Page 6 of Protective Phlox

“Nathaniel, I wondered if I would hear from you. I was looking forward to a visit, but not under these circumstances,” he said, and I sat down to compose my thoughts.

“That was my hope as well, but no such luck.”

“I assume you are looking for safe passage to your plane?”

“I’m impressed. You not only know that I’m here but that I was attacked and now need your help. Anything else you’d like to tell me about my trip?”

He burst out laughing on the other end of the line. “No, but you certainly have stirred up a hornet’s nest with this mess. Luckily, no civilians were hurt.”

“I didn’t start the shooting. I only came to protect, not start a war.”

“Fair enough. But tell me, why would you allow the mother of your son to investigate one of your allies?” I remained quiet, and as the seconds ticked on, Mr. Genovese sighed. “You didn’t know about the boy, did you?”

“I did not. Nor did I know about the investigation.”

“Well, that makes my life easier. I will grant you passage. My soldiers will escort you as Aldo is a wildcard of a man who continues to be a thorn in my side. But Nathaniel, you either need to kill her or make sure she never testifies. I’m sure the Mancinis will already have men hunting the others on the case.”

“Understood, and I will see to it that Savannah never sees the inside of a courtroom. But I want you to know that I will kill Aldo Mancini before this is done. He put a hit on my son. My son. No one does that and lives.”

“Hmm. I’ll make you a deal, Nathaniel. My assistance today is a debt repaid for the help you gave me a few years ago, and if you can remove Aldo, then I will owe you in the future. As long as Cesare or Romeo Mancini don’t find out, of course.”

“Very generous. I was happy to eliminate him for free. Consider it done.”

“Excellent. I will have my soldiers there for noon. That gives me time to warn other families not to join Aldo, or they will face my wrath.”

I smiled. “I wouldn’t want to.”

He laughed again. “Grazie, ciao, ciao.”

The line went dead, and I slumped in my chair. Thank fuck. I really had no interest in spending the rest of my life hiding out in this building.

“Savannah, Savannah, Savannah,” I mumbled as I stood from the desk. “I fully intend to shut your mouth up forever.”

Chapter

Three

SAVANNAH

Iglared at the door and wanted to rant and throw everything in here at it. Son of a bitch. Nothing had changed. He was still the same arrogant and egotistical man he was years ago. If anything, he was worse, and of course, my body lit up like it was the Fourth of July. So infuriating.

“Mommy, down, please,” Cutter said, jerking me out of the internal rage montage I had playing in my head.

“Sure.” I sat Cutter down but needed to think of a way out of this. What the hell was he planning to do with me? The look on his face told me that there was a good chance that today would be my last.

Picking up the phone on the desk, I put it to my ear, but it was dead. Dammit, they could turn the phones off and on. Even though I knew there would be a jammer, I had to try. I pulled out my cell, but sure enough, there was no signal. Of course, he would take us to the Russian consulate instead of the American one. I had no pull here, no help, and no way to contact anyone. I could fight my way out, but not with Cutter. His safety was paramount to me, and that was way too risky.

There was a soft knock, and then the door opened. A man walked in with a small plate of sandwiches and fruit. He set it down and left without another word. Cutter ran across the room and reached for a grape but stopped and looked up at me.

“Mommy, can I have grapes?”

“May I?”

“May I have grapes?”

“Yes, go ahead.”

Wandering over to the window, I looked out at the green grass and the tall gate that surrounded the property. Who was I trying to fool? There was no way out, and if I was honest with myself, my heart and mind had been captured by Nathan long before today. I’d had the perfect excuse not to date. Not only was I a single mom who was a hundred percent focused on my son, but I was undercover as a married woman. Marko went home once a month to visit his family, but I had no one to fly home to, so my weekends were filled with park play dates, going to the museum, and movie marathons.