Roman

The next morning, Abel, my father and I rode in a limo together in silence. The city flashed by as we traveled out of Verona, the roads becoming uncovered and gritty. The apartment blocks turned to houses, then to farmhouses, then to stretches of open land.

Nerves jumbled through my veins. I refused to let myself fidget. There were so many unknowns. So many things that could go wrong. The front of my shirt itched but I dared not scratch it.

The chief pulled out a small black device the size of a pea. "This is a recording device."

"You want me to wear a wire?"

"We need Giovanni to confess to something, anything illegal. To smuggling drugs, to ordering a murder. Just get me something."

I hesitated. Walking into the lion's den wearing the wire was a stupid idea. Too risky. What if they searched me?

But the chief was right. They needed something other than my testimony. My father's lawyers would argue that I fabricated it to cut a deal.

It wasn't his ass on the line, though.

I stared at the tiny black device. I didn't have a good feeling about this.

We pulled up to a deserted farmhouse outside of the Verona outskirts. I stepped out of the limo and slid on my sunglasses as the early morning light shot over the thick trees. In a field, now overgrown with weeds and stalks as high as a grown man, a huge wooden barn rose, paint peeling, thick dust on the windows.

"Where are we?" I asked, pretending I hadn't known about this place. That I wasn't here just last night.

"A property we hold in a hidden subsidiary company," my father said. He directed us towards the large barn door, partly opened in anticipation of our arrival. Several men stood holding rifles in their hands.

"What's this?" I asked as a suited man standing by the door began to wave a metal wand over Abel's body. It ticked as it went over him.

Abel turned and smirked at me as the metal wand was waved over his back. "A bug detector. Sensitive stuff going on inside. We want to make sure that no one's stupid enough to wear a wire."

Don't fucking flinch.I stood like a lump of metal as the bug detector went over my father. A bead of sweat rolled down the small of my back. "Is this really necessary?"

My father glared at me. "Yes. For me. And you."

The metal wand waved over him. The man holding it nodded. "You're clear."

All eyes fell on me. I could refuse to be tested. Then I'd probably be strip-searched.

Just get this over with, Roman.

I stepped up to the man and held my arms out, looking bored. "Well, go on then."

He waved the wand over me. Tension coiled in the air as the thing clicked. I felt Abel staring. I knew he was waiting for the wand to start shrieking.

"Just remember," he smiled, "I'm watching."

This scan was probably his idea. He'd be the first to put a bullet in me if it went off.

"Turn around, please."

I spun slowly. My vulnerable back was to Abel and my father. All those eyes. All those guns. I felt naked, under a spotlight. I refused to flinch as the wand made another pass over me.

"That's all, sir. You're clear."

I let myself release a tiny breath of relief before I turned to face Abel, his eyes wide with disbelief. He thought he had me.

I smirked. "What? Did you think I'd not pass your stupid test?"

Abel snarled. I strode past him into the farmhouse as if he didn't exist.

Inside I glanced around, pretending to take it all in. It was an old barn with a high roof and open rafters, the hay bales still standing about the place. It had been an old abattoir. The air still stank of soured blood and old death, sending a ripple of anxiety through me.

Abel and my father followed me. The barn doors were shut behind us. I turned to my father. "What are we doing here, then? Playing with hay?"

A small smile played on his lips. "We're going to send a message to Chief Montgomery with proof that we have his daughter."

"Proof?"

"Yes." My father smiled at me, the cruel, gleaming smile of a snake. "You're going to cut off her pretty little finger."