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The door below closed with a thud. I could hear Riven talking to someone, drawing my focus away. But I couldn’t allow that. Thomas was hurting, tearing himself apart.
“Talk to me.” My voice cracked. “Tell me what you’re planning to do.”
“What the fuck do you mean, you don’t want to talk to me?” Riven’s voice rose. “My war? My goddamn war? I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, Rossi. But this isn’t just my war we’re fighting here. Wait…what? What the fuck are you talking about? Rossi…ROSSI!”
I stopped and turned around, watching Kane and Hunter as they followed Riven up the stairs.
“Motherfucker!” Riven snarled, his cell clenched in his fist as he stepped toward me on the landing.
“What is it?” I whispered.
His eyes were wide, as though he couldn’t believe it himself. “He wants nothing to do with us, can you believe that? He, Mr. Fucking Mafia himself, wants nothing to do with me?”
That couldn’t be right. Desperation thrummed inside me until I felt panicked and afraid. The Rossis were as much a part of this as we were.
“It’s the video.” Riven spat the words. “It’s the goddamn video. He believes it was me.”
“No.” I whispered. “He can’t…he wouldn’t.”
“But he does,” Riven answered. “He does.”
TEN
Tobias
“What do you mean, we need to go underground?” I hissed into the phone.
The voice on the other end was quiet and…guarded. “Just that,” Benjamin Rossi answered. “It’s time,” he said and a chill raced along my spine. “It’s time to go, son.”
“You’re not telling me a goddamn thing here, Ben.” Anger filled me, but I tried to keep it leashed. “And where the hell is my brother? I know he’s been out at night for you, doing things he won’t talk about. Tell me what the fuck is going on.”
I’d tried to keep my voice down, still she’d heard me. Her shadow spilled across the doorway and my body reacted to that alone, making my pulse race as every cell in my body came alive. My stepsister still had that effect, drawing my focus as she stepped into the doorway. Her intense stare found mine as she reached up and brushed her hair behind her ears. Her once long auburn hair was shorter now, making her look even younger than she was.
I turned away, giving her my back. “Give me a goddamn reason.”
“Not like this,” Ben said quietly.
“Then when?”
“First, get Ryth and the baby out, then I’ll text you the address on the burner. I have to make sure Kat and the baby are safe. They’re my priority now. You get that, right? I have to look after my own.”
I froze, the fight dropping away instantly. Kat…Kat was in danger? “Ben, talk to me.”
“The burner, son.” His thunderous steps sounded in the background, his rushed breaths telling me he was running. “Get the burner. I’ll talk soon, okay?”
“OK—” I started, not liking this one goddamn bit, but he was already gone, leaving me whispering to an empty line.
“What is it?”
I closed my eyes and gathered myself for a heartbeat before I opened them and turned around to meet her piercing stare. “We have to leave.”
“Leave?” Her eyes widened as panic moved in. She jerked her head to the room at the end of the hall. The room where Nick and our son were. Not just our son…my son.
I moved forward, reaching out to grasp her shoulder. “Yes, baby. We have to leave now. Pack your things, we’ll get Ali, just take whatever you need.” I stepped past her, hurrying for the end of the hall as I called over my shoulder. “Now, baby, please.”
Go underground, some place no one can find you. Go there now…
Benjamin’s words rang in my head, punctuated by the heavy thud of my steps as I pushed into a run, tearing through the open door of Ali’s playroom. Nick jerked his head upwards, tearing his gaze from the laptop screen before he glanced at our sleeping son.
