Jagger presses a button on the dash, and I see Malachi’s name light up the screen. “What the fuck is Olivia fucking Sedgwick doing at my fucking bar?” he growls down the line so furiously I flinch.
I glance back at Cruz, the knot in my stomach tightening. “What the hell?” I mouth.
He shrugs, but I can see from the look on his face that he’s not all that surprised. This must have been why they arrived at The Raven’s Nest in such a hurry to get us and leave.
“There was a problem,” Malachi grumbles, keeping his voice low.
I watch as Jagger’s ex hook-up saunters out of the bar. She has on a tight pencil skirt and white silk blouse, her hair pinned neatly in a bun at the back of her head. Her hands are curled into fists as she stalks toward a white sedan, shoving open the door and slamming it again when she’s inside. She slaps her hands on the steering wheel aggressively, then her head drops.
“Spit it out,” Jagger snarls, the look on his face deadly as he watches her with hawk eyes just like I am.
“Give me a sec,” Malachi mumbles. A door slams, and the line goes quiet for a beat.
When Olivia lifts her head again, she wipes at her cheeks and puffs out a few breaths. She looks devastated. Like she’s just lost it all and can’t work out how to start her car back up again. I can’t help but wonder if this is all over Jagger.
“Late last night, the morgue was fucked up by a couple of mask-wearing fuckers with guns. Video footage shows them hunting for a body. They found what they were looking for, Daisy’s empty casket, and when they did, they destroyed the place and everything in it, including the night guard,” Malachi says solemnly.
Goosebumps erupt over my body, and sickness slinks beneath my skin. “Dante,” I gasp, knowing how bad this is for me. I knew he wouldn’t give up so easily.
Cruz’s eyes darken to scary, and I know he’s thinking exactly what I am. I’m fucked.
“Why is this the first I’m hearing about it if it fucking happened last night?” Jagger slams his fist against the steering wheel, making me jump into Cruz’s arms.
Asher sends a hand back, curling his fingers around mine, trying to comfort me, but it’s not enough. They all might think they’re tough, that they can take on anyone and win, but they can’t. This is my brother and his fucked-up friend. This is the mafia. Their reach extends too far. They can have anyone do anything they want with just a snap of their fingers. For the first time in a week, fear seeps back under my skin. Dante is going to kill me when he finally gets his hands on me. Scratch that, he’s going to murder Jagger, Asher, and Cruz then trap me into a loveless marriage for the rest of my life.
“The commissioner turned up here about half an hour ago, looking for you and Daisy, and trust me, brother, that was the first I heard about it. She wants your fucking balls and Daisy shipped back to Italy as a matter of urgency. She threatened all sorts of shit if we didn’t comply. I don’t want to say it, but the stench of this entire mess screams corrupt cop.”
“Fuck,” Asher curses under his breath, and I know he agrees by the way he grips me tighter.
“You really think she’s in with my brother?” I whisper, horrified.
Jagger glances over his shoulder in my direction. Then his attention snaps back to the front of the car, and I know he’s watching her. She still hasn’t moved; she’s sitting in her car staring back at his bar while talking to someone on her phone. “She wouldn’t. She’s a fucking rule-follower, she wouldn’t fuck up her job trying to help the underworld,” Jagger bites back, sounding confused and not really all that sure himself.
“She was fucking you, brother, and we all know that was crossing a line. Maybe you didn’t know her as well as you thought you did,” Malachi responds down the line.
Jagger cracks his neck, the sound jarring as it resonates through his car. Without warning, he slams the accelerator and speeds off, the engine roaring to life as he pursues her car up the road. I hadn’t even realized she had taken off.
“What are you doing?” I gasp, wishing I was back at the safe house locked up tight. Not out here in the real world just waiting for my brother to strike and drag me back home.
But he doesn’t answer, his silence hanging heavily in the air. As they both pull onto the highway, he aggressively swerves into the other lane, his engine roaring as he drives like a man possessed to pass her. He winds down his window. “Pull the fuck over, Olivia,” he yells in her direction.
She glances at our car then back at the road, fear and pain registering on her pretty face. But she doesn’t pull over, she keeps on driving, speeding up to get in front of us.
But that only forces him to accelerate faster. This time he gets closer to her car. So close I think he’s going to hit her. “Jagger, stop it, you’re going to get us all killed,” I cry, looking to Cruz for help, but the crazy asshole has a massive fucking grin on his face like we’re on a roller coaster and this is all a part of the fun.
I grip hold of my seat belt, praying to whoever will listen that I’m not about to die. Some sick and twisted karma for faking my death.
This time she pulls over, the smell of burning rubber filling the air as her car screeches to a halt on a gravel pull-off carved out of the scrub. Jagger follows suit, pulling up beside her.
I clutch my chest, my heart threatening to burst from my ribs with each frantic beat. I’m alive.
“Nothing like a car chase to get the heart pumping, right, little darlin’?”
“You’re fucking crazy,” I mutter, but my eyes are fixed on the boss man as he bursts open his door and he’s out of his car in no time at all.
Asher looks over his shoulder at me. “Stay here, okay.”
I nod, having no intention of going anywhere, especially when Jagger looks like he’s about to commit murder. Also, my brother is still out there looking for me. I know it was him who did this, it has to be. Asher follows Jagger, slamming his door and rounding the front of the car, lifting his suit jacket, making it obvious he’s carrying.
