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“Maybe something about Sofia and her family?” he asks but it’s not really a question. “Been thinking that ever since you told me about the journal. She’s here. And you’re right. She left that note for you to find. She wanted you and Kace together. I’m sure it’s her wet dream that you’re actually fucking him.”
I scowl. “I’m not just fucking him.”
“Bottom line, Aria. You gave her what she wants. If we don’t get to her and her people first, they will get to you and Kace. They’re not low on skills or resources.”
“Neither are we,” I say, feeling lightheaded now and really regretting that shot. “Talk to Kace,” I press. “Talk to Walker. Help us end this. They’re good people, Gio. They can help us.”
“And if they turn on us?”
“We have to trust someone.”
He twists more my direction. “I know you trust him, Aria, but—”
“Gio—”
He pokes the table, his voice rough with demand. “Listen to me. I believe he’s in just as much danger as you, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t want what they want.”
“He signed papers that legally relinquish any right or profit from our name or the Stradivarius brand.”
He jerks back slightly. “No fucking shit. What’s the catch?”
“There is no catch. I’m even seeing an attorney tomorrow to review the documents. Kace suggested it. And he thinks there might be an inheritance we can claim. Gio, he didn’t make Dad—”
“I know Kace isn’t to blame for Dad’s decisions.” His expression tightens. “Dad thought I’d sell him out.”
“Was he right?”
His lips thin. “Back then he was. Now, no. I’m not a kid anymore. I want what was ours. I want to do right by him and protect our legacy.”
“Then talk to Kace, really talk to him Gio. And not here. We need a quiet, private place to talk.”
“I’ll go talk to him. Alone. Here. If that goes well, we’ll move to a quieter spot.”
“I don’t know if I like that idea. You did tell him I’m a money-grubbing wench.”
“Sorry about that, but he’s still around I see.”
“Not for the formula. I told you—”
“I’ll talk to him,” he says. “Give us ten minutes. Okay?”
“Fine. You have ten minutes and then I’m coming to check on you.” He starts to get up and I catch his arm. “Gio, I love Kace. I really love him.”
“I know,” he says. “I see it your eyes when you look at him.”
“And when he looks at me?”
“I think the fucker might actually love you, too. If I didn’t think so, I wouldn’t be doing this. Plus, I was a bastard to you. I owe you.”
“You really do, Gio.”
“I know. I won’t let you down again. I promise. Now—stay and let me do this.” He eyes his arm that I’m still holding.
I release it and he stands up. I follow and a sharp bite attacks my stomach. “Is it safe to go to the bathroom here?”
“Yeah. There’s no exit that doesn’t require getting past me and Kace at the bar. Go. I know you have the bladder of a two-year-old.” He laughs and walks away.
I scoot out from behind the table and hurry toward the bathroom, that pinch in my belly turning into nausea, while my head is spinning. The hallway is a blessed release, a promise of escape. I follow an L-shape and the bathroom door appears. There’s also a stairwell. Gio was wrong. There’s an exit and my gut tells me to turn and run. I do just that. I turn and try to run, but I’m sick and I can’t catch my breath. I make it two steps and I have to stop, but I feel someone at my back. I turn and a pretty brunette is standing in front of me while the ground is sinking beneath my feet. I barely know where I’m at now but I know that I’ve been drugged. And I know who she is. “Sofia,” I say, but it comes out a whisper, air lodged in my lungs. I can’t seem to catch my breath.
A tall dark-haired man steps behind her and Sofia says, “Grab her now.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“What the fuck, Sofia?”
Gio’s voice bellows at my back and then he’s shoving me behind him, “Run,” he orders, but I can’t run. The world is spinning, the walls closing in. I flatten my hands on the wall, just trying to stay on my feet, but my eyes can’t focus on the ground, blackness blinking in and out of my vision. Oh God, what is happening to me?
“Damn it, Gio,” Sofia hisses. “Grab her. This is what we wanted. He loves her. He’ll give us what we need to get her back.”
