Nodding, I lean back and reach for my phone in my purse. "I have to check on them. I need to know they're safe." I know Mariano told me they're fine, but I have to hear it myself. That's the only way I can really calm down.
He doesn't stop me. While I make the calls, he's also on the phone, probably talking to his men to do his bidding. I focus on my calls.
I talk to my brother first and then after he reassures me that they're all okay, he gives the phone to Angela. I tell her I want to fly back to New York for support, but she tells me I don't need to. For someone who didn't grow up in our kind of world, she seems to be holding it just fine. This is what I admire about Angela—the gentle woman who has the face of an angel but has a heart like that of a warrior.
I'm straight, but she's my girl crush.