Dark Genius: A Forced Proximity Mafia Romance (Blood and Honor) by Joanna Rose

Author:Joanna Rose [Rose, Joanna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-12-27T16:00:00+00:00

9

Michelle told the cabbie to step on it as she reached for her phone and franticly tried to contact Rodolfo. She immediately doubted her decision to take a cab instead of the subway. Too late now. Her call went straight to voicemail, and she resorted to texting, calling a second time, another series of texts.

Nothing.

Would he be aware of the fire before it started to engulf the restaurant? Maybe he would have stepped outside for a break. Seeing trouble, he would take off and try to find the nearest cop on a beat.

No.

Knowing Rodolfo through the years, she thought that he would be more than likely to fight the fire with a fling of the cloth usually pressed over his shoulder and pots of cold water flung in the direction of the flames. Would he succeed in stopping the blaze? Was that much even possible?

Or did someone shadowy already slip through the backdoor and knock him out cold before the gasoline was spilled every which way and the match was struck? That scenario chilled her, and she tried calling him again when the cabbie arrived at the appointed destination in record time.

“Here we are,” the mustached man said in a lazy voice. “That’ll be—”

“Thanks,” Michelle said, reaching into her pocket for a twenty-dollar-bill and pressing it into the driver’s meaty hand. “Keep the change.”

She hardly heard the cabbie thank her as she raced toward the restaurant. To her relief, the structure still stood, and there was no smoke drifting through the windows. Maybe she still had enough time to warn her friend of the danger, and she burst through the back door. Her eyes furiously scanned the kitchen, and she called out for Rodolfo…

…only to be met by silence.

“Rodolfo!”

Still nothing. Michelle noticed empty pans sitting atop the range and saw a cutting board covered by an onion not yet fully chopped. Her attention turned to a knife left discarded on the ground, and she moved fast to retrieve the weapon, tensing as she ventured toward the back office. She could hear someone stirring within, and she gripped the handle tighter, and figuratively kicked herself. Had she been somewhat stealthier upon entering, she might have had the element of surprise on her side. Lacking that, the only choice left was to burst through the door, which she did with the knife raised and ready to slash.

“Rodolfo?”

She found her sous chef bound, gagged, and on the ground. His eyes went wide at the sight of her.

Falling to her knees, Michelle used the knife to slash his bonds, and she carefully helped him back to his feet.

“Mich,” he started, coughing before he could spit the rest of his words out. “There’s trouble. The place is about to go up in smoke. I…”

He started hacking again.

“I know,” she assured him. “Come on. We have to get out of—”

“They caught me by surprise,” Rodolfo choked out. “I could hear them…”

His voice gave out again as Michelle led him back to the kitchen. Nothing looked disturbed. Maybe the plan was to leave Rodolfo and then come back to light the torches.

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