Grab her? She wants Gio to grab me? I tell myself to run, I do, but I can’t seem to move.
“I’ll fucking kill you and Lorenzo,” Gio growls and a thundering sound behind me has just enough adrenaline rushing through me for me to roll my body and flatten my back on the wall. Gio has shoved the other man, Lorenzo, I think, against the opposite wall which must have been what I heard, and he’s now punching him. Sofia pulls a gun and I try to scream, but nothing comes out. Out of nowhere it seems, Adrian is behind her, taking it from her.
That’s when Lorenzo and Gio plummet into Adrian and they tumble down the stairs. And I’m still frozen, my body refusing to cooperate.
“Aria!”
At Kace’s shout, I find it in me to push off the wall and turn toward him. The minute I see him rushing toward me, the man I love, the man I can’t lose, I’m desperate to reach him but when I try to walk, my body just gives up the fight. My head spins, my knees wobble, and my legs give out. I go down hard, slamming my knees to the wood floor, my bones rattling with the impact. Kace is instantly there, on his knees, his arms sliding around me before I do a face plant. “Aria, baby. Talk to me.” His hand is on my face, tilting my gaze to his. “What happened? Where are you hurt?”
Suddenly my throat closes. I suck in air and wheeze. My hand goes to my throat. Kace curses and scoops me up, standing with me in his arms, Panic overcomes me. I grab Kace’s shirt. “I can’t,” I wheeze. “I can’t—breathe. I can’t—”
“I got you, baby. I got you.” He starts shouting, “Call an ambulance! We need an ambulance! Now! Now! Now!”
“Put her down,” a voice says, and I blink up at Savage. “Down,” he says. “I’m a licensed surgeon. Don’t ask questions. I’m a book you can read later. Just put her down. Now.”
My lashes lower, darkness consuming me, but when I finally find the strength to open my eyes again, I’m on the ground and Kace is leaning over me. “Hang on, baby. Hang on.” My lashes shut again—they’re just so heavy—and I hear him say, “What the hell is happening to her?”
“They drugged her, most likely diazepam, which is a sedative. That’s what these assholes use. An overdose can shut down your lungs.”
; My lungs are shutting down.
I repeat the words in my mind and try to draw in air, but I can’t. I think I’m dying. I want to reach for Kace, but I can’t.
“Holy hell,” Kace murmurs. “What are you giving her?”
My eyes open to find Savage tapping a syringe over the top of me. “Naloxone,” he says. “It’s technically for an opioid overdose, which diazepam is not, but it’ll help jumpstart her lungs until I can get her on IV medication.”
I stare at the syringe and my eyes shut of their own accord. The needle comes next, a pinch, and then almost instantly, I gasp and sit up. Kace is squatting next to me, holding me, and Savage is immediately on his phone barking orders about an IV and a van. And all I know right now is that despite feeling pretty crappy, I can breathe again. Kace turns me into him, his hands on my face. “You scared the shit out of me, baby. You don’t get to leave me, you hear me? You don’t get to leave me.”
Dampness clings to my cheeks, tears, I think. I’m crying. I don’t know why I’m crying, but then Sofia holding the gun flashes in my mind and I grab his arm. “Sofia had a gun. Gio. Kace where is Gio?”
“I don’t know. Walker has eyes on him.”
Adrian kneels in front of us. “He’s chasing Sofia. I let him go. We have men following him and right now, we need you two out of here.”
“Aria!”
At Gio’s voice, my heart thunders in my chest and my mind replays Sofia’s words. Grab her. This is what we wanted. He loves her. He’ll give us what we need to get her back.
“Is she all right?” Gio demands and Adrian is on his feet pointing at him.
“Stay back, compadre,” Adrian warns, “or you will not like the results.”
“What the fuck,” Gio growls. “She’s my sister.”
“Where’s Sofia?” Adrian demands.
“She got away.”
She got away. Those words play in my head and not in a good way. Gio kneels in front of me. “Aria—”
“You told me there were no stairs by the bathroom, Gio. You convinced me to drink that drink.”
