The Complete Tempest World Box Set

by Mankin, Michelle

  My heart thundered with fear and my knees nearly collapsed.

  “Welcome back, Miss Jackson.” Campanella captured my arm as I reached the bottom of the escalator and pitched forward. “Please proceed quietly with me to the vehicle I have awaiting us,” he whispered in my ear. “Don’t give my associate any reason to hurt your friend.”

  “You won’t let him,” I brazened. “You wouldn’t get away with it. Not in a crowded airport.” Yet my spine tingled at the thought of what the mobster might be capable of doing.

  “Do you really want to take that chance?”

  “Miriam!” Mike called, and I turned my head to see him moving toward me, totally unaware of how closely death nipped at his heels.

  “Tell him to keep his distance,” Campanella whispered tersely.

  “Mike.” I shook my head at my bestie. “Stay away. Everything’s going to be fine.” Run, I mouthed silently before I turned my gaze to the mob boss. “What do you want? I’ll do anything. Just call Garner off,” I begged.

  “Not until you’re safe inside the limo.” Campanella lifted his chin. One of the two new bodyguards peeled away and headed toward Mike and Garner. My best friend backed up as the six-foot-plus goon stepped toward him. His eyes were wide like mine now. He cast a glance around for a way out, only then noticing Garner. I saw in his expression, the icy revelation dawning. Despair descended on me as Campanella and the remaining bodyguard steered me toward the nearest exit. Outside, a whoosh of hot arid air gave my chilled skin a brief thaw. But it was only a short reprieve before I found my head being pushed down as I was shoved inside a long limo that idled at the curb.

  “Well, now,” Campanella declared slithering in beside me. “That’s much better.” He reached over me and buckled my seatbelt before doing his. Another guard sat across from us, wearing polarized sunglasses even though the windows were tinted, and it was already dark outside. While he studied me behind his shades, the other thug slid into the remaining front facing seat on the other side of me.

  “Why are you doing this?” I pleaded with my voice and my gaze. I ignored the guards and focused on Campanella. I knew who was in charge. “I agreed to your terms. If you wanted to get started tonight, you could have just asked me. You didn’t need to have Garner threaten my friend.”

  “Yes, my dear, you did agree, and thank you for being so willing to accommodate me. It’s so nice to have you back in Nevada. Things would have been infinitely trickier if we’d had to cross state lines to fetch you.” His lips formed a mirthless grin. “Reason being, I am looking forward to the rest of my fun unfolding here at home.”

  “What fun?” I asked, my panic returning full fold as I moved my gaze from one guard to the other, knowing I was trapped inside the limo and at their mercy, but as of yet not quite willing to accept it.

  “Fun involving you, of course.”

  “The film, you mean.” Maybe he liked to watch. Maybe he wanted to join in. I started to feel seriously sick. I put a hand over my mouth and glanced away from the retaining walls on either side that the limo windows featured. It was making me dizzy to look at them. They seemed to be closing in on us.

  “If you say so.”

  My cell rang suddenly. I jumped. I had forgotten I had turned it off the airplane mode. I shifted to reach for it, trying to convince myself that I was being ridiculous. I wasn’t really trapped. Campanella was only trying to scare me because he wanted me to know he had the upper hand in our deal. As I reached in my purse for my cell, the guard across from me cleared his throat and fondled his gun. I stopped mid-motion. “Can I not answer my phone? What is this?” I turned to Campanella. “What’s going on? Let me out of this limo.”

  “I’m afraid that’s not in the cards, as they say in Vegas. Besides, we haven’t yet reached our destination.”

  “Maybe I don’t want to reach it. Maybe I want to go home. Maybe I’ve changed my mind about doing your film. You can’t force me to go with you against my will. That would be kidnapping…”

  “Oh, my! Kidnapping? When an entire crowd of witnesses at the airport saw you jump into my arms?” While I stared at him slack jawed, he removed my phone from my grip. “What’s your access code for your cell?”

