Arianna’s phone vibrates in her hands. She answers it. “Sophia, are you okay?”
“Make a left up here. Not from this lane, from the other lane!” Arianna screams as I swerve through traffic.
“Sorry. I’m not used to driving. Now where?” I glance at my cousin. She’s focused on her phone and the little pin icon that points us to Sophia’s location in Connecticut.
As she’s navigating for us, my phone keeps chiming with calls and texts from Wolfe. I don’t dare answer a single one of those until this is all over. I’m probably giving the man a heart attack, but if he wasn’t such a grumpy bastard I might have placed more trust in him. Then he could be the one driving late at night in questionable weather.
As we near the state border, the weather gets worse. Snow flurries obscure the highway. The temperature plummets. If this keeps up, we might not be able to reach Sophia tonight.
Which is unacceptable. She could be dead by morning.
Maybe that’s an overreaction since Mr. De Luca did said he’d marry her, stealing her away from Nik and the Russians. But I’ve learned never to take a man for his word. They all lie. I don’t trust Roman De Luca any further than I can throw him.
Plus hemurderedhis last wife. I’m not letting that happen to my cousin.
“Oh no!” Arianna gasps, shaking her phone.
“What?” My gaze darts to her. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s gone. It was just there. Now it’s gone.”
“What’s gone?”
“The pin on the map! Her location. She was moving one minute and the next…poof, gone!”
“Okay. Just calm down. We’re in the middle of a storm, so I’m not surprised. We have her last known location. Get us there and we’ll figure out what happened.” My grip tightens on the steering wheel. The windshield wipers struggle to keep up with the worsening blizzard. God, what is this weather?
Once we get off the highway, the main road leads us to an area of large estates. Sprawling mansions with gated entries, and acres of land are covered in fresh, white swirling snow.
“This must be it.” Arianna glances up at a formidable gate as I slow the car. “Sophia’s pin was right beside this place when it disappeared.”
Turning into the driveway, I stop at the entrance and roll down my window. Frigid air and freezing rain mixed with snow blast in the vehicle. Arianna gasps at the sudden cold.
Ignoring the weather, I press the intercom. No one answers.
I press it again.
“What if they won’t let us in?” Arianna asks, her teeth clattering. “I don’t know about you, but I can’t climb those walls in this dress, especially in this weather.”
“If they don’t let us in, we’ll make a new plan. Hold on.” I press the button for a third time, annoyed. If they don’t answer soon, we’re going to freeze to death out here.
Static crackles, then an irritated male voice says, “Mr. De Luca doesn’t see visitors at this hour. Come back in the morning.”
The crackling cuts out.
I press the button again, and again. My stomach drops with disappointment. Frustrated, I sigh.
“They’re not going to let us in,” I state the obvious.
“So what’s plan B? Are we scaling the walls?” She casts me a doubtful look. “Or can we slip between those bars on the gate?”
The wind has picked up again, obscuring the sight of everything further than five feet away. I roll up the window and crank the heat on high, then evaluate the situation.
We’re in evening dresses and high heels. Neither one of us thought to bring a coat on our hasty departure. If we get out of the car, we’ll more than likely die in this blizzard. Who knows how long the walk is from this gate to the house, it could be half a mile or more, too far to risk.
Damn.
“Is there a hotel nearby?” I ask.
