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Diego blows out a short breath. “Okay, so when you put it like that, it doesn’t sound good. But we had orders, Allegra.”
Orders.
Yeah.
I crouch down on the kitchen tiles, woozy with despair, replaying the last week in my mind. Replaying my whole freaking life.
Because these men that I call my friends, that I consider to be my chosen family, they will always,alwayschoose my brother over me. And Raul…
I lurch to my feet, hanging up on Diego mid-sentence.
The doctor is the worst of them all.
* * *
Raul jogs out of the safe house in pajama pants and his white t-shirt, his dark blond hair rumpled and his eyes wide behind his glasses. He throws open the passenger door, stalling my getaway.
The headlights are ghostly, lighting up the garage door and the basketball hoop. So long, suburbia. See you never.
“Allegra? What the hell?”
“Hello, liar.” I throw the car in reverse, giving Raul a rigid smile. “I just got off the phone to Diego.”
The doctor’s shoulders slump. “I can explain.”
“Can you?” I gun the engine, peeling back down the driveway, and Raul curses before throwing himself in the passenger seat. The door thumps closed behind him. “Oh, good. That will pass the time.”
“All our shit is in that safe house.” The car lurches over the corner of the lawn as I spin us out onto the street in a screech of tires. The doctor winces. “And we’re supposed to be discreet.”
I suck on my teeth as we roar forward, loud enough to wake the neighbors. “Well, I know how committed you are to discretion, Dr Ossani.”
I’m so pissed at this man I can barely think, and if I didn’t know there was a hit out on him too, you’d better believe he’d be walking home barefoot. As it is, I want him safe behind these bulletproof windows—but silent. No, I don’t want to hear a damn peep out of him.
But I’m quickly learning I don’t get what I want.
“I told Santo yesterday that we needed to give you all the information. I told him I was going to tell you everything today, orders or no orders.”
“How noble.” I flick the heaters on full, then dial the temperature way down. I’m angry enough to steam over the windows. “But tell me, Raul: why should I believe a word you say?”
The leather seat creaks as he turns to me, reaching out to stroke my cheek. “Sweetheart—”
I smack his hand away. Trying to drive here, asshole.
“I bet you all had such a good laugh about it.” My voice is hollow, my stomach aching, and I don’t know if I even believe these words, only that they keep spewing out of me like toxic waste. Poisoning the air in the car and everything that’s happened between us. “Did Santo tell you to fuck me to keep me there?”
“Allegra, no.” Raul sounds shocked, like I’m out of line for even thinking such a thing. Ugh. “He warned me to keep away from you. Come on, you know your brother would never do that.I’dnever do that.”
“I don’t know either of you.” The highway is empty, tarmac whipping beneath the car. My fingers ache from clenching the steering wheel. “Not really.”
The doctor stifles a groan.
“It was my idea—taking you away to the safe house. Okay?” Raul leans close as he talks, one palm spread over the dashboard. “I know you can take care of yourself, and I know it was shitty, but I panicked. Couldn’t stand the thought of anything happening to you, and all I could think of was getting you safe. So now you know everything, okay, Allegra? It’s all out in the open.”
Ha!
“Well, that’s alright then.” My foot shoves the pedal harder against the floor, the engine roaring as lights whip past on both sides. “You got caught out and confessed the final detail. That totally counts.”
“Allegra.” Moonlight washes over Raul’s spread hand. Those fingers have saved lives—and made me come so hard my brain short-circuited. I hate that. “Please.”
