What is he doing? He’s going to get himself killed. Another flavor of fear ripples through me, but it’s not for my own life thatI’m afraid—it’s for his. I swallow down my scream for him to get back inside where it’s safer.
He can’t leave me. Not like this.
My body bounces as Vincent races through city streets, taking corners much too fast for a vehicle this long and unwieldy. The rev of engines tells me that our enemies are riding motorcycles—giving them a clear advantage.
How many are out there? Is it even possible to outrun them?
They’re going to catch us.
They’re going to kill us.
And shove me in a kennel.
We hit a pothole. The side of my head smacks against the floor, and I groan as I taste blood in my mouth.
Tires screech. Gunfire deafens my thoughts. All I can focus on is how they’re going to catch me and this time I won’t be lucky enough to live through it. The only reason my captors set me free before was because I wasn’t their real target, just a pawn in a much larger game. A fish they caught, held for a while, then let loose into the stream again. As a warning, or a power play, I’m still not sure which.
This is different. If these men catch me, they will kill me. I know it in my bones.
The sounds around me shift and morph, but I can’t track them any longer. All I know is I’m suddenly inhaling Maximo’s masculine scent. I’m a trembling, silent mess in his arms, but he holds me tight as he murmurs in that deep, soothing tone of voice. Empty words, spoken in Italian, though they are a balm to my frayed nerves.
Closing my eyes, I lean into him, seeking comfort and safety in his strong form. By some miracle, he’s alive. I’m alive too. That’s all that matters right now.
When the limo parks, he cradles me in his arms and carries me to the elevator. I cling to him like my life depends on it.
After clipped instructions to his soldiers, we’re riding up to his penthouse, where it’s safe. Safer than the streets below anyway.
My mind reels as I attempt to process what happened. The sudden violence, the threat to our lives, the narrow and lucky escape. Not only that, but also the way Maximo protected me with his own body, with his life. It was as if he’d die for me if he had to, and that by itself is a real shock.
All of us could be lying in the street right now, dying in our own pools of blood. So sudden and unexpected.
But it shouldn’t be unexpected, should it?
Mafia life is dangerous on the best of days. I realize now that I’ve been wearing rose-colored glasses. Tonight is the reality I’d forgotten about. The truth that I hate. The danger that haunts my dreams.
Now, that reality has penetrated into my mind, it leaves a foul taste in my mouth. It eats away at any hope I have left and drives me toward the same conclusion it always has.
I must get out before it’s too late. Before I end up another casualty.
“Shh,cara mia, you’re safe now.” Maximo tucks me into his bed. A moment later, he crawls under the covers and pulls me flush against his bare chest, holding me tight as I shiver. The feel of him against my body shouldn’t be comforting, but it is. He’s everything I need right now.
My breathing soon evens out, the trembles grow sporadic, until they finally ease off. But my thoughts never calm down. Not entirely. I know what I have to do.
Sometime in the early hours of the morning, while Maximo’s fast asleep, I sneak back into my own room and find the burner phone. With shaking hands, I pull up the single contact number listed and send a text message.
Elena:
I’ll do it on one condition. You need to get me out of here before the wedding.
There, it’s done. I curl up in my own cold bed, but nightmares plague my sleep.
CHAPTER 21
Elena
Maximo left this morning after I told him for the hundredth time that I’m okay. Not entirely the truth, but I needed him gone. Mrs. Rizzo agreed to my single term and I planned to start feeding her information as soon as possible to fulfill my end of this bargain.
She is my only hope for escape. I do my best to ignore the guilt that threatens to shred me to pieces. I have no other choice, Maximo took away all of my options, backed me into a corner.
