Page 27 of Wrong Pawn. Right Capo.

I know that’s a shitty suggestion. The only good one would be for her to hide until all of this is over, but that’d mean I have to leave, too… which doesn’t work for me and my plans.

I stare at the ground blankly as if I can’t tell that all eyes in the room have turned toward me. Enzo waves me back to my seat, his face blank. I can’t tell what he’s thinking.

“Capo.” Lorenzo bows his head slightly to Enzo, who nods. “Penso che dovrebbe andarsene (I think she should go away).”

My head snaps up. Shit.

“Andarsene (Go away)?” Enzo repeats, as if tasting the idea before processing it.

“Sì, Capo (Yes, Boss). We need to take her somewhere far away where absolutely no one would know she exists.”

“E a quale scopo (And to what end)?” Enzo sets the stub of his joint on an ashtray.

“So we can catch who’s looking for her. We’ll have a random blonde play Elena for as long as it takes to draw them out. Then when we have them within our grasp, we bring her back to witness the death of the psychopaths who tried to kill her.”

Enzo rubs his chin absentmindedly. It’s obvious that he’s seriously considering the option. Fuck.

“Tutti voi, lasciateci (All of you, leave us),” Enzo growls. We all rise to our feet, bowing deeply to him.

The men start to file out one after the other. I follow suit when Enzo’s voice stops me. “Non tu (Not you), Adrian. Siediti (Sit down).”

When every single man has filed out, Lorenzo turns the lock.

“I think we should let her go to China,” Enzo begins. “I have some contacts there who’d look after her with their lives.”

“Cina (China)…” Lorenzo sighs. “Don, isn’t that going to affect her brand? She couldn’t handle moving from New Jersey to Manhattan. How could she handle moving to China?”

Enzo shakes his head. “Where else do you suggest then?”

“We have an isolated condo in Montana. She could stay out there in the mountains until we get a hold of those maniacs.”

“I know Elena like the back of my hand. She’s a city girl through and through—she’d go crazy locked away in the wilderness. We’ll take her to New Orleans instead,” Enzo says.

He suddenly turns to me, a vague expression on his face. “Preparati (Get ready). You leave for New Orleans with Elena as soon as she can get on her feet.”

Chapter nine

Elena

I was first told about my chlorine allergy when I was ten, which is why I only swim in exclusive, private pools that have strictly verified, chemical-free sanitizing protocols. Still, I cannot deny that maybe all this could have been avoided if I’d simply used the Rossi mansion’s pool.

Staying in that mansion—death threats or not—is a daunting reminder of everything I’d deliberately walked away from years ago. It brings back the suffocating feeling of the time when my life was never truly mine.

But swimming is one of the few things I do simply because I want to. It’s supposed to feel exhilarating. And I just couldn’t stand the thought of even that feeling belonging to the Rossi Mafia world again.

I’d been swimming underwater, and the next thing I knew, I couldn’t breathe. I used the last surge of adrenaline to speed-dial Adrian on my Apple Watch, barely managing to gasp out a few words before I blacked out.

If he hadn’t come exactly when he did, it might have been too late to resuscitate me.

I shut my eyes tightly, the events playing vividly in my mind. I thought I was going to die. The heaviness in my limbs… the dizziness in my head.

Not many things scare me… because I like to think I’ve been through it all. My father using me as an object of beauty to seal deals with powerful men, my sister despising me, and the whole world just being against me…

But dousing the pool water with chlorine was a stark reminder that all of this could end in a split second… and it doesn’t need to be violent. Somehow, that terrifies me even more than the attempt at the studio parking lot.

Bringing the glass of champagne to my lips, I close my eyes as the familiar burn slides down my throat.

Puddles reaches out to grab my blouse between his teeth. I know he wants my attention, so I throw a lazy hand over him, lacing my fingers in his fur with my free hand.