She sighs, staring into her lap and biting her lip like she really doesn’t want to say. “Because you don’t judge me. In fact, you seem to like me for me. No one has ever done that before.”
“Most people don’t like you, I take it?”
“You would be correct. I used to be a menace. I can admit it. I was a bitch sometimes. But I’ve tried to change over the years and yet, no one wants to give me that chance. They still see me as the immature, bratty teenager I once was. But I’m ready to grow into a new woman. They just won’t let me. Except for my sister. She was ready to embrace the new me.”
“That’s why you miss her.”
“Yes,” she whispers. “That’s why I miss her. But you don’t judge me. I guess it just took meeting someone even worse for me not to look like the bad guy.”
“I guess so. And I like that you’re a spitfire. You should know that, Susanna. Yes, I initially took you because of my game. Because of my plan. But you’ve become more than that. I’m man enough to admit it.”
“I’m shocked you’re so open with me about that. I’ve never met a mafia man who was so open about his feelings.”
I give her a pointed look. “I guess we’re not all as we seem, are we?”
She finally cracks a smile and it makes her face light up. Fuck. I like this girl. Icarefor her.
And that’s the last thing that should happen. Because the more I care about her, the more she becomes a liability to me. The more my enemies can use her against me.
“I guess not,” she says.
We share a smile before I turn my eyes back to the road.
And everything after that happens so fast.
A car slams into the back of my car, pushing my car off the road. I slam into a light pole. Susanna’s scream rips right through me.
“Are you all right?” I ask, looking around.
“I think so.”
That’s when I see in my rearview mirror Luca getting out of a car behind me. He didn’t hesitate to slam into my car. Did he know Susanna is in here with me? Did he even care?
“Fuck,” I growl, grabbing my gun from my jacket pocket. The only good thing is that we’re on a busy New York street. Luca won’t risk killing me in front of so many people.
But that won’t stop him from trying to kidnap me so he can take me somewhere else and kill me.
“Get out of the car,” I say to Susanna. “Now.”
She hesitates only a moment before scrambling out of the car. I follow and keep my gun low but it’s still seen enough to let Luca know not to try anything with me.
Luca stops in his tracks when he sees Susanna get out of the car. His eyes widen.
“Did you know she was in the car with me?” I ask.
By the shock on Luca’s face, I take it he didn’t.
Alek and Dimitri pull up behind Luca. Susanna gasps when she lays eyes on her surrogate father figure.
“Susanna,” Alek says. “Come here. Now.”
I’m outnumbered. I can’t take on all three but they won’t risk shooting me in broad daylight on a busy street.
Susanna looks between me and Alek, uncertainty in her eyes. I’m sure everything inside of her is telling her to return to her family where she’ll be safe. With me, she’ll never quite be safe.
But she doesn’t move. Her eyes land back on me. Even if we try to run, we’ll be caught. There’s no way out of this.
One thing I do know is that I am not going to let go of Susanna that easily. I will go down with a fight.
