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Present day
My pistol is in my hand before the debris is finished falling. Car alarms ring out through the parking lot, flames now flickering lazily from the burned-out shell of my vehicle. All around us, bits of ash waft down from the sky like snow.
Next to me, Dominic has his gun out as well, shielding Isabella with one arm as he looks around for a threat. “Are you okay?” he calls through the cacophony.
I verify that Ava is also unhurt. “Yeah, we’re fine. You andIsabella?”
“We’re okay. Fuck. Car bomb?”
I nod grimly, a familiar sense of dread coming over me. Memories start punching into my brain, memories I’ve tried very hard to escape.
My father’s Mercedes, reduced to a charred skeleton just like this.I only ever saw it in the news reports, which means I never had to endure the image of my parents’ incinerated corpses in the front seats. But I imagined it. So many times.
A crowd gathers in the parking lot as people come out of the bar and surrounding buildings to check on the commotion. Dominic and I put our guns away, saying nothing. The authorities will be here soon, and this time, they won’t all be on my payroll.
***
Dominic drives us home in his car. I stew next to him in the passenger seat, staring out the window. Behind us, the two women sit in silence.
“Who do you think did it?” Dominic finally asks, breaking the quiet. “Maroney?”
I stroke my bruised knuckles, the result of sending a message to one of Colin Maroney’s enforcers. “Maybe. Probably. I didn’t think we were done with him.”
Ava pipes up. “Who’s Maroney?”
“Colin Maroney,” says Dominic. “Irish mob. His crew’s been trying to muscle onto our turf in South Bover. We had a little problem with them recently.”
“And you think he planted the bomb?”
“It makes the most sense. Who else is gunning for us right now?”
Ava hesitates, then takes a deep breath. “Could it be… do you think it could be my father?”
Dominic doesn’t answer that one, instead glancing in my direction.
My voice is hoarse. “I doubt it. It’s possible that he has ways of getting word to the outside, but no one on the street is taking orders from him anymore.”
I’m present, but I’m not. Half my brain is still in that memory where I’m 15 years old, obsessively looking up every news report, every bit of information I can find on my parents’ murder.
I still don’t know who killed them. But I know how it felt to lose them. I don’t ever want that pain again. And I can’t let Ava feel that pain aboutme.
If I die in a fiery wreck or a hail of bullets, will it leave her just as broken?
My most important purpose is to protect her. Even if that means adding stones and mortar to the wall around my heart.
***
Ava
My hands are still trembling when Dominic drops us off at the penthouse. I cling to Alessandro as we ride the elevator to the top, needing the security of his closeness. The explosion rings in my ears. I can still feel the heat on my skin, the smoke in my nostrils, the pulse-pounding fear of what might come next.
Alessandro holds me, but I feel a distance in his actions. And even though I’m feeling the distance too, ever since the conversation with my father, I don’t want that right now. I want to feel close. To feel safe. For us to be a team, like we were when we threatened Jacob Talbot.
“What are we going to do?” I ask as soon as we enter the apartment. “You think it’s the Irish mob who are after you?”
He barely looks at me. “California or Oregon? What’s your preference?”
I frown. “What?”
