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I felt the men at the table look at me, but I only stared at Nicoli.
He set down his fork and pushed his plate forward. “Care to explain?”
“I came here alone, looking vulnerable, and trying to get drunk. I wanted to see if you’d take advantage of that,” I said. “I’m sorry to test you, but things are about to change, and I need to know for sure who I can trust.”
Nicoli stared at me, his eyes narrowing. “What do you mean things are about to change?”
“I would like to form a true alliance between your family and mine. Not through marriage, but through our friendship and trust,” I said, making him go still.
“Shouldn’t the head of your family be making that offer?” Dario asked.
“She is the head of our family,” Jamie said from where he stood.
Nicoli’s eyes widened for a split second. Had I not already been staring at him, I would have missed it.
I stood and Brenna stood with me. “Take the night to think on it and call me in the morning,” I said and walked to Jamie and Louie.
Neither looked happy, but they followed me as I made my way out of the restaurant.
* * *
Jamie and Louie were angry with me. Not that I could blame them. I was angry with me—not for the same reason, though. I’d taken a risk, and they didn’t like that. It was a risk I’d had to take and even though they didn’t understand right now, they would later, and then I’d be the only one left regretting it.
Jamie was driving my Audi. Louie was riding in the front passenger’s seat, and I was in the backseat alone. As we made our way home, my car was being escorted by four Escalades. Two drove in front of us and there were two behind us. When we had left Alessandro’s, I had refused to get into an Escalade, which hadn’t helped Jamie and Louie’s mood.
“The Escalade is safer, Maura,” Jamie had practically growled.
“Tell that to Stefan,” I had retorted.
That had shut down the argument and Jamie had ordered a goon to go retrieve my car.
As we had waited, Conor had come to stand next to me. “The day your da learned that he was taking over, he got hammered,” he’d said. “He didn’t want it either, but he was excellent at it. I’ve seen that excellence in you. We all have.”
“You’re talking like we won’t find him,” I’d said.
For only a moment, his eyes had turned sullen. Then he’d blinked and the emotion had been erased. “As much as I loathe the De Lucas, they are a powerful ally.” Conor’s voice had gone very low, so that only I could hear him. “If you gain this alliance, no one will oppose you taking over, and any enemies who might have taken advantage of us at this vulnerable time will think twice. But with this gain, there is a cost. The De Lucas will be forming an alliance with you, Maura. There isn’t a guarantee the alliance will stick if we find Stefan and you hand the family back over to him.”
Since my conversation with my uncle, I had been quietly mulling it over in the backseat. It was giving me a headache. There was nothing I could do to change or fix what had happened tonight, especially as buzzed as I was at the moment.
“I think I want to move back into my bedroom in the main house,” I said. It was the first thing to pop into my head to fixate on.
Louie turned in his seat so he could look back at me. “What?”
“Yours and Jamie’s rooms are too small. I have things scattered between my room in the guest house and the main house and both of your rooms. I need a designated place that is mine…or ours. If you’re not comfortable with it, I was thinking we could remodel it or find a different area of the house and remodel that. I was going to ask Stefan…I suppose I don’t have to ask anyone.”
Jamie stared at me through the rearview mirror, “We can create a space that’s ours.”
I looked out my window to see that we were driving over the bridge I’d hung Aryans from, when Louie shouted, “Jameson!”
Jamie hit the brakes at the same time I looked forward to see a semi-truck, driving in the wrong direction in the next lane, swerve into our lane between the Escalade in front of us and our car. Before Jamie could do anything else, the truck hit us head-on, making the air bags deploy and the windshield shatter. The semi kept driving, pushing us backward. For a short time, I could feel the back of the car hitting things behind us, but we weren’t stopping. Then we weren’t hitting anything anymore and we were falling.
CHAPTERNINETEEN
When we hit the water, it was dark. Almost too dark to see. Ice-cold water began filling the car quickly and I knew if we went under, it’d be pitch black.
I glanced over at Louie and saw he was working to get his seat belt free. I tried to undo my belt and it wouldn’t unlatch. I reached into my pocket for my switchblade I always keep on me. “Maura!” I yelled for her as I sawed at the belt.
She didn’t answer.
