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My savior or kidnapper or whatever he was opened the door and the bitter cold hit me, making me flinch back. He didn’t say a word, just scooped me up in his arms and carried me out into the wintery blast of wind before I could protest. Immediately, I snuggled up against his warmth, shivering in his arms. I had forgotten it was winter.

Even if I hadn’t, I’m not sure I would have remembered how cold winter could be.

Swell. Instead of dying an easy death by gunshot, I was going to end up freezing to death being kidnapped.

The sound of cars coming up the driveway at full speed pierced through the air, along with horns honking. That wasn’t good. I didn’t kid myself that it was the police – no, this was more of Don Bianco’s men. The ones who weren’t on guard duty tonight. They were supposed to be having a night to themselves at the house downtown.

Blast.

Something had gone wrong.

My rescuer—I decided to consider him my rescuer, because he was rescuing me from whatever was going on now—cursed under his breath and picked up his pace. We disappeared into the woods behind Don Bianco’s house just as the cars came to a screeching halt in front of it.

Despite the uncertainty, despite my worry about where I was being taken, I couldn’t help but smile at the shouts of anger that filled the air behind us.

See you in hell, bastards.

Chapter Two

Tomas

The hotel room was as secure as I could make it. I was traveling in a low-profile kind of way, which meant that it wasn’t exactly the best hotel in the city. It wasn’t the worst either, though. It was a decent, lower-end hotel that didn’t make enough to attract the attention of the mob and yet wasn’t seedy enough to interest them for other reasons. As far as we knew, the Biancos didn’t have any connection to it.

The woman I’d taken from the cage in Don Bianco’s home looked around the room with interest. Despite the fact that she’d watched me assassinate the most powerful mafia don in Chicago, she didn’t appear to be any more afraid of me than she had been at his home. I watched her silently as she moved into the room, still wrapped in the tattered sheet that was all she had to wear.

Here in the dim light of the hotel room, I could see bruises across her pale skin. Dirt too, but the bruises were all shades of purple, green, and yellow – old and new. Her hair was light, but dirty, making it difficult to distinguish exactly what shade of blonde it was. It hung in stringy clumps down her back.

After she finished her perusal of the room, she turned to me, her dark eyes wide but speculative. I still didn’t know who she was, but she was no dizzy dame without a thought in her head. There was calculation in her expression, even though she tried to hide it behind a smile.

“So,” she said, her voice low as she tilted her head quizzically at me. “Who are you?”

There was no harm in telling her my first name.

“Tomas.”

She waited a long moment.

“Tomas who?”

I shrugged. We had only just met, and she’d been in Don Bianco’s home even if she had been in a cage, so I wasn’t sure I could trust her yet. Once we were out of Chicago, I’d tell her that I was part of the DiNardo family. Not the main branch. I was the second cousin of the current don’s son. Since I was taking her back to New York City with me, she’d find out eventually anyway. Especially since the family was unlikely to trust her.

Hailey, the don’s daughter-in-law, had told me not to kill any innocents when I assassinated her grandfather. I’d assumed there wouldn’t be any in the house. Then again, I didn’t know if this woman was actually innocent or not. If she was, I wasn’t sure what Don DiNardo would want to do with her. But I’d granted Hailey’s request.

“I’m Ivy,” she said when I didn’t answer.

I nodded and pointed to the door on the opposite end of the room. “Bathroom.”

One delicate eyebrow rose.

“You want me to go to the bathroom?”

I nodded again. One of the primary reasons for choosing this hotel had been the new private bathrooms it boasted. I hadn’t been sure how bloody the don’s assassination would get, and a shared bathroom could have been a problem.

My cousins joked that I wasn’t much of a talker. They weren’t wrong. I just didn’t see the point most of the time. Plenty of people talked enough to make up for the fact that I didn’t have much to say.

Ivy gave me a long look.

“Are you going to kill me in there? I just want to be prepared if that’s what’s going to happen.” Despite her bravado, I could detect a tremble in her voice. Fear.