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"We are going to need to stop somewhere," I realized, knowing I could go a long while without sleep, but we would need a bathroom, and food. Privacy for all of that. I couldn't exactly pull up to the local gas station with her, now, could I?
"Where's the pickup?" he asked, knowing the area better than I did, having extended family scattered all through Pennsylvania. Rattling off the address, he thought it out. "There's a motel off that way. Nothing fancy. Your average sleep and fuck type place. By the hour or the night or the week. Can't guarantee you won't get bed bugs, but can guarantee everyone will mind their own fucking business. I can call ahead. Make some arrangements to have a room open for you. You can just go right in then."
"I'd appreciate that," I decided, knowing stopping anywhere wasn't going to be ideal, but there was no way around it, not if I wanted to make the pick-up on time, get to the meeting on time.
"Not a problem. Oh, here he is," Emilio said, jerking his chin toward the massive pick-up that was moving in behind his car, making a bit of a metal wall.
"You brought your little brother into this?" I asked, shaking my head. Anthony was all of eighteen, a late-life baby who was desperate to be an official part of the family by more than blood.
"He's going to get the donut on, so I can drive this thing back to the city. And I figured we could use more of a shield from curious eyes," he added, waving a hand toward the cars whizzing past.
"Alright. Good thinking. Pop your trunk," I demanded, taking a deep breath, knowing we would only have a few seconds to get this right. "Anthony," I greeted the younger, more serious version of Emilio. He was wider, more strongly built than his older brother, someone who'd played football all through high school, and it showed. "I am going to need you to help me move her," I told him, tone serious, getting a nod from him.
If there was anyone in the world who wasn't a made member of our family that I could trust, it was someone as hungry to get there as Anthony.
With that, I shot out of my seat, hitting the trunk button then rounding the car and flipping open the trunk to find the girl staring up at us, eyes wide and unseeing for a moment, accustomed to the dark, before they landed on me, seeming to register something.
And I was pretty sure I wasn't imagining the pure, undiluted hatred there in her gray eyes as she looked at me.
"Ready?" I asked, snapping out of my curiosity, figuring I had plenty of time to work out that look later as I grabbed her shoulders and Anthony wordlessly grabbed her feet.
Short, slight, she weighed next to nothing, but damn if she didn't make it as difficult as possible to move her, wiggling her body every which way, trying to yank her feet out of Anthony's grasp, arching upward, shrugging her shoulders.
But with minimal effort, we had her out of my trunk and into Emilio's.
Slamming the lid, I faced Emilio, whose brows were raised.
"She's young."
"I know," I agreed, feeling the same unease in my gut that I saw on his face.
"If the order comes down..." he said, and he didn't need to say it. The order to take her out if Leon didn't pay, didn't comply.
"That order can't come down," I told him, knowing down to my twisted, corrupt soul that while I could kill without blinking, while I had done so many times in the past, I couldn't kill some kid. That was not going to happen. Not even if family demanded it of me. It was damn near treason to even think that, but there was no denying it was the truth.
"When you need me, let me know," Emilio said, and, again, I knew what he was saying. If Leon wasn't complying, we could work together to make it happen so that order never came down, so we never had to carry it through, or defy it.
"Will do. Anthony, thank you for coming out. I'll remember this when the books are open," I told him, getting a grateful nod from him. "For now, this is between us. We don't need the other families hearing this shit, capisce?"
"Capisco," he agreed, going back to the truck, grabbing some tools, and making his way back to my car.
"Here. Get going. You got a stressful couple days ahead of you," Emilio said, handing me his key fob. "I'll handle the arrangements and send your details."
"I appreciate it," I said, sighing heavily.
"Oh, and my seats don't fold down," Emilio added, smirking.
"Thank fuck," I grumbled, climbing into the driver's seat.
The ride to Pennsylvania was uneventful even as the sleepless hours started to catch up on me.
