Page 19

CHAPTER NINETEEN

GIA

The charcoal falls from my fingers, leaving black smudges on the beige couch as the front door slams open, banging against the wall.

Fuck.

The forgery I’m sketching out is forgotten as someone starts rummaging through one of the closets near the door. There’s a muffled curse, but I can’t make out the exact voice, my mind already overwhelmed with the need to run.

Bianca.

I have to get to Bianca.

Time stops around me as my pulse speeds up so much that it feels as if my heart is about to explode. I leap from the couch, my stomach tying itself into knots as I scramble for the baby monitor on the table.

Matt rushes into the room from the kitchen, shoving Bianca into my arms and standing in front of us with his gun raised.

“Shh,” I say, voice soft as I rock Bianca, trying to keep her as quiet as possible.

With her in my arms, I take several steps backward, prepared to run out the door and to the getaway car I know Royce has hidden in the woods. It’s the only option. I can’t wait for Royce to show up and save us. He wouldn’t want me to.

I have to get Bianca to safety. That’s the only thing that matters now.

Just as I’m about to turn and run, Royce walks into the living room hauling the suitcases from the front hall closet with him.

Matt lowers the gun. “What’s going on?”

“We have to get out of here.” Royce brushes past him and comes over to me, taking Bianca from my arms and holding her close. He kisses the top of her head before handing her back to me.

My heart races, stomach tossing and turning like a boat out on an open ocean in the middle of a hurricane. “What’s going on? Why did we have to come home? Royce, you’re scaring me.”

His expression softens, but his skin is still pale as he puts a hand on my shoulder and steers me toward the stairs. “You need to go upstairs and get ready to leave the house now.”

I turn to face him, freezing in place. “You need to tell me what’s going on. I trust you, but how am I supposed to help keep Bianca safe if I don’t even know what I’m supposed to be protecting her from?”

“Noah is in town.”

The ground drops out from beneath me as I stare down the hall, half expecting him to come storming through the door at any minute. The echo of my racing heartbeat pounds in my ears, my hands clammy.

Is today the day we die?

Royce hands me the smallest suitcase. “You need to get upstairs and get this packed with anything Bianca is going to need. I’ll take care of my stuff, and Matt, you’re going to take care of the few things we might need that are down here.”

Matt nods and takes off into the study, ripping an empty box off the floor and setting it on the desk.

Royce grabs the large suitcase and jerks his chin toward the stairs. “You have to hurry. We need to be out of here within the hour.”

“Why would he give us a chance to run?” I ask, heart racing as we surge up the stairs. “Noah isn’t the kind to give people a chance to walk away.”

“He’s not. He’s hoping that I turn against my family and bring you to him. I don’t think he wants to risk you or Bianca getting hurt.” Royce pauses, taking my face in his hands. “I’m not going to do that.”

“You could. It could end all of this.”

His head dips and his lips brush against mine. “I’m not going to lose you or Bianca.”

With a ragged breath, I nod and pull away from him. “He’s not going to stop until he gets us.”

“Then we’ll keep running.” Royce gives me a gentle push toward Bianca’s room. “Go. I don’t know what he knows, but it’s clear we’re not safe here anymore.”

My eyes nearly bulge out of my head as I disappear into Bianca’s room. “Do you think he knows that you’re her father?”

He pops in the doorway long enough to give me a flat look. “I don’t think I would still be standing after that.”

Now isn’t the time for his humor, but I don’t have the time to argue with him. Not when I’m busy trying to distract our daughter while I hurry to pack.

We should’ve had bags ready to bail out.

I set Bianca on the floor, giving her one of her little fabric books about zoo animals before setting the suitcase on the twin bed in the middle of the room. “This doesn’t make sense.”

“Your brother likes the hunt. I’ve seen him act like this before with my siblings. He gives people a chance to run and get away because he likes to chase them. Noah is hell-bent on proving that no matter what you do, there’s no getting away from him, which is why we have to hurry up and get the hell out of here.”

I nod, hands shaking as I rip open the dresser drawers, pulling out clothing and diapers to stuff into the suitcase. “So, this is just a game to him.”

“It is.” Royce hovers in the doorway for a couple minutes longer, his gaze burning into my back. “Gia, you know that I’m going to do everything I can to keep the two of you safe, right? I will die for you if I have to.”

My heart stops in my chest as I whirl around, striding across the room and poking a finger to his chest. “You listen to me. If you leave your daughter without a father, I will bring you back to life and kill you myself.”

He chuckles, taking my hand and kissing the back of it. “We’re going to get through this. Are you fine dealing with everything in here?”

“I am.” I pause, holding on to his hand when he tries to let go. “Does this have anything to do with the call you took the other day? I know you said that it had to do with business, but I keep getting this sick feeling in my stomach that tells me there’s more to it than that.”

“No.” Royce holds my gaze with his own, his dark-green eyes looking like they’re a forest in the middle of a raging storm. “Nothing about that call had anything to do with this.”

“You promise?” I ask, voice wavering slightly.

I don’t know if I can trust him, but I want to.

More than anything, I want to believe that this man has our best interests at heart.

