Donato asked him if he had been sleeping.
“No.” Then Guido explained where we were going.
“There is no full moon,” Donato said, probably trying to make sense of the night’s twists and turns. “I have the woman. Also, her friends.”
To drive the point home, laughter flooded the speakers—the friends.
“Stop that!” Donato hissed.
Laughter rose. 2Pac blared and was then turned down. “Dio mi concede la forza,” Donato had muttered,God give me strength.Then he rolled forward with the update.“The French has fled the scene. However, he caused some damage. The woman has a cut on her side from his knife. Uncle is with me attending to her wound. It is not bad, but deep enough to require a few stitches.”
“Nemours,” I said.
“Brando?” he said.
“Yeah.”
Donato said something that I thought equaled toah hellbefore he continued. “It has been a long night.” He sighed. “The woman put up enough of a fuss that he struggled to get her out of the building. This is why he cut her. We arrived in time to see him flee, but he has disappeared. His hair is lighter now. Mac will pull the footage and see what he can find.”
“I see.”
“Ah, what shall I do with her? The friends?”
“Your place,” Guido said.
“Ah no,” Donato said, his voice firm.
Guido and Nino grinned at each other.
“The woman, Soraya, is requesting that I take her to you. She wants a word.”
Scarlett looked in the direction of the wireless speakers, her face withholding all that she felt. The situation rubbed her raw.
“Put her on the phone,” I said.
She came on the line, breathless and tearful, the complete opposite of her friends. She said my name and then sniffed.
My wife stiffened.
“Do you have family?” I said.
“Yes, but—”
“Stay with them for a while.”
“No, I have a job, at a hotel. I can’t lose it. Bran—”
“My man is going to put you and your friends in a safe place for the night. After that, stay out of The Club.”
“But—”
“He won’t bother you again.”
Nemours had made her my fucking problem, so I was going to have one of the men follow her around for a while to be sure he wouldn’t follow her. I doubted he would. Not after tonight. She would turn into a way for us to find him if he did. He didn’t want me to be a closer fucking problem for him.
The man almost killed my wife, he killed our son, and he refused to stop. I refused to stop. We were locked in a battle that would only end when one of us hit the ground.
“Brando, I need to see you!” she wailed. “Can I at least have your number? I’m scared!”
