Page 71 of The Fixer

That’s not the only reason I need to talk to Hugh. When Leo bared his heart to me, I couldn’t stop thinking about the secret I was keeping from him. By not telling him about Romeo’s threat, I’m just adding to his trauma. He’s dead now, and my brother is no longer in danger. It’s time to come clean.

I reach into my purse for my phone before remembering that the woman at the reception confiscated it. Muttering a curse under my breath, I head downstairs. The same woman is still there, which makes sense—it’s probably only been an hour since we got here. “Can I have my phone back?” I ask. “I need to make a call.”

“You can’t use your phone in the club,” she reminds me, reaching into the cabinet behind herand handing me my phone. “You need to step outside. The reception is terrible at the front of the club, but it’s better at the back. If you go around the building, you’ll get to a patio with a couple of picnic tables. That’s the employee break area, and the coverage is pretty decent there.”

I smile. “Thank you.” I head in the direction she pointed. When I reach the patio, I turn on my phone and call my brother. To nobody’s surprise, he doesn’t pick up. Unlike me, Hugh always screens his calls. It’s deeply annoying. “Hey, it’s me,” I say when the phone beeps for me to leave a voicemail. “Pick up the damn phone. I need to talk to you urgently about Romeo. Call me back as soon as you get this.”

I hang up, then send him a text telling him to call me urgently for good measure. Then I sit on the picnic bench and wait. With any luck, Hugh’s at home, not out clubbing with his friends, and he’ll call me back within the next five minutes.

Then I hear a footstep. Before I can look up to see who it is, a knife is pressed to my throat. “Don’t move,” a man’s voice says from behind me. “Or you’ll get hurt. On your feet, Rosa Tran. You’re coming with me.”

35

LEO

Finding Max Guerra isn’t as simple as you’d think. I head to the club floor, and at least a dozen people intercept me on my way to the bar. Half of them offer congratulations on my upcoming marriage, and the other half want to know why I’m in a sex club less than a week before my wedding. “Rosa’s here with me,” I grit out to the third person who poses the question, resisting the urge to wring his neck. “Obviously.”

“What time is it?” I ask the bartender when I finally get clear of people.

“Nine fifty-five,” she replies. “What can I get you to drink, Signor Cesari?”

If I wanted proof that Liam Callahan only hires the best, here it is. I’m not a member of the club, andI haven’t been to Casanova inmonths,but she still knows my name. “Just a Perrier, please.” Instinct tells me I’m going to need all my wits for my conversation with Max Guerra, and my brain is already fuzzy. I’m riding high on a wave of euphoria. I told Rosa everything, and she didn’t recoil from me. She told me she loves me. Thrice, in fact. Yes, I kept count. I thought she’d leave me when she found out the truth, but all my fears were unfounded.

I settle at the bar and scan the crowds for Guerra. Five minutes go by, then ten. At the twenty-minute mark, I lose patience. I pay for my drink and stride to the front. “Can I have my phone?” I ask the employee at the reception. “I need to check my messages.”

“Of course, Signor Cesari,” she replies. She gets my phone from the cabinet behind her. It’s one of those old-fashioned apothecary cabinets, rows of small wooden drawers, perfect for storing small electronic devices. But the drawer she pulls my phone from is empty.

“Did Rosa already come downstairs for her phone?”

“She did,” she replies. “Signorina Tran stepped out to make a call, and I suggested the back patio. It has the best reception.” She smiles warmly. “Wouldyou tell her I love her designs? The dress I bought from her boutique is my favorite item of clothing.”

Rosa went outside? I stifle my instinctive alarm. I’m being ridiculous. Yes, there are no guards on her tonight, but Venice is a safe city, and we’re not at war. I have nothing to be afraid of. “She’ll be delighted to hear that,” I reply. “How long ago was this?”

“It’s only been a few minutes.”

“I’ll join her there then,” I reply. My footsteps quicken as I head around the building, and I’m practically running by the time I get to the back.

But when I reach the patio, she’s not there. Her phone is, however. It’s lying face down on the ground, the screen cracked.

And I know that something very,verybad has happened.

I’m tryingto unlock her phone when Max Guerra rounds the corner. “Sorry I got held up,” he says. “Elana told me you were out back?—”

A veil of rage rolls over me. I grab the front of his jacket and slam him against the wall. “Where is mywife?” I say through clenched teeth. “What the hell have you done with her?”

“What?” Guerra starts to fight back on instinct, and I knee him in the groin, a vicious, brutal kick that makes him double over in pain. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Bullshit,” I hiss. “You think I believe you? You sent me a message, luring me here. You knew I wouldn’t come to a sex club a few days before my wedding without Rosa. I walked right into your little trap, didn’t I?” I lift him up by the collar and press my forearm against his neck. “You shouldn’t have come back, Guerra. That miscalculation is going to cost you your life.” His eyes bulge as I choke him, and his legs kick out. “Where is Rosa?”

“I. Didn’t. Take. Your. Wife.”

Then, three things happen at once. Liam Callahan runs around a building, a club bouncer right behind him. Cormac. Big bruiser of a guy. Cormac tears me away from Guerra while Liam restrains Max.

And Rosa’s phone starts to ring.

I grab the device. “Hello?”

“Leo?” Hugh Tran says. “Is Rosa there?”