She nodded, but inside she couldn’t help but second-guess…well…everything she was doing. Praying she was making theright choice, she moved to help Maddie into her booster seat but stopped herself short when she saw Liam dipping his body into a dramatic bow.
“Your chariot awaits, m’lady.” He stretched a hand toward the opened back door.
Maddie giggled, not hesitating a bit in letting Liam pick her up and buckled into her seat. With her daughter secured, Allison climbed into the front passenger seat and shut the door. The smell of expensive leather permeated all around her as the man she’d hired to protect them got behind the wheel.
He fired up the ignition, pausing a moment to glance her way. “I’ll keep you safe, Allison,” he promised. His gaze slipped to the little girl in the back seat before he added a low, “I’ll keep both of you safe.”
Her lips tightened into a nervous smile that was more than a little forced. Not because she doubted the man’s convictions, but because she knew the kind of monster they were up against.
Feeling as though she needed to say something back, Allison told him truthfully, “I have no doubt that you’ll try.”
“Oh, I’ll do more than that, darlin’.” A quick wink. “Trust me. I won’t let anything happen to either of you.”
It was obvious that Liam wholeheartedly believed the promise he’d just made. She prayed he was right, and that Tommy and his goons would finally be stopped. But after everything she and Maddie had been through, it was becoming harder and harder to see any light at the end of the tunnel.
“I found them.”
A rush of adrenaline spiked its way through Tommy Gallo’s veins as his most trusted confidant’s words sank in. “Where?”
“Chicago.”
“Chicago?” The grip on his cell phone grew tighter as he immediately stopped pacing the length of his den. “What the fuck is she doing in Chicago?”
“Same thing she’s been doing since she left Seattle,” Joseph Cali mused. “Running scared.”
She’d better be fucking scared.“And you’re sure it’s her?” He had to be certain. “You’re sure it’s Allison?”
“I’m positive. Sal and I spotted her and the kid as they were leaving the shelter.”
“The shelter.” Tommy snorted. “What a fucking joke.”
When they’d first met, Allison was nothing more than a struggling waitress. She would havecontinuedon that same, worthless path if he hadn’t rescued her from that life when he did.
Since then, he’d given the ungrateful bitch everything she could ask for. A house that made his neighbors green with envy. A new, luxury car straight off the showroom floor. Access to more money than she ever would have dreamed of. He’d all but saved her from years of skimping and struggling to make ends meet, and how does she repay him?
By embarrassing the fuck out of me, that’s how.
“Boss? You still there?”
“I’m here.”
“What do you want us to do? Should we keep following them, or what?”
Tommy pulled a deep breath in through his nose before releasing in a slow, controlled stream. With his back teeth clenched tightly together, he said, “Bring them to me. Oh, and Joey?”
“Yeah?”
He glanced out at the view from the den’s floor-to-ceiling windows. “I need this taken care of as soon as possible, you understand?”
“I understand,” the other man confirmed. “Don’t worry, boss. We’ve got your back on this.”
“You’d better.” Tommy ended the call without saying goodbye.
Shoving the phone into his front pocket, he blew out a breath as he stared out over his expansive, perfectly manicured lawn. It was clear that Allison wanted was doing her best to disappear forever, so the next time he saw her…
I’m going to make her fucking wish come true.
CHAPTER 5
