They seemed so good.
But Jack seemed good too, didn't he? Charming. Protective. The kind of man who opened doors and pulled out chairs and made my mother cry happy tears at our wedding.
Instagram Jack. Public Jack. The version everyone saw while the real Jack picked apart my self-worth piece by piece in private.
Maybe that's what the Sartoris are. An Instagram family. All warm smiles and Sunday dinners and charity galas while they do... whatever it is that crime families do. The stuff Nico described in graphic detail just to watch me crumble.
I squeeze my eyes shut, but the images won't stop. Lily's small hands. Her curious grey-blue eyes that look so much like mine.
God, what have I done?
I brought my daughter into a mafia compound. Let her play with their people. Let her get attached to Vittoria. Let her wander into Bruno's wing like this was some kind of fairy tale castle instead of a fortress built on blood money.
My phone sits on the nightstand. I could call my mother. Beg her to come get us. Take Lily somewhere safe while I figure this out.
But my mother told Jack where to find us today. My mother, who's supposed to love me more than anyone, handed my location to the man who destroyed my credit, stole my savings, and put a Russian mob target on my back.
There's nowhere safe. There's no one I can trust.
Except...
Nico offered to pay the debt. One hundred and forty thousand dollars like it was pocket change. He didn't ask for anything in return. Just offered it, simple as that.
And then he ripped you apart for refusing.
I wipe my cheek. When did I start crying again?
The thing is, the things he said were meant to scare me. I know that. He wanted me terrified.
But I was already terrified. I've been terrified since I saw Jack kneeling next to our daughter. Since Dante appeared out of nowhere, confirming that someone had been watching us.
Lily shifts in her sleep, mumbling something. I reach out and brush a curl from her forehead, my hand trembling.
I press my lips together until they ache, swallowing the sob that wants to escape.
You could run.
The thought surfaces unbidden. Take Lily. Disappear. Change our names. Start over somewhere the Bratva and Jack and even the Sartoris can't find us.
But I have twelve hundred dollars to my name. No car. No family I can trust. And according to Nico, the Bratva already knows where I live.
Running isn't an option. It's a fantasy.
Which leaves me with exactly two choices: accept help from one crime family to escape another, or wait thirty days for men to come collecting.
Neither option ends with me being free.
I pull Lily closer. She curls into me automatically, her small fist clutching the front of my shirt.
Somewhere in this house, Nico Sartori is probably congratulating himself on putting me in my place. On reminding me exactly how powerless I am.
But I've been powerless before. I've been trapped before. I survived Jack for five years.
I can survive this too.
I just have to figure out how.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
