it almost makes me sympathetic towards her until I glance down at the bracelet on her wrist and the possibilities that came to mind as to how it could have landed there. I strengthen my resolve. I dragged her to the interrogation room without thinking about anything else except to find what happened to Corina. I should focus on that.

“I’m going to ask this once and only once. It’s your choice to tell me the truth. If you lie, and I am going to find out that you’ve lied, I will torture you, cut you up to pieces, and throw you in the dumpster.” Tears stream down her face. Good. At least she has emotions. “Where is she?”

Jesse gulps audibly. She looks away from my face to behind me. Sal, who’s standing next to Colin, came soon after, probably having seen me dragging her over here. I follow the direction of her gaze. Sal jerks in surprise, but only slightly. Anyone could have missed it, if they didn’t know Sal like I do.

“Are they intimidating you? They can do much worse than standing there. I could instruct them to break your fingers one by one until you talk. Do you want that?”

She shakes her head.

“No? Good. Now, tell me why you have that bracelet on your wrist.”

She glances again at Sal. This time I notice something. It’s as if they’re communicating with each other. A new perspective dawns on me as a lot of pieces fall into place. It’s so obvious now, I should have seen it coming. I think back to the intel I got about Jesse’s sister’s medical bills and the expensive clinic she in. And a lot more than that. Which means one thing that is so obvious, but I had missed. Jesse is the thief. Not Corina, who covered for her. Without turning my attention away from Jesse, I say to Sal, “Can you bring me the pills?”

“Are you sure you want to do that?” The hesitance in his voice confirms my suspicions. “Go get the pills, Sal.”

“Sure thing, boss,” he says and leaves. I take a seat opposite Jesse. She is pretty. She reminds me of a lot of the many beautiful women in this city. Generically attractive in a boring way. “How long have you been stealing from me?”

“I never stole anything!”

“Remember what I said to you. You would be better off telling the truth.”

“I am.”

“Are you? Are you going to tell me about your relationship with Sal or are you going to lie about that too?” Shock renders her silent. She looks like she’s thinking over what her next response should be. Before she can say anything, I add, “I know a lot more about you than you realize and that boyfriend of yours, Sal, let me just say you’re not the only one. He’s not as loyal to you as you are to him. Before you put in your lot with him, know that he won’t do the same for you.” I don’t know, of course, if any of what I said is true. I bluff my way into interpreting the type of relationship they have and hope if I’m right. “I’ll ask you once again, where is she?”

She looks again beyond me to Colin and then starts crying outright. Her reaction worries me even more. What have they done to her? Corina, wherever you are, I hope you’re alright. “Jesse?”

“I swear I had nothing to do with it! I didn’t know what he was going to do!”

“What did he do?”

In between sobs, she starts her tale. “I was supposed to lure her in. That was my job. He told me it was only going to be a minor kidnapping, and you were going to pay her ransom and no one was supposed to be harmed.”

Colin jumps in. “What happened Rob?”

She looks up at him. “I’m sorry,” she says shaking her head, “No one was supposed to get hurt, and I was supposed to get Corina out of your apartment, but she refused and Rob stopped us and…”

“And what!” I could feel my blood boiling.

“I’m sorry. Sal… Sal killed him. You have to understand that he was in the way.”

“So you decide to kill him.”

“It didn’t happen like that!”

“Where is she?”

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