Prologue
“Please, Tony. Pleasedon’tdo this!”
From behind the bushes, Abigail McKenna Moretti rose up on her tiptoes and glanced through the window. What she saw inside turned her blood cold.
The man was on his knees with his palms up. Begging for his life as Luca Marino stood over him with a gun—agun—pointed at the man’s head.
At twenty-one, Luca was only five years older than her, but he was well-established in her uncle’s business. Tony always called the guy his right-hand man. Now she understood exactly what that meant.
Abigail’s eyes fell onto the gun again. The barrel looked odd, longer than it should for a handgun that size. Studying it more closely, she realized a suppressor had been attached to its end.
Ohmygod. Ohmygod!
Her pulse raced. Unprecedented fear snaked through her veins as she tried to make sense of what she was seeing. Luca was about to shoot this man. God, he was about to commit cold blooded murder!
And her uncle was calmly standing by the door now. Watching it all take place as if he were overseeing the whole damn scene. He gave Luca a slight nod.
An order to kill.
She’d suspected all the rumors about her uncle were true. All the late-night meetings. Secret whispers between him and Luca. Other men she only knew as ‘associates’. It all made perfect sense, but it wasn’t until that exact moment Abigail knew beyond a shadow of a doubt…
My uncle’s a killer.
“I have a family”—the man continued to beg her uncle—“a wife and daughter.Please, Tony. Please!”
Abigail thought she was going to be sick.
The man was crying now. Begging for his life and sobbing. Absentmindedly, Abigail felt her face with her free hand and realized she was crying right along with him.
She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t sit back and watch an innocent man die without at leasttryingto help. But how the hell was she going to stop the execution while also protecting herself?
If these two were capable of this, they’d probably kill her without blinking an eye.
Think, Abigail. Think!
A dog barked from somewhere in the distance, tearing her attention away for a fraction of a second. That was it! She needed a distraction…but what?
Abigail thought for another precious second before deciding on a plan. Praying it would work, she reached into her pocket and pulled out the fob to the car she’d taken from her uncle’s garage.
The man’s sobbing voice still traveled through the double-paned glass, which meant sound could also travel from the outside in. Yes, a honking horn would draw attention to the car, but it was dark. The car was black, its lights would be flashing, and it was down the street behind that Jeep.
Hopefully her uncle and Luca would be too busy trying to get away to even realize it was Tony’s car.
Praying this worked, Abigail put her thumb over the red panic button on the fob and pressed down. The car’s horn began to honk loudly. Over and over again, it blared through the night sky.
A few neighbors came out, hollering for the car’s unknown owner to turn the damn thing off.Not a chance.
From her hiding place behind the bush, her gaze flew back to the terrifying scene inside. She barely held back a cheer of gratitude when her uncle gave Luca a sharp tilt of his head, motioning toward the door. And just like that, they left.
The man on his knees bent over at his waist and vomited.
Abigail’s knees shook as an overwhelming rush of relief struck. They hadn’t killed him. The man was safe!
He’s safe, but what about you?
That tiny voice in the back of her head was right. She needed to get out of here. Now.
If she took off toward the blaring car, she’d be spotted in an instant. Her only chance was to wait until Tony and Luca left. Then she’d have to haul ass and pray she beat them home.
