“It’s all you’re getting.”
“Great, that makes it even easier to leave.” I turn from him, breaking whatever connection I thought we’d made, however temporary. “Hello!! Bianca!” I shout, pounding on the door. “Time for me to go. Please unlock the door!” I throw in thepleasebecause her quiche was really good.
“If you’ll just wait—” Rem is talking behind me, first in English and then what I’m starting to realize is Italian. I ignore him.
“HELLO!” I pound again, again, and my fist is about to hit the wood for the umpteenth time when the door swings open.
Bianca, looking a little bashful, is on the other side. “You called?”
Funny. “I need pants. Shoes. And a taxi. Now.” I don’t know where the authority in my voice comes from, but I don’t care. A glance at the bedroom clock tells me I have time to make it to work and since that’s the single thing about my life that I still recognize after the last twenty-four hours, I’m getting my buttthere as soon as possible. Maybe a little normalcy will make this whole thing feel like nothing more than a very bad dream.
Bianca looks over my shoulder at Rem. She’s surprised by whatever she sees, her eyebrows jumping up her forehead. Whatever silent communication is going on between her and her husband’s friend, her surprise shifts to contrition and Bianca gives me an apologetic smile.
“Pants and shoes, right? I think I have something that will fit. And you don’t need a taxi, Johnny can drive you wherever you want to go.”
I push past her into the hallway, not pausing to take in my surroundings. “Thanks, but no thanks.” Like I want them knowing where I’m going. Or, worse, kidnapping me a second time. I’m not that stupid. “Taxi, please.Nota rideshare. No way I’m letting you track my location on an app.”
She looks like she’s about to protest but Rem stops her. “It’s fine, Bianca. You get Lena some clothes; I’ll call her a cab.”
Some part of me wants him to be lying. Wants me to have a reason not to trust him even a tiny bit. But Rem is doing as promised, calling me a cab, and I hover by the front door as Bianca tracks down extra clothes for me to wear.
I don’t have a phone, a wallet. My coat is covered in blood. I know he can’t read minds, but Rem somehow knows what I’m thinking. He opens a nearby closet, pulls out a coat and hands it to me along with some cash. I silently curse when I realize it isn’t enough for me to head straight to the airport and catch a one-way flight out of town.
Bianca returns with clothes, and I feel Rem’s eyes on me as I quickly get dressed.
A cab pulls into the drive. Rem moves to open the door, then stops. We’re back where we were moments ago: him standing between me and the rest of the world. “This isn’t over, Lena.” The heat of his breath traces down my neck, his voice apromise and a threat. “Don’t for one second think that any of this is over.”
With that he opens the door. Frigid January air smacks me in the face and I pull the coat Rem gave me tighter and begrudgingly appreciate the fuzzy interior of Bianca’s boots.
I don’t hesitate. I don’t look back. I’m in that cab as fast as my legs can take me.
Sliding into the warmth of the back seat, relief hits. I can’t believe I got away.
I can’t believe they let me go.
It’s only as the cab is pulling away that I realize I’m still wearing Rem’s ring on my finger.
And that the coat I’m wearing is too big to be a woman’s. I was so focused on leaving the house that I didn’t register the size. A sick pit opens in my stomach as I look at the interior lining and see fine stitching inside, initials marking custom-made clothing. Initials that can only belong to one man.Rem Cosenza.
I drop my head on the back seat with a groan. I’ve got his ring and his coat. He won’t need an excuse to come after me now. My heart starts up a rattling pace and I take a deep breath, trying to slow it down.
Something tickles the back of my throat.
I inhale again, and again, pulling Rem’s coat closer.
A scent slips through my nose, one that calms me and causes a riot at the same time. I recognize that scent.
It belongs to the imaginary man who held me as I wept in my dreams.
7
REM
“That’s how you planned it to go, right?”
“I swear to God, Giordano, if you don’t shut up, they’ll be picking your body parts off train tracks for years.”
Johnny’s laughter bursts from my phone’s speaker, filling my car. “It’s not wise to make empty threats, brother. It hurts your street cred.”