“I promise. It had to do with one of my businesses and some money Skyla is moving through it. Nothing I did brought Noah here as far as I know, but now that he is here, we have to hurry up and get out.”

With a deep breath, I leave him, hurrying to pack everything I can while he goes to our room. Drawers open and slam shut as I empty out everything I’m going to need with Bianca before grabbing her and the bag and heading downstairs.

Matt is waiting by the door with a small smile, a box of things from the study at his feet.

Royce races down the stairs after us, the suitcase thumping along behind him. He grabs the keys to the SUV and tosses them to Matt. “Go through the woods and get this. Noah is going to think that we’re in it, since it’s armored.”

I look at Royce like he has three heads. “We’re not going to be taking the armored car even though we’re being hunted down?”

He shakes his head, grabbing the keys from where I left them on the kitchen table when we got home. “No. We’re going to take the car. Noah is going to follow the SUV without a second thought if he thinks we’re skipping town.”

Taking a deep breath, I try to stay calm, but blood rushing fills my ears as I follow Royce to the car outside and secure Bianca into her car seat.

Royce shoves Bianca’s suitcase in the trunk before handing the other off to Matt. “We’re going to head upstate. Go in the opposite direction. Circle back when you lose the tail you’re likely going to pick up. I’ll send you an address as soon as I know where we’re going.”

Matt nods and takes the box and suitcase, heading into the trees surrounding the property.

Royce nods to the little car. “Get inside.”

I slide into the passenger seat, dragging the seat belt across my body and trying to count my breaths.

If someone woke up and told me this morning that we were going to be on the run from my brother, I would’ve said that they were losing their minds.

We were supposed to be safe with Royce.

The plan—though I don’t know much else of it—was to stay hidden and wait for this all to be over. We weren’t supposed to be whipping out of the driveway and heading out onto the highway while the sun sinks a little closer to the horizon.

I look over at Royce as we head outside the small town, fields on one side and forest on the other. “Where are we going?”

“Not sure. We’re not safe here anymore and heading to Syracuse isn’t an option.”

“Syracuse?”

He glances over at me. “The next closest safe house. It would’ve been the next logical place to bring both of you, but I spoke to Aiden, and we have to operate under the assumption that every safe house has been compromised.”

“You think it’s that bad?”

Is there going to be anywhere we can go that’s safe? Will Bianca ever know a life that’s not on the run?

I arch back just enough to look at her, once again glad that she is too young to remember any of this. When I look back at Royce, he seems like he’s losing the confidence he’s been putting on since he rushed into the house.

Royce nods, his jaw clamping shut, knuckles turning white on the steering wheel. “It is.”

I swallow hard, trying to ease the tight feeling in my chest as I look over my shoulder at Bianca. “We have to find somewhere we can keep her safe. My friend, Kat, she has a house in Ontario. It’s not far from the border. If I message her, she might be willing to let us use it. She’d be able to unlock it from her phone.”

He stares at me, not saying a word.

“Do you have passports for us?” I ask, wishing that I had thought of bringing the fake ones I had when I snuck out of Noah’s house.

A smarter woman would’ve brought them with her.

Royce sighs. “Yes, I have passports ready for us. Do you think this Kat can be trusted, though? She’s the one who helps you with forgeries, which makes me think she works for Noah.”

“She does, but she doesn’t like him much.”

He chuckles, but it’s a dark sound, like he’s not amused so much as trying to lighten the mood in the car and doing a terrible job at it. “And you think that means she can be trusted?”

“Kat risks her job all the time to help me get the pictures I need to do the paintings. If there’s one person in this world I trust more than anyone else, it’s going to be her.”

Royce runs his tongue over his teeth before shifting to the side and reaching into his pocket.

He pulls out his phone and holds it out, waiting for me to take it. “Message her, then. Keep it short.”

My thumbs fly over the keyboard, typing in her number.

UNKNOWN: Hey Kat, it’s Gia. New phone. Need a place to stay for a few days without Noah breathing down my neck. Mind if I use the house in Ontario?

KAT: Nope. Hope everything is okay. 3 Let me know when you get there. I’ll unlock it.

I hand the phone back to Royce, knowing that even with as far as we’ve come, there’s no way he’s going to let me have an open line of communication to the outside world.

He tosses it into the console. “Well?”

Leaning forward, I pull up the GPS and punch the address in. “She’s going to let us stay there. I just told her that I needed a place to stay for a few days without Noah knowing. She’s okay with us being at the house, but I’m probably going to need to call her one of these days and let her know that everything is fine.”

Royce glances at the directions on the screen. “I’ll get you a phone the next time we’re at a store.”

“Really?” My jaw almost hits my knees as I look over at him. “I didn’t think you would want me to have one.”

“I’m on the fence, but if we get separated, I need to be able to talk to you.”

I nod, leaning back into the seat and closing my eyes, exhaustion finally taking over. “The drive is going to be a couple hours, but it’s a nice drive. I’ve been there with her before.”

Royce is silent but I can feel the car speed up, the engine humming. “We might not make it there in the next couple hours.”

My eyes fly open as I sit up and look in the mirror.

The lights behind us shine brighter as the other car speeds up, its reflection growing larger.

“Shit. Royce?—”