“If you hurt my son in any way, I will find you,” he says.
My jaw is stapled together with adrenaline; I couldn’t even speak if I wanted to.
“Let’s just assume that you were here for a book, and we can forget this ever happened,” Corello suggests.
I nod, grateful for his mercy. He releases me, and all my calculations about how to get away come back to me in a flash. I’m no longer worried about the optics of getting by him. I’ve been dismissed, and unless I want to challenge his authority further, I need to make myself scarce.
I shove the phone into my pocket and hurry to the door. As I leave, I can see him studying the desk. He wants to know what I was looking at, but he’s not going to confront me overtly. He’s given me a warning: back off if I know what’s good for me.
My entire body vibrates with terror as I force myself to walk back to the staircase. Half of me wants to make a beeline for the front door. I could let myself out, run down the driveway to the gate, and maybe scale the fence. But of course, that won’t do. Corello has released me on the assumption that I’m romantically involved with his son. He gave me strict instructions not to hurt Frankie, and by disappearing, I would only make things worse.
I stand there in the foyer, trying to decide which way to go. All the hard work I’ve put into fooling Frankie seems meaningless at the moment. I finally managed to convince him that I’m worthy of meeting his family, but then messed it all up on the same night.
Frankie’s message of love comes back to me, and I wish I could separate the two. If only Frankie was a stranger I met at the library, and not someone so intimately connected to my brother’s killer. But there is no space for wishes that can’t come true, and I’m terrified to remain under the same roof as the man who caught me rifling through his desk.
So, I turn right toward the front door. My heart continues to pound, as each new step brings a truckload of additional threats. The TV is still on in the living room, but now I can hear Frankie’s uncle stirring.
“Cisco?” Gio calls out.
I’ve got only seconds left before he gets too curious and walks around the partition to see me. Corello has let me leave, but I’m not sure if Gio will be so magnanimous. I reach for the door, half expecting an alarm to go off. But luck must be with me because the house remains silent even as the doorknob twists.
Outside, the air is thin. My feet are bare since I left my shoes with Frankie, but there’s no helping that now. I can’t risk going back upstairs and potentially awakening Corello’s son. There will be questions I’m not equipped to answer, and I might lose the opportunity to escape with my life.
Setting my jaw, I rush down the porch steps and out into the driveway. It seems so much longer than it did when we arrived, possibly because I’m not in a car, but also because my safety is on the line.
I stick close to the road, even though Corello’s home is surrounded by trees. They would provide excellent cover for an advancing army, or for a mob boss who didn’t want the worldto know what he was up to. I’m terrified of getting lost in here, maybe even meeting Frankie’s father or uncle in the dark.
My only thoughts involve somehow getting free, flagging down a ride, and getting out of here. I arrive at the gate to find it as solid as ever. There’s a light on in the gatehouse, so I know my time is limited.
I come up short beside the metal bars, gazing up at the decorative spikes on top. There’s no way I’m going over that, wearing this little slip of a dress. I’m outmatched by siege technology, locked away in this compound with no hope of escape.
As I stand there deliberating, the guard comes out to greet me. “Everything okay?” he asks.
“I forgot my tampons,” I say, grabbing the first lie that comes to me. It’s a little awkward, but I’m hoping that the sensitive nature of the situation will prompt the guard to keep quiet. In general, men don’t know what to do with a woman who is menstruating, and this guard is no different.
“Oh,” he says, turning bright red. I can see his eyes shifting away from me, hoping that he won’t have to hear anything more.
“If you could just let me out,” I suggest.
“Of course,” he agrees, reaching into the gatehouse to flip a switch.
The mechanism that controls the gate groans, and the bars begin to part slowly. I have only seconds left before I’m free, but even now, I’m feeling overwhelmed. I have visions of being caught and forced back up to the house. Corello allowed me to leave, but I can’t imagine he thought I would run. He probablythinks I really am in love with his son, and that whatever I was doing in his office was only in addition to a genuine romance. The moment he discovers that he killed my brother and that my whole relationship with Frankie has been a setup, he won’t be so kind.
The guard is equally uncomfortable, which is good. I don’t have to make small talk while we wait. As soon as the bars are open wide enough, I slip through, pounding my way down the embankment until I reach the street.
Air enters my lungs in rapid bursts. I’m free. I’m alive. And I have nothing to show for months of work. Feeling angry with myself, and yet grateful to have survived, I pull out my phone to hail a cab.
CHAPTER 25
FRANKIE
Iroll over, expecting to find Sofia in bed with me. Last night went even better than I’d expected. I was worried about saying those three little words, but they came out as naturally as possible. Our first time was even better than I could have hoped. We are meant for each other, and I’m looking forward to a luxurious morning filled with more carnal fun.
But when I put my hand on the pillow to draw her close, all I feel is empty air. I sit up, scanning the mattress in case she’s simply curled up at the opposite end. I’m disappointed when I discover that she’s missing, but not overly alarmed. Maybe she’s in the shower.
“Sofia?” I call out.
There’s no answer, so I go investigate for myself. The bathroom is empty, which is concerning. Maybe she had to leave early to go to work. But she didn’t have a car, which means she would have had to hire a lift. I’m not sure how I feel about that. After the night we shared, I hoped she would feel comfortable waking me up and asking for a ride. I would have given her one in a heartbeat, even thrown in breakfast if she was hungry.
