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Teddy.
My brother is safe in college in Indiana, attending lectures and meeting other freshmen at Friday night pizza parties. Oblivious. Happy. I’ve spent the past ten years raising him, making his life as normal as possible in the wreckage of everything that went down.
He’s my reason for everything, and there’s nothing I won’t do to protect him.
A knock echoes through the apartment.
I flinch.
It comes again, determined.
He’s found me.
I get to my feet and take a deep breath. Slide the deadbolt open and throw the door wide.
But it’s not Nero on the other side. It’s his enforcer, Chase, standing there—with three of his guys, menacing in the dim light. I try not to notice the bloodstains on his shirt, probably the last trace of that drunk guy anyone will ever see.
“Chase,” I greet him, pretending it’s not a shot of disappointment I feel. “Come in.”
He looks surprised, like he was expecting to have to break the door down to get to me.
“Where is he?” I ask. “Where’s Nero?”
“He flew back to New York. Business.” Chase replies. “He left me to deal with you.”
Terror strikes hard, but I hide the shiver. I know how Chasedealswith people.
Instead, I draw myself up to my full height and give him my most imperious stare. The one I used in my former life, when I was pampered and privileged, and the whole world leapt to give me whatever my heart desired.
When Nero Barretti was the boy I loved, and not the man who wants me dead.
“Take me to him.” I say, offering up a final prayer. Because there’s only one person who can save me now, and there’s no way to run from him. Not anymore. “Take me to the boss.”
To be continued…
