Autumn let go of Luna and walked to the door where the gentleman waited for her. They walked outside to a waiting black sedan with dark tinted windows. Autumn looked back at the large house, then got in the car.
It looked like her little vacation was over.
The Forget Me Not Killer attacked Scarlett. At least, that’s what the media was saying. Autumn looked up from the attack on her phone while she rode back to the city.
Gregorio barely spoke two words to her. There was a lot of staring on his part.
“Isn’t it funny how being in a mafia queen’s domain is more comfortable than living in a city with millions of people surrounding you?” The words fluttered between her lips without a thought.
“Che cosa?”
Autumn assumed that meant I beg your pardon in Italian. She looked up and caught Gregorio’s gaze. She smiled and shook her head, “Nothing, just thinking out loud.”
They held each other’s gaze a moment longer than he pulled into the lot at Manhattan General. “We are here,signorina.” Gregorio put his blinker on and pulled over to the curb.
Autumn watched people pass through the revolving doors of the entrance. Some appeared relieved with smiles as they walked hand in hand with family or friends. Lovers? And there were others with bland expressions and tear stains on their cheeks.
“Would you like me to stay?”
Autumn blinked back into focus. How long was she sitting there?
And he spoke in English.
She lifted her lips in a semblance of a smile, “No, thank you for the ride, Gregorio. It was nice of you to offer.”
Gregorio blinked back at her in the rearview mirror. “There is no problem, signorina. You are family now. Any woman who belongs to Nico belongs to us.”
Autumn lowered her gaze. She wasn’t used to someone other than Braeden and Lilly calling her family. “Thank you.”
She had to get out of the car and do her job. Her fingers trembling, it took her a couple of tries before the door opened. “It’s a long drive back to Boston, I wouldn’t want you to get stuck in the traffic around here.”
He shrugged. “No matter. Just be safe. If you need something, anything at all, the Vedova’s will help you.”
Her smile was genuine this time. “Thank you again, Gregorio.” She finally stepped out of the car and slammed the door shut. She watched him pull away and make an illegal U-turn. Autumn took a deep breath and pressed against the revolving door.
With the information her father texted her, she headed to the elevator and went to the seventeenth floor. She nodded to two nurses and walked down the hallway to her sister’s room.
She knocked on the door softly in case Scarlett was asleep. Looking inside, Autumn realized it was a private room.
But of course, it was. Why wouldn’t it be? David Taylor always got the best that money could buy.
Across from the bed, her father sat in a gray pin-striped suit. One leg crossed over his knee at the ankle. A phone was in his hand while his face took on a tight, bored expression.
David Taylor’s hair was completely salt and pepper. The last time she saw him, it was still a dark brown with gray at the temples. Crow’s feet covered the corners of his eyes, and wrinkles stretched across his face, with frown lines bracketing his lips.
Autumn looked at her older sister lying in bed. She had gauze and surgical tape covering one eye. Scarlett’s chest rose and fell gently as the various machines beeped next to her. Autumn looked at the IV in Scarlett’s arm by her side.
Frowning, Autumn came closer to Scarlett and noticed the ring of black and blue around her throat and fingerprints along her jawline.
“Took you long enough.”
At her father’s sharp tone, Autumn turned around. One side of her mouth tilted up into a smile, “Nice to see you, too. It’s been, what, ten years?”
David Taylor scowled at Autumn as he stuffed his phone into his suit pocket. “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t have to be, Autumn,” he said, gritting his teeth. “Where the hell were you?”
She tilted her chin up. “Busy.” She nodded in Scarlett’s direction. “Has she been sleeping since you arrived?”
His eyes softened as he glanced toward his other daughter.
