Free Gina Takes Bangkok (The Femme Vendettas) by S. M. Stelmack

between us.”
    Gina located a wraparound dress and wrapped it around. “I can tell.” She walked past him to the door. “Tasanee is from a different culture, too. You need to recognize that before you two reach your own critical juncture.”
    Gina arrived on deck in time to see Kannon about to descend into the yacht’s powerboat, her father, leaning heavily on his cane, overseeing the departure.
    “Hey, where are you going?” Gina called out.
    “I’m sending him away,” Vincenzo said.
    Gina caught up to them. “What? Why?”
    Vincenzo looked pointedly at her head. “If that’s not obvious to you then he must have hit you harder than I thought.”
    “He’s the best gun in Thailand!”
    “If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t be leaving this boat alive.”
    “No, this is ridiculous. You have to let him stay. I need him. I mean I need him to find Alak,” she clarified. “Kannon’s our best bet to sort out this business with Wakai.”
    Kannon cleared his throat. “Locating my boss is my business, not—”
    “Damn right it’s your business,” Gina snapped. “And without us, it’s going to take you a whole hell of a lot longer to do that, isn’t it? In the meantime Wakai isn’t going to stop hunting for Tasanee, and who knows what Alak’s going through right now. You and Ryota can’t afford to go it alone, and neither can we, so let’s quit this pissing contest and get back to work.”
    Two of Bangkok’s more powerful men glared at her. It was her father who spoke first. “So what are you proposing, bambina?”
    She wasn’t sure what she was doing but she did it anyway. “I’m his boss.”
    “I’ve already got a boss,” Kannon said.
    “All you have right now is a man you need to find. And what we’ve got is a chain-of-command problem. The only way for this to work is if I give the orders.”
    She turned to her father. “You know Kannon’s a man of his word. If he swears he’ll do what I tell him from here on in then you know he will.”
    Vincenzo thumped his cane on the deck. “I know no such thing. He was supposed to protect you last night and instead he knocks you out. Couldn’t wait to tell me.”
    “He told you himself because that was the alpha thing to do,” she replied. “And stupid, I agree.”
    “If he was a real man he’d never hit a woman. That’s the first rule of The Pink Stilettos. Every one knows I won’t tolerate mistreatment.” Each of the last words was thumped out against the deck with his cane. Her father was pale and sweat was beading on his bare head. This was costing him. She needed to bring it to a swift end.
    “Look, Dad. You and I both know that the 70 Rai club had to be shut down, and we both know that the only way that could happen was if the reason for its existence was shut down. Those clients, the people who ran that place, they were sick fucks. I tried to stop Kannon and if he’d listened to me, there’d be kids in a lot more pain than me with my little bump to the head.”
    Vincenzo looked away, shrugged. It was his way of conceding the point.
    She angled herself to Kannon so her father couldn’t see her bulge out her eyes and aim them at her father. “Do we have a deal?”
    His neutral look in place, Kannon gave a barely perceptible nod. “Yes, we do. I swear I’ll obey Ms. Zaffini until Mr. Montri is free.”
    Vincenzo Zaffini slammed his cane down even harder. “You so much as look at my daughter the wrong way, I’ll make you wish we’d parted company. You understand me?”
    Kannon bowed his head. “Yes, sir.”
    “Take them damn glasses off and say it.”
    Kannon did as asked. Vincenzo breathed out. “I need a drink.” He bulged his eyes out at his daughter. “And a cigarette.”
    Kannon gave Ryota a meaningful look, and moving to her father’s side, Ryota began to escort Vincenzo away.
    “Also, a girl,” he said to Ryota.
    Oh, hell. Her father had found someone new to terrorize.
    “Yes, sir.” Ryota said. “I—right