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My fingers squeeze Tori’s tightly, and I practically growl at her. “Tori, we’re out of time.”
Without waiting for her response, I keep my grip secure on her hand and yank. She follows after me, and just when we get to the front door, I hear a gunshot, which makes my steps quicken, and thankfully Tori’s, too.
“What the hell is happening?” she asks, voice rough. I have no doubt she’s crying as we run, but there’s no time to placate her. Luca gave me instructions, and I’ll be damned if I don’t follow them.
“Five minutes,” I say without glancing over at her. “Give me five minutes and I will answer every question truthfully. I promise.”
She continues to run, now next to me with her longer stride, and doesn’t say anything else. When we get to the house where the SUV is waiting for us, I storm through the front door and into the garage. Before I open the door, I pull my phone out again and set another timer. This one is for three minutes, and I have a feeling they’re going to be the longest of my life.
“Get in the back,” I tell Tori, and she surprisingly does as I say. Glancing behind me, I expect to see Markus, considering he was right there when we exited the house, but he’s nowhere to be seen.
The seconds tick down, and before the first minute is up, Tori pops her head out of the back door. “Care to tell me what the hell we’re doing and why we aren’t driving away?”
“I’m waiting for Luca. If he’s not back in,” I look at the screen, “two minutes, three seconds, I’ll drive us away from here.”
Tears still fill her eyes, but at the mention of his name, tension lines her face. “Luca, as in the man that kidnapped you and has been using your life against your dad’s for years?”
“What in the actual fuck has he been telling you?” I mean, technically, Luca did kidnap me, but having used me against Titan? That I wouldn’t believe even if the Pope told me himself.
“Christopher told me everything, Liv,” she says, using the name I thought for years was my father’s given one, but who the hell knows now. Titan, Christopher, doesn’t make a fuck of a difference to me. He still needs to die for what he’s done.
My stare is hard when I meet Tori’s again, and I’m not the least bit concerned about being considerate with my words, even though she doesn’t know the truth yet. “Christopher is a piece of shit father who is going to die, and I hope I’m there to see it happen.”
She gasps and flinches back from me. “What happened to you?”
I know I’ve gone too far. Tori’s too damn sensitive for all of this. I knew that weeks ago, and that’s why I never told her what I’d gotten caught up in. My anger made me think I momentarily didn’t care, but when she refuses to look at me again, the guilt weighs heavy on me.
There’s less than a minute left now, and I jump into the front seat. Without looking back at her, I say, “Close your door and buckle up.”
She doesn’t verbally acknowledge my request, but the door at least closes, and I press the button on the garage opener clipped to the visor. When the doors start to roll up, I put the SUV in reverse, and everything inside me protests at the thought of leaving Luca behind.
The more sensible part of me has no doubt that he’s set up contingency plans, but the more emotional part, the pieces of me that fell for Luca the moment he even looked at me, fights against the thought of driving away.
Still, logic wins out and I reverse down the driveway, turning the wheel to head in the direction opposite Titan’s house. My stomach churns and my hands shake as I move to put the SUV into drive. Once I do, I hear sirens coming closer and know we’re out of time.
One glance in the rearview mirror and my heart sinks when I don’t see Luca or anyone else running toward us.
“Fuck,” I mutter, lifting my foot off the brake and toward the gas pedal.
Before I can press down, a hand smacks on the window and I scream as if I’ve been shot. I nearly slam on the gas anyway, but when I look up, I’m glad my instincts didn’t have me racing away.
Luca stands there, chest heaving. “Move.”
He opens the door, and I slide the seat back to pull my legs up and climb over the center console, into the passenger’s seat.
The back door opens during all that, and Jaxon joins Tori in the back. He says something that I miss, but then chuckles. “Too soon. Got it. Just so you know, it almost always is with me.”
Tori’s arms are crossed and she’s staring out the window, pressed against the door. She looks more pissed than scared, which I hope is a good thing. Though, the longer I stare at her, the more I remember my first time in this SUV. I sat in almost the same position, probably just as scared, if not more.
My arm reaches into the back seat as Luca drives away, and I touch Tori’s knee with the tips of my fingers, but she jerks further away. Her glare cuts toward me. “Not now, Olivia.”
Oh, hell. I’ve crossed a line. I knew this was going to happen, but still, I hoped we could have a little reunion before she screamed at me.
Since Tori doesn’t want to yell at me yet, I give my attention to Luca. “Did everything go as you planned?”
His jaw is tight, and I only see a small amount of blood splatter glinting off his black shirt from the sun. “Sure.” His tone is clipped, and the addition of a tic in his cheek tells me not to ask any other questions.
Great. He’s pissed off, too. This is just how I saw my day going when I started it with a soak in the new bathtub.
