His jaw locks as his hand slips from mine and grips the steering wheel in front of him.A glance into the rearview mirror and he reaches under the seat and places a gun in between his legs.“Open the glovebox, take the other gun out.Just in case there’s trouble.”
Clearly there’s trouble, maybe someone following us that I haven’t spotted by periodically looking into the mirror on my side.“I guess I’ll try not to point it at you and make my getaway.”
He smirks, but puts his foot on the gas and speeds up, smoothly moving us into the far lane of traffic and turning on the signal to exit as we approach an off ramp.“If you run, I’ll catch you and make you pay dearly for the chase.”
I slide the black Glock in my hand, feeling it’s weight, for some reason completely unafraid with Massimo by my side.Still, anyone, including soldiers my father has sent to rescue me, could be trailing us.“It’s not likely that I’ll shoot my rescuers you know.Maybe they’re coming for me, no?”
Massimo bypasses the off ramp and hits the gas.“Kitten, I honestly wish these men were your family.Wish your father were sending someone after you, trying to make this right, instead of flat out denying any involvement in the hijackings at all.Some of your own soldiers were there that night doing the deed, and we caught them red-handed, questioned them, and they said they were working for the Cassones.”
“It’s not that I think you’re lying, it’s just really all so bizarre I’m not sure what to believe anymore.I heard my father on the phone just like you but in all the years of him training, conditioning, and preparing us for something that could happen like this very thing, not once can I recall a situation where he wouldn’t have done everything he could to prepare us ahead of time if he was going to hit another family.Not ever, Massimo.Something has to be wrong.”
He nods but his attention is on his rearview mirror.
“Massimo, he knows that your family would come after ours and especially use me or Anna.What would possess him to do that?What would be more important to him than us?”The tears I vowed not to shed slide down my cheek.
His firm hand grasps my own.“I don't know kitten, but I can promise you that I'm going to find out, and somehow, I'm going to find a way forward that doesn't involve you paying for something your father is responsible for.It will just take time and a little persuasion on my part.My father can be a very difficult man as you can understand.Especially when it involves the Cassones.”
I swipe at a tear and glance in the mirror.“Are we being followed?I didn’t see anyone, but you must have seen something I haven’t yet.”
“Our drivers in the back are tailing us rather closely, and a couple others have joined them.They’re about three cars behind but they haven’t alerted me to any danger yet.Just call it precautionary.”
I inhale a deep breath and run my hand over the smooth metal of the gun.“I was probably ten years old when I learned how to shoot.My father would have hit the roof, but one of my uncles let me shoot when Papa wasn’t around.”
Massimo grunts.“Your father’s protection skills do not impress me in the slightest, kitten.No daughter of mine will ever hold a piece of bulleted steel in her hands until she is at least fourteen.”
I laugh.“I can probably shoot as good if not better than many of our soldiers.”
Massimo laughs.“Maybe I was too quick to trust you with that weapon, kitten.”
“As funny as it seems in this situation, I trust you.I trust that you are doing what you say, and you are trying to get us both out of this situation.Otherwise, you’d be lying on the side of the road riddled with bullets and your soldiers back there would be carrying you home to your father.”
Massimo laughs out loud.“Sophia, not much surprises me in this world, but you manage to surprise me on the regular.”
It’s hard not to smile, no matter the danger.“Do you ever wonder what other families are like?I mean, normal families.Ones that have parents who go to work during the day, come home and have dinner, do homework and watch television, play games or something before bed?You know, no watching your father slip out the door as soon as it gets dark, watching your mom glance at her watch or the clock on the wall every few minutes, or cry her heart out when one of your uncles is suddenly killed in an accident?That was the worst, an uncle, a cousin, there for a while it seemed like someone was dying every week.That has died down, and I was hoping it would stay that way.”
“The quiet for once was nice.Is that why you quietly got an education and slipped into a different life, and left all of the people you care about behind?”
I shrug.“There really aren’t that many left, not the ones I grew up with.Five uncles dead, three cousins, and my mom.I think when she passed, that’s when I knew this life was not the one for me.It killed her Massimo.It literally ate her away with worry for her husband and all the cousins and uncles that got killed on the weekly just drove her into the ground.Papa was too busy trying to keep us alive to protect his wife from loneliness and worry.He lost her in the end, we all did.We lost her to this fucking life.”
Massimo pulls off the exit suddenly without signaling or any warning and stops at the light at the bottom of the hill.“Put your head down, Sophia,” he growls, waiting for traffic to clear so we can make a right.But now we’re boxed in.I can feel it before anything happens even with my head almost between my legs.I feel the danger closing in and my heart races like it’s going to beat out of my chest.“Massimo, what’s happening?”
“Don’t worry, kitten.I’m just drawing them in.Stay low and we’ll be just fine.”
I swallow through a lump in my throat, my hand sliding over the grip of the gun in my hand, all while keeping one hand on the front dash in front of me in case someone rams us from behind.“Get ready.They’re coming now, Sophia.I need you to sit up but stay slouched in your seat.The airbag in this car comes out low, so you’ll be protected but we’re going to take a hit.They aren’t slowing down.”
I brace myself for a rear impact.Massimo’s hand stays gently placed on the front of my chest.He punches the gas as soon as the light turns and spins into a gas station to the right while four SUVs hauling ass from every direction close in on a black sedan.The men get out, black masks over their faces, and squeeze off round after round from Uzi’s into the car, killing the driver and the three men in it with him.I don’t recognize anyone from here, not someone on my father’s payroll, at least that I know, but still, I know the score.It was going to be them or us, and at this point, I’m just glad it wasn’t us.
Massimo hits the gas, and we careen along the frontage road until we get to an on ramp, disappearing into the four o’clock rush hour traffic that at least is moving along at a decent clip.His cell rings and he hits a button on his steering wheel.“Massimo here.I have Sophia Cassone in the car with me.What the fuck happened?”
The man on the overhead coughs.“The guys came out of nowhere, boss.One minute we had the all clear, and then two of them were boxing us into the right-hand lane.We couldn’t get out, which gave their other driver the opportunity to get on your ass.I’m sorry, boss.”
Massimo’s jaw is locked tight, his eyes dark with rage.“Who the fuck was it?I want the names of the fuckers who tried to run me off the fucking road and take me out, capische?”
“Boss, we had to get out of there fast.The sirens started blaring and there just wasn’t time.They were all in masks.I don’t know who they were, but I have a pretty good idea that you’re sitting with the daughter of the bastard who instigated it all.”
Massimo’s hands tighten on the steering wheel and his voice gets oddly low, sending a chill snaking down the length of my spine.“You think old man Cassone sent out a hit party knowing his daughter was in my car?He may be many things, but he would not harm his daughter.Find the fuckers who did this.I want a name by the end of the day.”
I swallow through the lump in my throat as he disconnects.“Your father didn’t do this, kitten.There are too many things that aren’t adding up, coupled with things I’ve learned lately.”
