Total pages in book: 206
Estimated words: 192184 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 961(@200wpm)___ 769(@250wpm)___ 641(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 192184 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 961(@200wpm)___ 769(@250wpm)___ 641(@300wpm)
There was silence for a second while I pushed away thoughts of him with someone else. I heard the door chimes again, then he spoke.
“Tell ya what, you wanna do it, that’s fine. You can just take care of me tonight. I can wait till tomorrow to take care of you if I must.”
I laughed. “Oh, if you must, huh? How chivalrous of you.”
“I try.”
“Hmpf.”
Bianca and Tessa came into the room at the same time. They both looked freaked out.
“The police are here for you, Tia,” Tessa said.
“What?”
“Tia!” Tommy boomed. He’d obviously heard them.
“The police are here for me,” I whispered. “I didn’t call them, Tommy. Honestly, I didn’t.”
The girls were looking weirdly at me.
“Go see what they want. Don’t hang up. Give the phone to my sister.”
“Kay.” I passed the phone to Tessa and then walked stiffly out to the salon where two uniformed officers stood at the front desk.
“What’s going on?” I asked my sister.
“Two cops came in and they asked for her.”
“Where’s Nino?”
“Sitting out front, reading a magazine. What could he have done?” Tessa was snarky.
“Fuck. What’s going on now?”
“I’m in the back room, hang on while I go see. They’re leaving with her.”
“Hang up and then give her the phone. Nino’s calling on my other line. I’ll call you back.”
I linked over. “Nino!”
“T, the cops have her. They told her they wanted to ask her questions at the station. She said they should ask her here, but they insisted. She said she programmed my number in her phone and will call me to come get her when she’s done. Tessa just gave her the phone. They asked who I was to her and she told them I’m her cousin’s husband. I’m following the squad car to the station and I’ll wait there for her.”
“I’m meeting you there. Which one?”
I hung up after he told me and got into my car.
Was this another test? It couldn’t be after our talk last night. Couldn’t be. Could it? Let me out of his sight and then arrange for me to sit down with the cops to see what I’d say? I knew that the Ferranos had some cops in their pocket because of what Rose had said to me at the grocery store that day.
When I got into the station, the male and female officer led me to a small, windowless interview room, containing a circular table with chairs around it.
“Is Tommy Ferrano holding you against your will?” the male cop, who’d introduced himself as Officer Francis, asked. He was a tall, older Black man. His partner was a thirty-something pretty blonde named Officer Spence.
“Tommy Ferrano is my fiancé,” I said, looking at them like they were crazy.
“He’s not holding you against your will?”
“What? No!” I exclaimed.
“Is Tommy Ferrano involved in illegal activities, organized crime?”
“Huh?”
“Mobster-like activities. You know: guns, prostitution, drugs, loan sharking? That sort of thing?”
“Tommy’s family owns a construction company, some restaurants,” I answered.
“Your father was arrested the day before yesterday,” the female cop said.
I blanched. “He was?”
“Trafficking crack cocaine, methamphetamines, DMT, MDMA. He tells us he’s selling drugs for the Ferrano family, that he has no choice because they are holding you for ransom. He wants to go into witness protection and wants you safe and he’s willing to testify to facts related to illegal activities by...” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small spiral notebook, “Thomas Ferrano Sr., Thomas Ferrano Jr., Dario Ferrano, James Michaelson, Edward Nichols, Nino Rossi, and several others.” She flipped the book closed and looked at me expectantly.
I shook my head. “My father has been acting strangely. We suspected he was using drugs. I really don’t think this has anything to do with my fiancé.”
I felt like I was going to hurl the contents of my stomach all over her shiny black shoes. Luckily, I had nothing in my stomach other than two cups of coffee.
The male officer leaned over and put his hand on mine. “It’s okay, you’re safe. You can tell us the truth.”
I pulled my hand back and shook my head. If this was a test, I wasn’t failing it. Maybe this wasn’t a Tommy test. Maybe this was his father testing me. Seemed like just the sort of thing he’d do. If this wasn’t a test, I was not giving them anything. There was no way in the world my father was selling drugs for the Ferrano family. No fricking way.
“I’d like to make a phone call, please.”
“Why do you need to make a phone call?” the female cop asked.
“To call a lawyer,” I said.
“You aren’t under arrest,” the male cop said.
“Then I’d like to leave,” I answered. My phone was ringing from my pocket, it was Tommy calling.
Tia’s phone rang twice and then went to voicemail. Fuck. I was sitting in the coffee shop across the street from the cop shop. I’d sent Nino away so he and Bee could take their son Joey to T-ball. I called Pop’s lawyer and left him a voicemail. I called Pop and he said he’d try to find out what was going down. And I sat. And sat.