  I gave it to him. How could I refuse the request? I was completely at his mercy. I thought back, running through the conversation with his lawyer, my mind reeling as he unlocked my phone. Had I ever really not been?

  “You have several missed calls.” Campanella’s gaze lifted. “More than one from someone in whom I have a particular interest. “Ah.” His reptilian smile widened as my cell lit up and rang again. “Here he is again now. Go ahead.” He passed me my phone. “Answer him. Things will become clear to you both when you do.”

  I glanced at the display on my cell as I took it from him. The screen identified ‘King’. My heart stuttered. “Hello.”

  “Miriam.” That voice. I drew in a breath that didn’t come back out. “I just got served papers to appear in court for assault charges against Vincenzo Campanella. I believe you knew beforehand because Mary Timmons called me right after that. Coincidentally so did my father. Plus, your brother told us what you said to War. I know what’s going on. I know why you left. I know what you’re doing and why. I love you.” My heart did a full stall on those words. “You don’t have to do this. We’ll find another way.”

  Campanella took my phone away and put it to his own ear. “Mr. Acenado. This is Vincenzo Campanella.” A pause. Another oily smile. “No need for all that hostility. She came to me, not the other way around. “No. I don’t believe I will put her on the line again. I only let her speak to you as a courtesy. You needn’t bother calling again. We have arrived at the Tropicana. She has lots and lots of work to do for me. Work that will keep her too busy to talk. After that…when she is too worn out to be of any use to me or anyone else anymore…well, I think we both know what will happen then.”

  I froze, my entire body a block of ice. He made a tsking sound as he withdrew my phone from his ear and severed the call.

  “I think you begin to understand as does he. You underestimated me, and overestimated your value in front of the camera. Your true worth to me isn’t your sex appeal, but what you mean to him. I knew it that day on the front yard of your home. Come now.” He stroked my cheek, and I had to swallow back bile. “Don’t feel bad that you didn’t see my intentions. In my business it pays for me to know people’s motivations while keeping my own close to the vest. After all, you didn’t really expect me to let this play out in front of a judge with the whole world watching? Surely you didn’t think I would let Mr. Acenado get away with striking me, did you?”

  He chuckled darkly. “Ouch, I can see that you did. Unfortunate for both of you. To know he loves you. That you love him. That you sacrificed yourself when the prize wasn’t really the film we will nevertheless do with whomever of my men would like to have a go at you. No, the prize will be how deeply it will wound Mr. Acenado to witness what we do to you while knowing that there’s nothing he can do to stop it. By the time I get around to putting a bullet in your pretty little head at the end of our snuff film, he might consider it merciful for me to do the same for him.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  King

  “What’s going on?” Bryan’s expression betrayed his concern. I think he had heard most of what the mobster had said to me. “Is Miriam safe?”

  “No,” I told him. “Campanella has her. It’s not a voluntary situation. But I don’t think he’s hurt her yet.”

  “What did he tell you?”

  “That it was me he wanted to fuck with all along. He’s just using her to get back at me for punching him.”

  “Oh my God.”

  “We gotta get her away from him now.” Failure was not an option.

  “We can’t panic. We can’t help her if we panic.” Sager put his hand on Bryan’s shoulder. Our lead guitarist looked like he might hurl. All the big brother protective stuff by him. All the bullshit br
avado by me. Being big rock stars. None of it meant shit right now. We had been totally outmaneuvered by the mobster. And my queen, my sweet sacrificial queen at Campanella’s mercy. He expected me to come for her. Fucking right, I would. Nothing would keep me away. But Seattle was three hours from Vegas. Even if I got on a plane right now.

  “Call the Vegas police,” I told Sager. “Tell them what’s going on. Tell them she’s at the Tropicana and that she has a cell they can probably track.” Or she had. Campanella might have ditched it.

  “Bryan.” Dude was hunched with his arm thrown over his stomach. “Don’t flake out. Stay with me.”

  He nodded.

