“Be nice,” I say. “She might’ve saved my life.”
He shepherds us along the bar, around a crying barista, past a man buttoning his coat with shaking fingers. The glass crunches under my shoes like ice. My ears ring. The delivery alley is a corridor of dumpsters and cold air. Three minutes later, a black SUV glides up to us. We climb in, and the doors thud shut.
“Random?” I ask, my voice ragged, already knowing the answer.
“No,” Bogdan says.
“Were they aiming at us?” Angie asks. “Her? Who?”
“Let’s get you both safe first.”
I squeeze my knees until my palms hurt. The secret under my skin presses back.
“Does he know?” I ask.
“He does.”
The car’s speaker crackles. “Gabriella.” Sasha’s voice—low, contained, dangerous.
“My fan club sent flowers,” I say, because I’m an idiot who has to make a bad joke to ease the tension.
“Stay with Bogdan,” Sasha says. “Do not deviate. Now is not the time for anything dramatic.”
“Dramatic?” I ask, a little scandalized. “Since when am I?—”
“Stay with him. I’ll be in soon.”
The line clicks, and that’s the end of it.
Angie watches me. “You okay?”
“I have to be.”
CHAPTER 18
GABBY
The street outside Le James still smells like burnt rubber and gunpowder. Police tape snaps in the wind and glass glitters in the gutter.
Angie and I are a block away, still in the back of the black SUV, now parked.
“You okay, Ange?” I ask.
She looks as if she’s a million miles away, but something is different about her now, something I can’t quite put my finger on.
She doesn’t respond. I reach over, placing my hand on her knee and giving her a little squeeze.
“Huh? What?” She blinks and shakes her head, coming back into the moment.
“You alright?”
She nods. “Yeah. Fine. I mean, I’m a bit shaken up.”
“I get it. I just wanted to say thanks for what you did back there. If you hadn’t pulled me down like that…” I trail off, not even wanting to think about it.
Angie smiles. “Just being a friend. Or co-mama bear.”
I laugh. “Thank you. But seriously, you alright?”
