That made sense, and I was sort of glad to know the horses would be close by. Maybe they’d give us an early warning if any police or assassins came sniffing around. Like guard-horses. That’d be cool, as long as they didn’t get hurt. No more innocents could die around me, or I’d lose my shit.
“We should get inside,” Rhett said quickly, glancing around. “I checked, and outside of being a little stale, everything in there is clean and secure. This is not a cheap structure, but one designed to withstand all the elements.”
As if he’d called the storm with those words, there was a rumble above us, and the previous blue sky was now a distinct gray color. Winds picked up as we stood there, disturbing the leafy undergrowth, and I shivered in the thick coat.
Rhett wrapped an arm around me, directing me toward the steps of the RV. They were situated halfway along the smooth, silver body, and when I entered, I was surprised by how nice and modern it was inside. The right end of the trailer had a small bench with a table. Rhett had set the bags there, and my stomach growled once more as if to remind me that we were very hungry. Next to the table was a small kitchenette with enough appliances to get by.
When I turned to see the other end, I almost ground to a halt in surprise. Rhett paused behind me, and I heard his low chuckled. “Ah, yes. Our one small issue, but we’ve all shared a bed before. We can make do for a couple of nights.”
One. Bed.
Ah, come the fuck on. This beaten and broken chick only had so much willpower, and being sandwiched between Rhett and Jace for hours every night was going to lead to one thing. There was no use lying to myself about it. I had no strength to resist these two, and if they wanted to use my body to pass the time, who the fuck was I to say no.
Jace thought he hated me now… just wait until we’d hate-fucked our way through the next few days.
All of a sudden, this little escape from reality had gotten very interesting.
Very interesting indeed.
twenty-nine
GRAYSON
Sounds of pathetic screaming bounced off the walls of the soundproof room, hurting my head and making me wince slightly. Any more of this and I was likely to lose my ear for music; then I’d really be pissed off.
A gunshot rang out, and the man I’d been chatting with fell backward, his blood and brains leaking out all over the floor. With a frustrated sigh, I turned to glare at Angelo.
“Do you fucking mind?”
The mafia prince just shrugged, tucking his gun away once more. “He wasn’t talking; we’re wasting our time here.”
I pushed to my feet, feeling my spine click as I stretched. “Notyet, but he would have eventually.”
Angelo shook his head. “Disagree. That guy didn’tknowwhat we want to know. He’d have just made something up that sounded plausible and set us on a wild goose chase. No thanks. Come on, we need to get to that meeting with Brenda before she strings us both up for keeping her waiting.”
Giving the dead man another annoyed glance, I followed Angelo out of the room and closed the door firmly after us before pulling off my gloves. “Your cleaners are on the job here?”
He jerked a nod, his eyes on his phone screen. “Should be here any minute.”
We both got into Angelo’s Porsche, then waited silently for another minute until a white panel van pulled up outside the warehouse. The logo on the side of the truck readRat-Zap, rodent and pest removal.
I snorted a short laugh. “Cleaners with a sense of humor, huh?”
Angelo just arched a brow. “What? It’s what they do. Removerats.”
Satisfied that his cleaners were taking care of our mess, he started up the powerful car and drove us out of the industrial area where we’d been torturing that whiny dick from the dark-web muscle-for-hire site. That was where we’d traced the attackers at the farmhouse back to. All of them were anonymous grunts, not even particularly well paid, which explained why we were all able to escape.
Well, most of us.
Poor Flo.
“Brenda said to meet her in the park near the fountain,” I told Angelo, tucking my bloody gloves into his center console and pulling out some wet wipes.
“Got it,” he replied, driving us toward that area of town. We were back in Naples—home of Big Noise Records—and following up on any lead we could find. So far, all we’d managed to do was rule out a couple of options.
Maybe it was too soon toreallyrule anything out, but we’d tentatively crossed off the Riccis. They would never put their heir at risk. Not AngeloorBillie’s fake baby.
We’d also cautiously crossed out my family. Were they capable? Hell yes. Would they give any shits about killing a Ricci and starting a war? Not a chance. But they’d hadplentyof opportunity to get at me without resorting to such extreme measures. It just didn’t add up.
