His face changed when he saw Brittany and me. Chapter 2
“Brittany, what the hell are you doing here?”
“Who’s this? Why is she covered in blood?”
Tony pointed at me, his brow furrowed.
Tony, it’s me! Recognize me already!
They had me hogtied. I could only try to squirm
across the floor toward Tony.
Brittany kicked me in the face. “Shut your mouth!”
My head swam. I whimpered, struggling to call
out.
“T… Tony…”
Brittany lost it. She kicked my mouth again.
“Who’s the hoe screaming for my guy?”
Tony visibly flinched when he heard my voice. He knelt down, studying my face.
Before he could place me, Brittany jumped in.
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“Honey, I know what’s going on. She’s your little plaything from overseas, right?”
“You bought her this house, and I understand.
You are Tony Costello, but I always thought you
were a gentleman. You are a man!”
Brittany’s eyes welled up, and her voice cracked.
“I just wanted to see what made you so obsessed.”
“I can learn. I can do what she does. Then
maybe you’ll love me more…
Tony looked moved. He pulled her into a hug.
“Don’t talk crazy. You’re the only one I love.
Why else would I marry you?”
“I’m not messing with you.”
“Silly girl, this house is for Amy. She’s coming
home tomorrow. You’re jumping to
conclusions.”
“Who is this? I don’t know what you are talking
about.”
Tony looked puzzled and pointed at me.
Brittany’s face went white.
“She…she’s just some lowlife who crossed me.
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Frankie and I were giving her a lesson…‘
Tony frowned.
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“She crossed you? Okay, fine. But you shouldn’t bring her to Amy’s house, so she has to get out
of there. It is not a welcome mat!”
“That is blood on the house. It is jinxed.”
Tony’s harsh words made Brittany’s voice shake.
“I got it. I’ll have my boys take her out and clean it up. I’ll hire a priest. Amy will see I am a good girl.”
“She won’t hold it against me, right, honey?” Tony gave her a patronizing smile. “Amy’s got a good heart. She won’t blame you.”
I thrashed, trying to get away from the goons.
If they “took care” of me, I was dead. She had me pegged, and it was the only sure way to keep me quiet.
I had to get away.
I struggled even harder, earning another slap.
“You’re gonna regret messing with me, trash! Let’s go.”
As they dragged me off, Frankie walked in
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carrying a statue of Saint Joseph.
Seeing Tony’s sour face, she chimed in. “Relax, boss. We didn’t want her blood in the
house. She had it coming and we were just
trying to teach her a lesson. She said we should pay for it.”
Brittany gave her a look.
Tony pounced on the key words, his voice turning cold.
“What? She was pretending to be Amy?”
Frankie nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah! Total faker! We checked her ID. It’s not Amy. That’s not a real girl!”
Brittany tried to shush her, but it was too late. Tony’s eyes went ice–cold.
“She’s playing Amy? What an insult to the family name!”
She handed Tony my fake IDs.
He stared at them, his face white as a ghost.
“What the hell?”
Tony’s eyes flashed red.
“The ho’s name is Jennifer. She kept shouting
that she was his baby sister. It almost worked!”
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“Thank God, that you were here.”
Hearing that, Brittany started to backpedal. “Yeah, Frankie caught her in the lie and gave her a wholloping!”
Tony winced.
He dropped the IDs and cradled me in his arms,
tears in his eyes.
“Amy? Is it really you?”
I weakly nodded, trying to croak out his name:
“Tony…”
Frankie’s face went chalky.
“Boss, that hoe’s lying!”
Before she could finish, Tony backhanded her
so hard she staggered.
“Shut your trap! I changed Amy’s name years
ago, nobody knows. Not to protect her from guys just like you.”
Frankie clutched her cheek, shocked. “How
would I know, then? It’s not my fault.”
Tony, tears streaming down his face, pulled me
close again.
“Amy, who did this to you? I’ll call an
ambulance!”
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One of the goons hurried out. Frankie sank to the floor.
“If anything happens to Amy, I’ll kill you!”
Tony roared. Frankie went pale. She knew she was screwed.
“She called you honey. She tried to lie to me
about what she was doing. I did not know what was going on”
Tony glared.
“Boss, we called you earlier. You said Amy
wasn’t coming until tomorrow night! Maybe she
took the ho’s stuff. She made a copy of the
phone number. It happened”
Tony froze. Hope flickered in his eyes.
He loved me so much, he didn’t want to believe
I was hurt so badly.
He set me down and pulled out his cell, dialing my number.
Brittany’s phone started ringing. She fished it
out of her purse, handing it over like it was a bomb.
“Honey, I found it outside. Is this her phone?” Tony grabbed it, staring at the screen saver. His
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eyes overflowed.
“It’s her! This picture…we took it two
Christmases ago, at my house.”
