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I grinned wider. I was hurting all over but I couldn’t help the pleasure that rocketed through me, knowing I was getting under Allegra’s skin. “That means you’re not. Were you worried about me, baby?”
“Don’t call me baby,” she muttered, and I shut my mouth but I kept smiling, eating my pizza.
Allegra ate three pieces and some garlic knots, and then plopped down on the chair next to the bed, groaning. “That was so much better than chocolate from the vending machines,” she said.
I nodded, chewing and swallowing before speaking. “I didn’t know how hungry I was.”
She looked at me. “You slept so long. I worried something was wrong.”
“Just a bullet,” I said. “Takes a lot out of you.”
“I can imagine.” She was being uncommonly quiet, not doing her usual arguing.
I cocked my head. “What’s wrong?” I asked her.
She bit at her lip. “I don’t know. This whole thing just feels off. You kidnapping me, someone coming after us—”
“I explained why I did what I did,” I said stubbornly, but Allegra just kept going.
“Who else would know where we were? I didn’t tell anyone; you ditched my phone.”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I know it smells fishy, and it smells like Ricardo had something to do with it, but I can’t work out why. I’ve always done good work for him and his old man.”
“You’ve been Enzo’s lapdog for years,” she drawled, and I scoffed but didn’t disagree with her. She was technically right; I had worked as Enzo’s right-hand man for most of my life.
“Enzo’s done a lot for me,” I said softly.
“Not Ricardo,” Allegra said dryly.
I nodded in agreement. “He’s never liked me much, but he has no reason to try andkillme.”
“How do we find out who did it?” Allegra asked.
“I’ll rest up for a couple of days and then I’ll go out looking. I got a name from Croaker, the doctor.”
Allegra sat up straight. “What do you mean, you’ll go out looking? You can barely move.”
“In a couple of days,” I argued, but she cut me off.
“In a couple of days you’llstillbe barely able to move, Rocco. You can’t do this alone.”
I huffed out a frustrated breath. “I don’t have much choice, do I? Not exactly like I can call up Enzo and ask for help right now.”
She raised an eyebrow. “You don’t trust Enzo with this?”
“I don’t trust him not to tell Ricardo, not to confront him with it,” I admitted. I stared at her for a moment longer. “But I can do this. I just need to find Giovanni and figure out who his brother was working for.”
“And you can’t do that alone,” Allegra insisted.
“Who do you propose I do it with?” I asked, confused.
“Me,” she said promptly. “I can be bait. They were after me, right?”
I frowned at her. “Absolutely not. You’re not going to be the bait, Allegra, not when I’m in the shape I’m in.”
She spread her hands. “You’re just proving my point, Rocco. You’re not well enough to go on your own.”
I sat up straighter. “I can do a lot more than you think—”
