Shaking my head, I tell him, “I’ll go to see him when he’s awake. I have a lot of questions that I need answers to.” And my father is the only person who can tell me the truth about what happened to the Rossis and why Damon is so hellbent on revenge that he was willing to risk it all…including my life.
CHAPTER 2
DAMON
MY PHONE RINGS in my pocket. Pulling the car over to the side of the road, I’m quick to answer it.
“How are you doing, my friend?” Baz asks on the other end.
It’s been three days. Three days since I shot Victoria and her father, the man who destroyed my family. Three days since I’ve seen her, heard her laugh or smelled her perfume. Three days of pure hell, wondering if she’s okay, if she made it.
Every time I close my eyes I picture Victoria lying there on the floor, blood seeping into her dress. It’s an image that will be forever seared into my brain.
“It’s done,” I tell Baz.
“Good, good. I’m glad to hear that, my friend.” And then he asks, “And did you get the information you were looking for? Did you get the name?”
“No,” I grind out. “No, I didn’t.” That’s my only regret about that night. If I could do it all over again, I wouldn’t have left Ciccone’s place without the name. But if I would have stayed any longer, I would have been gunned down by Ciccone’s men, and then Sara would never get justice. And this is what it’s all about now — justice for my sister.
“That’s all right. I’m sure you did everything you could. Don’t worry, I’ll keep looking, my friend.”
Baz is about to hang up when I hear myself blurting out, “Victoria. Is she…did she…?”
“She’s in the hospital,” he answers. “She had surgery and pulled through.”
I let out a sigh of relief. I didn’t realize how heavy the burden on me was until just now. It feels like a thousand bricks have been lifted off my shoulders. “Thank you,” I tell him.
“But just so you know…her father made it too, although his condition is precarious.”
My hand clutches the phone hard, the plastic threatening to crack under the force of my grip. If Victoria’s father is still alive, there’s a chance I can still get the information I need. A chance that I can save my sister. But I know my chances of getting close to Ciccone again are even slimmer now. He will have beefed up his security detail tenfold.
“Thank you for letting me know,” I grit out.
Baz ends the call, and I set my phone down in the center console of an old Toyota that I highjacked outside of Syracuse yesterday. I’ve been running away from New York City with no real destination in mind. Maybe California…or Canada perhaps.
But the fact that I can’t seem to leave the state is unnerving. It’s like I keep driving around in circles hoping to finally make a choice.
And so, when I come to a sign that says New York City, one-hundred-ninety-five miles, I make the rash decision to take the exit and drive back to the city where I left everything behind.
Including the only girl I’ve ever loved.
CHAPTER 3
VICTORIA
THE NEXT MORNING, the doctor comes in to see me. Jack Park is young, probably only a few years older than me, with blond hair and bright blue eyes. He’s dressed in blue scrubs under a white lab coat, and his handsome face is all business when I ask him to tell me about my father first.
“He’s in a medically induced coma at the moment. That will allow his brain to rest while giving his body time to heal. He suffered some severe damage, but we’re optimistic that he’s going to pull through.”
I nod in response, feeling like I’m being torn in two. On the one hand, I want my father to live and thrive.
But on the other hand, if he did everything that Damon said he did…then maybe this world would be better without him in it.
“Now, as for you, Miss Ciccone, we had to surgically remove the bullet from your thigh. But, thankfully, there was no bone, nerve or major muscle damage. You were extremely lucky.”
Lucky?
There’s that word again. Why do I keep hearing that term when describing my life? I don’t feel so damn lucky.
