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Isabella's voice wasn't bad.She could definitely carry a tune, but what he liked most about her was how very comfortable she was in her own skin.She didn't care that she was singing, and he wasn't.She wasn't worried whether or not she was singing off-key.She was just enjoying the moment, and he couldn't help but enjoy her.
He'd never really met anyone like her.She had a lot of sharp edges, but they were mostly there to protect herself from being hurt, and she had been hurt a lot.He could relate to some of what she'd gone through growing up.He'd had two parents, but he'd still been alone much of the time, and so had she.
She flung him a smile."You can join in."
"I don't know the words.By the way, you were right when you told me you were a good singer."
"More like enthusiastic than good.But it's very freeing to just belt out a tune.Takes the stress away."
"I'll take your word for it," he said, squirming in his seat as he attempted to find a more comfortable position, but his long legs had nowhere to go.
"It's such a nice day, isn't it, Nick?Look at that big mansion."She pointed toward the hills rising above them and some majestic structure."I wonder if someone lives there."
"It could be a winery."
"You're right.There's the sign."She gave him another smile as the car in front of them took the exit."I wish we could go.It would be a lot more fun to stop at a winery, taste some wine, have some cheese, maybe a picnic."
Her words painted a shockingly tempting picture, shocking because he wasn't a man to be lazy, to have a picnic, but he also wouldn't mind rolling around on a blanket with her.
"But we can't do that," she said forcefully, as if trying to convince herself."We're on a mission."
"We are.But when this is over, I'm taking you on a picnic."
"We'll see.I just hope this will be over before anyone else dies."
"Are you sure we're still going the right way?"he asked as the one-lane highway took them into the hills.
"I'm following the GPS.Uh-oh."
"What?"
Her face tensed as she looked into her rearview mirror.
Turning around, he saw a car bearing down fast on them.
"It came out of nowhere," she muttered, pressing down on the gas."They're probably going to pass us, don't you think?It's a one-lane road.I can't pull over.There's no shoulder now."
His bad feeling returned.The detour could have been purposeful, a way to get them off the main highway, but that would have meant causing some sort of accident and sending a lot of people in another direction, which seemed like a stretch.
Maybe the detour had simply provided an opportunity for someone who had been following them out of Rome to jump into action, although he'd looked several times for a tail and hadn't seen one.
"They're getting closer, Nick."She pressed down harder on the gas."I'm flooring it.I can't go any faster."
He looked back once more.A black Audi was behind them.There were two men in the front seat of the car, and they had hoodies over their heads and dark glasses covering their eyes.He couldn't see their hands or identify them in any other way, but it didn't matter who they were, only how they were going to get away.
"They're not going to pass us."His gaze shot down the road, looking for an exit, but there was nothing but a hill on one side and increasingly steeper terrain on the other.
"What should I do?"Isabella asked.
He wished to hell he was driving now because Isabella wasn't trained for this.However, she was doing a damn good job, keeping her head together and going as fast as she could.But there were turns coming up, and there was no shoulder on the right side of the road, just terrain that grew steeper with each passing minute.
"Nick?"she asked, panic entering her voice.
"Just keep going until we see a place to turn out."
"I don't see an exit coming up.I'm scared, Nick.I don't want to be killed by someone making this look like another accident."
Her words reminded him of what had happened to his grandfather, to Tomas and Lucinda.As he looked back once more, he saw one man halfway out the window on the passenger side, a gun in his hand.His curse was cut off by the blast and the shattering of glass on the back window.
