I’m the one laughing now, a sad sound with no humor in it. “We always have choices, Lia. I guess you know, now, that yours was a bad one. But it’s a little late for that. You made your choice.”
She opens her mouth, trying and failing to speak.
“No one forced you to walk into that bar.” I grit my teeth, trying to keep the old anger under control. “No one forced you to go over to Carmelo and talk to him, or do any of the other things that led to you having a kid at sixteen and marrying an abusive fuck. You have no right to expect anything from me.”
“I don’t,” she murmurs, her voice quivering. “I don’t, Logan.”
“Good.”
She goes back to staring out the window as I clench my hands so hard around the steering wheel the knuckles turn white. At last, I lash out, “That doesn’t mean I’m not going to kill the bastard for laying a hand on you.”
Her eyes widen as she whips her head back to me. “You’re… you’re not going tokillCarmelo, Logan,” she gasps. “Are you?”
I stay silent, my eyes on the road.
“Logan. Please. That’s dangerous. He’s so much more powerful than you are. That’s… that’saskingfor death. Please promise me, Logan. Please promise you won’t try to do anything as stupid as that.”
I don’t answer. The truth is, I don’t knowwhatI’ll do. Anyone who lays a hand—even a finger—on hershouldby rights be dead. Anyone other than him and Coltellowouldbe. But I also know that trying to get at either of them would be akin to unleashing an all-out war. One that I couldn’t possibly hope to win.
That war might be unleashed already, with the way I’ve just escaped with Lia. The only way I can possibly hope to protect her is to stay the fuck away from the guy who abused her.
Sometimes, it feels like utter weakness to choose my battles.
“I don’t know, Lia,” I say at last. “I don’t know what I’ll do.”
26
Logan
It’s nighttime when we stop. By now, we’re far away enough from Coltello that it feels relatively safe. Not that safety is anything but an illusion at this point. I’m aware it’s only a matter of time before we’re found.
I’m also aware that I still don’t have a plan.
There was no way to hide from the family that I’d lost Lia a month ago. The don figured it out the very next morning, when I wasn’t able to deliver her to his son.
I was helpless to prevent the cascade of events that followed. Him deciding to give Coltello the responsibility of finding Lia, and sending me off instead with Damien, Vale, Igor and Everest to hunt down the faction of men who’ve been plotting against him.
I have a vague notion that we managed to find some of them, but not to uncover their leader’s identity. I was far more focused on trying to get to Lia before Coltello, though.
Luckily, I had Everest on my side. He got attached to Aurora, what with all the babysitting. His thing is tracking, and he managed to pick up her trace after a while. But less than an hour after I’d entered the diner, planning to wait there until Lia showed up, Coltello waltzed in. Everest and I must have been alot less discreet than we’d figured. He clearly realized I wasn’t planning on leaving her alone, and rather than try to find her, he’d decided tracking me would be easier.
Even before I escaped from under Coltello’s nose, I was in hot water, because I knew that the moment our talk was over, he’d be going to Moretti and telling him just how bad I had it for Lia.
Now, the water’s boiling hot.
And the temperature turns up even more when I walk into the hotel room with Lia, Everest and a toddling Aurora. My phone rings, and I see Damien’s name flash on the screen.
There’s no point in even trying to ignore the call. I sigh, sitting down heavily on the bed, hooking a hand around Lia’s wrist and pulling her down with me.
Now that we’re not in the car anymore, I’m not letting her put that wall back up. Well, I guess I can’t control that. But Icancontrol her movements. I pin her hand between my legs, and latch onto her hair. I tug on it a bit, just so I can get some reaction out of her, but she merely sits passively beside me.
Feeling more than a little annoyed, I bring the phone to my ear.
“Yeah?”
“Hi, stupid.”
“Fuck off.”