  “Get me a flight to Vegas,” I told him. “I’m going to get her back.”

  “Get the two of us a flight to Vegas, you mean.”

  “Three,” Sager cut in. “Make it three seats.”

  “But this is gonna be dangerous. And Bluebelle needs you.”

  “I’m going, mi hermano. She knows how it is. Fact is I need her more than she needs me most times. If she were here she would be using Siri to book the seats for the three of us herself.”

  I nodded succinctly. I couldn’t speak. Brothers back to back again.

  Sager’s eyes were bright. I could tell he was processing a similar emotion. “We’ll lose time in the air. No way around that.”

  Translation. You gotta keep it together, Juaquin. Three hours she would be with him. He could do a lot of bad things to her in that amount of time. But I couldn’t think like that. Thoughts like that blanketed my mind in red. I had to focus on her to keep the beast at bay. On the calm she brought me. I had to get her back. And getting her back would take all of us and all of our wits and resources. “Call Timmons,” I told my brother. “Get her working any connections she has. We’re going to need all the help we can get.”

  “I’ll call Justin Jones. The FBI and Homeland Security have been grilling him about Joe Campanella for months. Maybe they can do something, get local law enforcement to take quicker action than we can manage on our own.” It didn’t feel like it right now, but having that connection might very well make a difference.

  “Addy,” I turned my gaze to Footit’s owner. I had felt her listening all along. “Do you have your car parked here? Can you take us to the airport?”

  “Hell, yeah. Already ahead of you.” She held her keys up in the air. “I hope you have your ID’s for security. I’m ready to roll.”

  • • •

  Miriam

  “Jasmine,” Campanella barked after unlocking and opening the door to his office. “What the hell are you doing in here?”

  “Nothing,” she replied, looking guilty in addition to being terrified.

  “Really?” He didn’t believe her. I didn’t believe her. “Then why were you just on my computer?”

  “I…uh…” She fluttered one of her hands nervously, but I noticed her slide a thumb to press something very small deeper into her front jean pocket. “Miriam!” she exclaimed, spying me out in the hall. “You’re back early from Seattle.”

  “Get the girl in here and out of the hall.” Campanella waved at the guards to bring me in. It being after hours, his secretary had gone. We had not seen anyone in the narrow corridor we had taken directly from the parking garage, but I supposed he wanted to be cautious. It would probably be awkward though not impossible to explain the restraints they had put on me before we had exited the limo.

  “What’s going on Daddy? Why’s Miriam wearing handcuffs?”

  I shuffled in between the guards. I didn’t speak. I watched and waited. I didn’t know how this was going to go down with her in his office. But one thing I knew for sure. Jazz would help me if she could. Just her unexpected presence might buy me time and throw a kink in her father’s devious plan.

  “That’s not really any of your concern. I believe I made myself clear when we had our discussion about the side of my business you stumbled upon a few weeks ago. This is a similar matter. You know what Miriam does for a living, so you shouldn’t be surprised that she has agreed to do an adult only film for me. Her duties with you have ended.”

  “Really?” Her eyes widening, Jazz glanced at me for confirmation.

  I nodded.

  “Oh. Well, I guess that other probably pays pretty well.” She inched toward the door slowly.

  “Jasmine?”

  “Yes, Daddy.”

  “What’s that in your pocket?”

  “Oh, crap. I’m sorry, Daddy.” She withdrew a USB drive. “I got another bad grade in math. The teacher sent you a bunch of extra homework for me. I downloaded it. I was going to take it to one of the smart kids in class to try to get him to do it for me.”

  “Oh.” His brows rose. “That’s dishonest, you know.”

  “I know. I’m sorry.” She placed the drive on his desk.

  “Quite devious, too.”

  She hung her head.

  “But I applaud the initiative you took to rectify the situation.”

  “Truly?” She lifted her head.

  “Yes. But I don’t like you entering my office without permission. So your punishment will be finishing that work yourself.” He pointed with his gaze, and she retrieved the drive. “All of it. I want it done tonight.”

