Page 12 of Blood in the Water

“Move!” Cas shouted.

My ankle screamed in protest, but I did as he said, unable to think about anything else except for the feeling of his fingers digging into my skin, practically dragging me forward.

With one last glance at my family’s home, I saw Max’s emotionless face watching us disappear into the trees with his arm stretched beside him as if to stop Elio from pursuit.

5

CASPIAN

Fuck, fucking fuck.

I’d barely stopped to think about what happened, outside of the burning rage fueling my every step.

Max had betrayed us. Max had tried to kill us.

My best friend—ourbest friend—had done the worst possible thing imaginable. And I should have known. I should havedone something.

I knew something was off. I knew he was in a weird mood. If I hadn’t been so focused on my shit, if my eyes had been open, maybe I could have prevented this. I’d carry the guilt of Don Luciano’s death for the rest of my life.

My hand squeezed harder around Leona’s, acting like an anchor to keep her in the physical world. She was all I had left.

She’d not said a word. Not as we snuck through the trees and bushes. Not as I hot-wired a car a few streets away. Not as I’d barreled down the roads to one of my stashes of cash I kept hidden throughout the city for purposes precisely like this.

She stared ahead, basically catatonic, moved only by the tug of my arm. It broke my fucking heart.

I reached up and rubbed my thumb across her cheek to clear some dried blood splatter while my heart sank throughmy fucking feet. She blinked but said nothing. The simple act of touching her would have normally made desire thread through my body, but now all I wanted was to take her pain away and bring back her smile.

Max would fucking die for this. I’d strangle him with my bare hands.

We’d only made it so far without being caught because I had prepared for the day when I’d need to escape with Leona and get her to safety. We were constantly at risk. As her bodyguard, it was my job to always be ready and alert, to know our planned exit routes. But I never anticipated the greatest threat would come from the one closest to us.

My jaw clenched, and my knuckles went white as I gripped the steering wheel, my mind cycling through every possible ally who could help. Who the fuck could we trust?

I glanced over my shoulder at the large black duffel bag sitting across the back seat, filled to the brim with a portion of my life savings. Now that I had money, we could buy or barter our way to safety. It wasn’t all my stash, but I couldn’t risk running around the city to collect everything. This would have to be enough for now.

Driving around the city forever was not an option. We had to find a haven, a place where I could fuckingthinkabout what to do next. Max must have people watching the state roads for us in case we tried to flee to another state, so we couldn’t just drive away. He’d catch us within an hour.

The Tommasos might be our best option. Chiara was Leona’s best girlfriend. Chiara’s father, Don Vincenzo, had been at the party speaking with Don Luciano before everything went down. Surely, he’d protect his old friend’s daughter? Maybe Chiara could bring the smile back to Leona’s face.

Max had done something terrible tonight, something none of the other Dons could overlook. If I could contact Don Vincenzo,he could reach the rest of the Dons, and the four of them could take down Max. They could make this right.

I pulled my phone from my pocket and swiped it open. Just as I tapped on the Don’s contact card, a jolt to the back of the car had my head snapping forward.

Jesus fucking Christ!

My arm instantly shot out to brace across Leona’s chest as the car behind rammed into us again. My phone clattered to the ground and disappeared underneath the pedals.

“Fuck!” I grunted as the car started to swerve out of my control. A glance in the rearview told me exactly what I feared: we were under attack.

The back windshield suddenly shattered as a bullet whizzed through the car.

Leona screamed, ducking her head between her legs. I kept my hand on her back and held her down.

“Stay there!”

I yanked the steering wheel to the side while slamming on the brakes. Smoke billowed up from under the tires, but somehow, I turned us around without flipping us. I pulled one of my guns from my holsters and fired at the other car. The windshield spidered in cracks as the shots slammed into the glass.

The car rammed us again. Metal crunched and screeched as the two cars ground against each other, denting a massive piece of the driver’s side. We spun out, mounted the curb, and slammed into a light pole.