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I pull Mia out of the van and hoist her over my shoulder. Phoenix bounces on the balls of her feet, chewing on her thumbnail as she glances around. I half expect a convoy of armored SUVs to turn down this dirt road. But I planned this perfectly. There are no cameras around here, and nobody will find the van for at least a few hours. By then all three of us will be long gone.
I lay Mia down in the back seat of the station wagon. Her head lolls to the side, and her honey-blond hair fans out over the faded gray upholstery. All I can do is hope that this woman is as valuable to the Morettis as Joey is. She’s gotta be. Even if her only value comes from being a status symbol that Lorenzo Moretti can’t afford to lose. Her kidnapping will make the family look weak. I may not have grown up in their world, but I know all about the importance of looking strong in the eyes of an enemy.
After shoving the door closed with my hip, I push my fist into my lower back and stretch. Mia’s gotta weigh twenty pounds more than Joey, and I felt every pound when I carried her to the van earlier.
“I can go now, yeah?” Phoenix asks, still glancing up and down the deserted road.
“Yes. She’ll be out for at least three more hours. You park in the garage and take her through the house, okay? No one will see a thing. Did you get everything on the list?”
Phoenix goes on chewing her thumbnail, but she gives me a jerky nod.
“The long chain so she can use the bathroom?”
“Yeah, Kee,” she snaps, more agitated and twitchier than usual. I suspect she’s still not taking her meds, but if I ask her about that now, it will only start an argument that we don’t have time for.
“You know she’s innocent, right? We only need her as leverage for the information we need. She doesn’t deserve to get hurt, Nix.”
She rolls her eyes. “You’ve told me that like a dozen times.”
Yeah, well, I also told you that before you smashed a guy’s head into a brick wall when we were only supposed to steal his wallet. And the time you punched the cheerleader in the mouth and broke half her teeth because she looked at you funny.
Clenching my jaw shut, I force myself to stop thinking about all the times Phoenix has lost control of her volatile temper and I’ve had to clean up after her. What choice did I have? She can’t help being the way she is.
I wish I could keep her out of this. For my sake, but mostly for hers. But other than Father Mike, who would never approve of me seeking vengeance, she’s the only person I have in my whole life. The one person on this entire earth I would die for. And although she doesn’t know the full truth of why I carry such a grudge against the Morettis, she wants this as much as I do. She has no idea that I share their blood. That they sold me like a piece of meat without even knowing I exist. Nobody does, and I intend for it to stay that way.
Phoenix twirls the car keys on her finger. “You’ll call me tonight? Will it be done then? Then you kill the others and we can leave, yeah?”
“I can’t kill the Morettis until I’m sure we have the information we need, Nix. I’ll call you after my meeting. I promise.” I nod at the sleeping figure of Mia in the back seat of the Ford. “But you need to get out of here and get her comfortable before she wakes up.”
“Comfortable,” she snorts.
I have every intention of ending Dante, Lorenzo, and Joey, as well as their attack dog, Maximo. But there will be no innocent blood on my hands, and definitely none on Phoenix’s—at least not if I can help it. And right now I have no real idea whether Mia falls into that category or not. “Yes, comfortable, Nix. We have no idea how long she’s gonna be with you. It could be a few hours or a few days. And if she gets hurt in any way, we would lose our only bargaining chip.” I cup her face in my hands, and her dark brown eyes fill with tears. My heart breaks for her. She’s only ever a split second away from rage or despair, doomed to live in the haunted memories of our past. That is why we need to end the cycle, so she might finally have a chance to find peace. “Please trust me on this. It’s the only way.”
She wrenches her face out of my grip. “I know. You’ve told me like a million times.”
I bite back a retort. She wasn’t always like this. Sure, there were dark days, but they were peppered with days full of joy. The memory of us dancing in the rain beside a taco truck on my seventeenth birthday, her infectious laughter filling the air, makes me want to cry and smile at the same time. I would move heaven and earth to hear her laughter again. The darkness has slowly creeped in, claiming those bright pieces of her soul, and I hardly recognize the person she’s become. I can’t recall the last time I saw her smile.
I know the meds helped stabilize her mood, but she always said they stopped her from feeling anything. I guess they never found the right fit for her, which makes it hard to begrudge her refusal to take them. I don’t think I’d be willing to trade in all my negative emotions for absolute numbness.
“As soon as this is over, Nix, we will go to our island and spend the rest of our lives living in a hut by the sea.”
That at least gets her to stop scowling at me. “Will things be better there, Kee? Will I be better?”
“Living in the sunshine with nothing to worry about but applying sunscreen. How could it not be better?” I say, giving her a smile, even as I’m forced to admit to myself that Kefalonia is an island in the Med, not a magical portal to another world. My heart is full of hope that our safe haven will stop her nightmares, banish the bad days, and ensure that the slices covering the sensitive flesh of her arms are able to finally heal. But my mind knows the truth. Still, it has to be better than the life she has here. And we have to try something better than here.
She shrugs, her gaze now trained on the trees in the distance. “Just a few more weeks, Nix. Okay?” Without responding, she climbs into the car.
After the headlights fade away, I grab my bike from the garage where I stored it last night and shake off the familiar sensation of impending doom that wants to settle in my gut. I focus instead on the conversation I’m about to have and decide to call Ace over Romeo. The latter will be pissed, but his ire will have nothing on the brooding alpha he loves so much. Pushing Ace’s buttons might be just what I need to put a smile back on my face.
Chapter
Fourteen
ACE
Ibring the car to a stop outside the Moretti mansion. Cars line the driveway, and men in suits, no doubt armed to the teeth, stand idly in the driveway of the house, awaiting their instructions. But it’s Lorenzo Moretti, stalking toward the car like he’s about to tear the doors off, who holds my attention. Dante and Max follow close behind him.
“Holy shit,” Romeo mutters.
