Deadly Embrace Jackie Collins (the reader ebook .TXT) 📖

‘Oh, please,’ she said. ‘Don’t start with me.’

‘Come in the other room and I’ll fix us a drink,’ he said.

She followed him into the living room.

‘What were you doing with that jerk tonight anyway?’ he said, going behind the bar. ‘You know I can’t stand him.’

‘I’ve told you many times, Dean is not a jerk. He’s a very nice man who’s always helped me.’

‘When did you ever need help, Miss Independent?’ Michael said, pouring her a shot of vodka and adding ice.

‘Michael,’ she said sternly, ‘I’m not in the mood.’

‘Okay. Calm down,’ he said, grinning.

She hated that he didn’t take anything seriously. And yet when he smiled she’d never been able to stay mad at him.

‘Does Madison know you’re on the run?’ she said, reminding him of his situation.

‘Is that what I am? On the run?’ he said wryly. ‘Has it come to this?’

‘If there’s a warrant out for your arrest and they can’t find you, you’re on the run.’

‘Should I call her?’ he asked, handing her the glass of vodka.

‘She’s your daughter.’

‘I’ll call her,’ he decided. ‘And while I’m doing that, you’d better try to reach Sofia. And when you do, tell her to get back here immediately. I’m having Vincent arrange protection for all of you.’

When Madison was eight, she made up an imaginary family. There was Daddy, who was always around when she needed him. There was Mommy, a warm and loving person. And there was a big, protective brother, whom she adored. She named him Cooper.

It was Cooper she spent most of her imaginary time with. She and Cooper had incredible adventures. They would laugh and play, and do things together. Most of all they always stood up for each other.

The truth was that, when she was eight, Madison was an extremely lonely child. Stella was a distant mother figure, blonde and beautiful with her Marilyn Monroe-esque stance, and her way of always having a headache when Madison needed anything.

And Michael, so handsome, was often away on some kind of business trip.

Whatever nanny her parents hired was the key person in Madison’s life. And they came and went on a regular basis. So her imaginary brother became her very best friend, the only person she could really depend on.

When she’d met Vincent it had been a total surprise to discover that she actually had a real-life half-brother, one she’d never known about. A brother who strongly resembled her and looked exactly like Michael. It was quite a shock.

Now, as she sat in the middle of Mario’s, in the intense heat with the killer gunman and a bunch of hysterical hostages, she wished that Cooper were there to save her. And if not Cooper, perhaps her real-life brother, Vincent. Or Jake–her wonderful Jake.

But none of them was round, so she had to try and make things work out herself. Screw it! She was going to get through this. She had to.

‘You must let me talk to the negotiator again,’ she repeated to the gunman, who was strutting up and down the room, Uzi swinging from one hand.

‘You do that,’ he said, eyes burning with hate, ‘an’ if you don’t get action, you’ll be the next fuckin’ bitch t’get a bullet in your head.’

She shuddered. This was turning out to be the most frightening night of her life.

Chapter Twenty-two

Michael: 1970

After failing to get in to see Vito Giovanni, and then his tense exchange of words with Tommaso, Michael tried to decide on his next move. He needed to explain things to Mr G and get his job back. What else could he do where he made that kind of money? Besides, he kind of missed being around the Giovannis; the two of them had been like family to him. He’d certainly had more in common with Vito than he’d ever had with his real father. And Mamie wasn’t so bad when she was in one of her good moods.

Unfortunately, getting back wasn’t going to be easy, and when he did get in to see Vito, who would the big man believe? Him or Tommaso?

He finally reached the conclusion that Mamie was his only chance of getting through to Mr G, and she’d not given him the warmest of welcomes.

In the meantime, he was stuck on Max and Tina’s couch, listening to them both get on his case.

Max had persuaded Tina’s dad to offer him a job at the car dealership. ‘He knows you’ve been in the joint,’ Max explained, ‘but he’ll give you a chance anyway, so long as you give him your word you’re goin’ straight.’

‘Hey,’ Michael said, thinking there was no way he planned on selling cars for a living, ‘you know me, I’m not cut out for a nine-to-five job.’

Max was immediately affronted. ‘Are you sayin’ no?’

‘Hey, listen, I gotta figure things out for myself. Right?’

‘You know what your problem is?’

‘Spit it out.’

‘You’re an ungrateful prick.’ But Max said it with love in his voice, because Michael was the brother he’d never had, and he did indeed love him.

A few days before his release from prison, Karl Edgington had made sure Michael still had the number he’d given him to call. ‘Trust me,’ Karl had said. ‘You can make yourself a lot of money.’

Was he supposed to trust a man who’d embezzled two million dollars? It was a move he wasn’t sure about, but he kept the number, just in case.

Tina had plans to introduce him to some of her girlfriends.

‘Gimme a break, Tina,’ he groaned. ‘I know your friends. We were all in school together, right?’

‘No, not right,’ Tina said, determined to fix him up. ‘I have other friends now. Girls you should meet, decent girls,’ she added pointedly.

‘I gotta get off your couch first,’ he said. ‘Then I can start thinkin’ about girls.’

‘I like having you on our couch, Michael,’ she replied, flirting mildly.

He’d noticed she’d been doing that a lot lately. He hoped it didn’t piss Max