Page 51 of Hunted

Jaeda: Way to take all the fun out of murder

She added a heart emoji, and then, Be careful

Mikey: Always am

Jaeda: Liar liar pants on fire

Mikey laughed.

Jaeda: Everyone at Silverlake sends their love. At least, they told me to give it to you if I ever fucking heard from you again

Call them soon, your dad is about six inches from quote combing the entire world in a frenzy until he finds you and shakes some sense into you unquote

Michelangela gave another little huff of bittersweet laughter. She missed her family.

Tell him I love him too

And I’m fine

Jaeda: Fine my ass. Let us know if you need any help hiding bodies

Mikey sent a heart emoji and signed off.

It was early evening when they rolled through a working-class Chicago neighborhood and into the driveway of a small, neat house.

As soon as they arrived, the door opened and a rotund man in his sixties with a slight Italian accent came out, arms open wide. “Michelangela! Bella!”

“Uncle Vinnie!” Mikey jumped out of the car almost before Gunn had it stopped, and hugged the man. “How have you been? How’s Aunt Jenn?”

“She’s good, she’s fine, she’s been cookin’ all day. I told her you can’t stay for dinner, and she says ‘I know, you fool, they’re on the run, but they still have to eat.’ And she puts the things in Tupperware for you to take. It’s a fuckin’ mountain of Tupperware in there.”

Mikey laughed. “It’s very nice of her. And it totally beats Pizza Hut.”

Uncle Vinnie’s eyes got wide. “Mamma mia! Don’t even say that in front of Jenn. Just the idea of fast food gives her agida. I gotta sneak out just to get a Big Mac.”

Mikey turned to Gunn, eyes sparkling. “Uncle Vinnie, this is Gunn. Gunn, this is Vinnie. The uncle of the friend of a friend I was telling you about.”

“Hello.” Vinnie shook his hand. “Welcome. And how is my nephew?” he demanded of Mikey. “He doesn’t call, he doesn’t write…”

Mikey’s lips twitched. “He just called today to tell you I was coming.”

“Pffft.” He waved his hand. “Business doesn’t count.”

Vinnie bustled them inside, leaving Gunn wondering which of Mikey’s childhood friends had an uncle in the business. Literally. One that wasn’t a shifter.

He really was seeing a different side to her.

His wife was just as effusive, kissing Mikey—and Gunn—on both cheeks and pressing a frightening pile of Tupperware food containers on them. It all smelled amazing.

Vinnie disappeared during the food load-up, but returned with a large duffel bag similar to Gunn’s. “Here’s your go bag, sweetheart. Just like you left it, except Jenn washed the clothes.”

“Of course I did!” Aunt Jenn said. “They couldn’t stay in there like that. The blood would set in them permanently.”

Vinnie kissed his fingers to his wife, and then said, “The keys to Lila’s apartment are in the side pocket. I put in some extra ammo, and Damien had me add a bundle of cash.”

“Oh, I couldn’t let you do that,” Mikey protested.

Gunn bit his lip, trying not to laugh. She could let them store her stash, replenish her ammo, and wash the blood out of her clothes, but she drew the line at money. Of course, Vinnie and Jenn didn’t look like they had a lot extra, so she was probably worried about cleaning them out.