“Fuck this.” She threw cash at the driver and jumped from the car where it stopped at a light. She ran across the street, a car stopped in time to keep from hitting her and she ran the mile it took to get to her apartment.
“I see you, but… you’re too late.”
She only had half a block to go.
She only had fifty feet until she touched her front door.
BOOM!
The explosion came out of nowhere. The impact of the explosion sent her flying backward, into the street. She was dimly aware of glass shooting from a couple of nearby cars and alarms going off all at once. A couple of pedestrians ran over to her, asking if she was alright. Someone was shouting into their phone.
Did they call 911?
But she couldn’t hear or see them. All she saw was her apartment. Smoke and orange flames burst from the windows.
The vibration came from the phone in her hand. She brought it up to her ear. “Next time, it might be someone you love.”
“I’m going to find you, and I’m going to kill you,” she rasped. “You’re a dead man walking.”
“Come and find me, Autumn. Or I will find you.”
The call ended.
Autumn let the phone fall from her hands to the cement. She ran towards what was once her apartment. “Dune!” she shouted with desperation. Careful of the glass she nearly made it to the door. “Dune!”
Nico left the Manhattan Criminal Court House after his current case. The client was a lowly salesman who hit a pedestrian. Nico had his work cut out for him. Luckily, the victim survived his injuries. The Honorable Mariah Nielsen was familiar with Nico, so his client only had to pay damages and commit up to six months of community service.
He was in his car when the phone rang. “Scala.”
“Get down to your girlfriend’s apartment, ASAP.”
It was one of his uncle’s men. It didn’t surprise Nico in the least that he had someone watching Autumn or her home. Arturo was a man who kept his eye everywhere.
“Why?” he asked, as he sat inside the sleek sports car. He revved it and then pulled out of the parking spot in the underground garage. He took his ticket out and put it through the machine to validate.
“There was a fucking explosion, that’s why.”
As soon as the gate arm lifted enough for his car to pull through, Nico zoomed onto the street. He knew where Autumn lived, courtesy of the information his private investigator sent him. He swerved around cars as the rain glossed over the road, nearly making him crash into another vehicle.
He turned his radio on to a local news station and heard briefly about a murder at Cat Tails and then it turned over to a fire, slightly beyond the city limits.
“Bingo,” he agreed, increasing his speed. There were no cops around. Because of the explosion and the new murder. The newscast went back to the murder, and he learned a little more about what happened at the sex club.
“It’s Anastasia Moretti, another daughter of the Big Three. Whoever’s been putting flowers in the eye sockets are targeting the wrong women, Sal.”
“Yeah, this guy seems to have a death wish for himself. Doesn’t he know not to attack the mafia’s women?”
“Understatement of the fucking century,” Nico muttered.
He couldn’t get to the street because it was cordoned off with police tape. If this was taking place at the same time the murder was discovered, there was a chance Autumn was safe. She wouldn’t be inside.
Nico hoped to God his words were true.
He got to the smoking house at the same time the authorities arrived. He watched in slow motion as Autumn ran towards the house.
The muscles in his legs burned as he dove for her. He tackled her to the ground. “What the fuck are you doing? You can’t go in there, you damn fool!”
Autumn kicked and tried to buck him off of her. Nico merely grunted and continued to hold her down. Autumn looked over her shoulder. She glowered back at him. “Get the fuck off me, Scala!”
