“Or… he knows those flowers are going to send you running right into whatever trap he’s set.”
“I’ve been faster and smarter than him this whole time. I have to trust my instincts. They’ve kept alive this far.”
Angelo’s eyes narrowed as if considering what she said. “If that’s how you feel, then we run.Together.” He moved away to his closet to retrieve one of his own suitcases.
“Angelo, you’ll slow me down. I—” He couldn’t just leave his world, he wasn’t ready, he didn’t know that. That meant he’d slow her down while he figured that out, and Cormac would?—
“You know I won’t,” he said, not looking at her as he started filling his own suitcase.
“But your family… your restaurant. We don’t have time to?—”
“Luigi can handle the restaurant.”
She stared at him as he calmly packed starting packing his clothing. “You’re okay without saying goodbye to your family? You’d just vanish on them?”
He tossed several more pieces of clothing into a suitcase, his gaze serious. “Kara, I’m not letting you go alone,” he resumed packing.
Asher met them at the bottom of the stairs when they came down carrying their suitcases. The bodyguard eyed the suitcases and frowned.
“Colton checked the camera feeds. It was cut out and our mobile notifications on our phones were bypassed. That’s why we didn’t know the feeds were cut when the flowers were delivered.” Asher paused, then focused on her. “Kara, now is not the time to run.”
“Well, I’m not going to stay behind and fight. I won’t let everyone I care about get killed.”
Angelo stared at Asher a long moment, his expression unreadable before he nodded at Kara. “Let’s go, Kara. Asher, tell my family whatever you think they can safely hear…and tell them goodbye for me.”
This was it, Kara realized. They were really doing this. They were running away together. Normally she would feel a mixture of nerves and relief each time she moved, but now she felt sick… homesick for a house and a life she’d been too foolish to believe she could have.
“Kara come on.” Angelo urged her out of the house. “Colton, I need to borrow your car,” he said as the other private security specialist headed toward them as he stepped into the house.
“What?” Colton’s brows rose.
“We’ll leave it for you to find outside of town,” Angelo said.
“Ok—kay…” He tossed the keys to Angelo. “But?—”
“Thanks Colton,” Angelo said as he caught the keys. They walked outside to the black sedan that Colton had been driving the last week. Angelo loaded their suitcases while Kara stood there, ankle-deep in snow, anxiously twirling the engagement ring on her finger. This didn’t feel right. This was wrong. But running was only way she knew how to deal with danger.
Run!Her mother’s voice urged again.
Kara got in the passenger side while Angelo took the driver’s seat.
“Where are we headed?” he asked calmly.
“Arizona,” she said, thinking of how she’d finally get to see the Grand Canyon. “I recommend taking the country roads. There are less cameras at the intersections and less police. We’ll have to ditch our phones in a few miles.”
“Okay.” He didn’t question her. He put the car in drive and pulled out onto the icy streets. They reached Lakeshore Drive and fell into a heavy silence.
Kara couldn’t stop shaking. Her hands in her lap were twisting, leaving red marks where she squeezed hard, trying to get the pain to keep her from descending into even more panic.
Without a word, Angelo reached across the car and grasped one of her hands in his own, squeezing it gently. It grounded her, stilling the trembling.
“I’m sorry we didn’t have time to say goodbye.” This was how her life was. Last-minute decisions to run. It made her far harder to be followed. There was never any evidence of her planning to leave, or where she’d been headed.
“It’s going to be okay,” Angelo said. “We’ll be okay. We’ll figure this out together.”
The evening sun vanished beneath rolling clouds as a storm drifted in off Lake Michigan. The once shimmering water turned frothy gray as sleet splattered the windshield. She held onto Angelo’s hand, her grip tightening as they drove along winding highway that bordered the lake as they headed south.
She turned to look back once, to see the Chicago skyline now half-shrouded in sleet and storm clouds. The city had become her home in such a short amount of time.