  “Fuck. I mean fine.”

  “And Jasmine,” he called as she headed toward the door.

  “Yeah?” She stopped and turned back to face him.

  “You should know that I have cameras in here like everywhere else. I trust you only so much. I will verify. And if I ever find you in here again without an invitation, I won’t be so understanding.”

  • • •

  King

  “Mike. Hey. Thank God you answered your cell. Listen. I’ve got bad news. Sager, Bryan and I, we’re on a plane getting ready to take off for Vegas. Miriam’s in trouble. Can you pick us up at the airport?”

  “So you know.”

  “I know that Campanella has her against her will. Is that what you mean?”

  “Yeah.”

  “How did you come by that information?”

  “At the airport. Campanella’s goons held me off when they grabbed her.”

  “Are you alright?”

  “Yeah, just a little banged up is all. I ditched one of his lackeys, but the other one and I went mano a mano. I messed him up pretty good. They took him to the ER and me down to the police station. I just got released. They say I’ll have no problem claiming self-defense considering he was packing heat, and I was unarmed. They’re sending a couple of officers to the Tropicana to investigate, but I’m not hopeful they’ll find anything to corroborate my claims about Miriam. Campanella’s not going to be parading her around, and they don’t have enough evidence to get a search warrant. It’s just my concerns against whatever lie he chooses to tell them.

  “In other words, a waste of time.”

  “Yeah. What’s your plan? I’m scared to death for her.”

  I was, too, but I didn’t say that out loud. Failure was a nonstarter. I would get her out. “We’ll figure it out by the time we get there.”

  “That doesn’t sound promising. No offense to you guys, but this is the mafia we’re talking about on their own turf.”

  I heard a drop in volume on his end of the line.

  “Fuck. I’ve got another incoming call from Frank MacKenzie. Her ex-boyfriend’s been ringing in nonstop. He can wait.”

  “No, go ahead and take the call. I gotta get my phone turned off or the flight attendant’s gonna kick me off the plane.” They hadn’t been exactly welcoming after recognizing me from the Mile High video. Apparently they took that stuff pretty seriously. I didn’t really care how they felt about me so long as I got to Vegas. Timmons had gotten all three of us bumped up from coach to first class.

  “Faster to get off the plane once it arrives,” she had insisted when I had protested. Felt wrong to sit comfortably while not knowing what Miriam might be enduring.

  “Ok,” Mike allowed. “Bu
t one more thing before I let you go. We all know Campanella’s gonna be waiting for you. So when you deplane, don’t go to baggage claim like she did. Use the VIP exit. I’ll find out where it lets out, and I’ll meet you there with a friend’s car. Hopefully, his thugs won’t recognize it or think to search for you anyplace beyond the usual areas.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  Miriam

  I could close my eyes, but I couldn’t pretend. This was real. It was going to happen. And it was going to happen to me. I couldn’t stop it.

  I glanced around the space made up to look like the regular Tropicana rooms upstairs. But this one was different. A dresser with no knickknacks on top of it and nothing in the drawers. A minibar with no contents in the fridge. An easy chair in the corner but no window or view behind it. No additional avenue of escape beyond the locked door that I had been brought through and nothing around that I could use as a weapon.

  They would return shortly. Not that anyone had said anything since Campanella’s office, but I knew. So I didn’t sleep. I didn’t close my eyes. Hours passed, but I had no way to mark them other than the strain of tension in my limbs. My thoughts were scattered but circled around the things that mattered most in life, the ones I loved and regrets involving them. Instead of lashing out at my mother or my brother, I wished I had told them the things I appreciated about them. I wished I had leveled with my sister. She was so smart she might have foreseen the trap Campanella had laid for me when I hadn’t. And Juaquin. I wished I’d had more of his smiles. More of his touch. More of everything with him.

  Time crept on.

  I tried to stay awake, but I only grew more and more weary.

  More and more emotional.

  And more and more afraid.