“It could be a trap,” I warned, pursing my lips. “I don’t like this. If this was Lorenzo—” I tried to quell the anxiety raging like a hurricane in my chest, but there was no quashing the torrentialforce. Sophia was at Francine’s hotel. I would never forgive myself if something I was grateful for only a couple of hours ago ended up being her demise.
“I’ll kill him myself,” Merrick snarled as we rushed down the front steps and Kellan locked the door behind us.
“We need to call Sebastian or Zane.” I hopped into the back with Merrick, and Kellan took the front with Spade.
“I’ll call them,” Kellan said, flinging the partition open so we could all hear each other. “You call Josh.”
I tapped my heel, my nervous energy needing an outlet as I clenched and unclenched my hands in my lap.
“No answer.” My heart plummeted as Kellan tried the next number.
Merrick’s jaw ticked, but he just hung up and called back again. Spade sped down the driveway, the tires squealing as he turned onto the main road. Sebastian’s men closed the gate behind us. If it was a trap to draw us out, at least we’d know if Angelo came after the house.
Kellan ended the call. “I’ll try Francine.”
The car idled as we hit a stoplight. We were at the main intersection between Fallpond and East Haven. But if we went the wrong way now, it could cost us precious minutes that we might not be able to afford. If we went to the wrong place, we might be falling right into Angelo’s trap and leading them to the real hideouts.
Neither Kellan nor Merrick was having any luck. The cars slowed in the perpendicular lanes as their stoplight turned red.
“Merrick.” Josh sighed in relief, my heart skipping a beat as his voice cut through the thick silence that had permeated the van.
“Which motel are you at?”
“East Haven.” Josh coughed, the sounds muffled as he must have moved the phone away from his face. “We’re at the… one in East Haven.”
A cool wave of relief washed over me as Spade turned on his signal light and cut a car off to turn left into East Haven. They went for the decoy, but of course Josh couldn’t say that in case Angelo’s men were watching or listening.
“We’ll be there in twenty,” Merrick said, assuring him and most likely me too since he grasped my hand, twining our fingers together as his hazel eyes bore into me. “Get the fire department there and ambulances. We need to make it look like there were casualties even if there were none. Otherwise, Angelo will know there’s another hideout.”
“They’re already here; we’ll have to speak with the paramedics.” Josh’s voice was clipped, like he didn’t want to say too much on his end. Good. “I’ll meet you when you pull in.”
Spade pressed the gas pedal, knowing none of the cops would pull us over anyway. He weaved in and out of cars as the ringtone from Kellan’s phone kept humming in the background. I was still a little on edge since none of the others had picked up their phones. I slid my own out of my pocket and dialed Sophia’s number.
“Gi, is everything okay?”
I slumped back against the seat, and closed my eyes. “Is everything all right? I could ask you the same question.”
“Why wouldn’t it be?” She was actually puzzled.
“Did the guys not hear their phones the last fifty times Kellan called?” I huffed, pinching the bridge of my nose. The ringing abruptly cut off as Kellan overheard my conversation.
I put the call on speaker so the rest of them could hear. “Did you idiots turn your ringers off or something?”
Zane grumbled something unintelligible in the background before he exclaimed, “Shit!”
“Yeah, shit.” I pulled my hair back into a ponytail. Merrick’s thumbs danced over his own phone screen as he texted Nicholas the info we got from Josh.
“Don’t worry, I’ll always have your back.” Her tone was chipper for the first time in a while, and I couldn’t help but smile at the renewed vigor a simple trip outside the house had sparked.
“Angelo hit the decoy motel, so we’re on our way there to stage a catastrophe so he doesn’t keep looking.”
“Fuck,” Sophia whistled. “See, this is why I should be in charge. You almost gave my girl a heart attack because you couldn’t be bothered to answer your phones.”
Incoherent muttering echoed in the background before Francine spoke over them. “So does this mean you trust Lorenzo?”
I frowned, but it was a fair question. She knew we were still on the fence about the new heir to the Barone empire. But this was a major check in his column. I gave a sharp nod. “We’ll discuss it, but yes. This was definitely a good sign.”
Francine had given Lorenzo her location when we met with him. From that, he could’ve easily tracked down the other motels in the Fallpond area. But he obviously didn’t hand over that information to his father, or else we would’ve been dealing with a disaster rather than staging one.
