Page 22 of Die for You (Kiss or Kill #2)

Dropping my cell, I run faster than my feet can keep up and scream, “No! Don’t start the—”

But it’s too late.

I feel the heat on my face before the sound erupts, and my eardrums vibrate with the destructive BOOM ! I’m knocked back into the store from the explosion, everything shaky, and my ears are ringing loudly.

The red hue from the blazing fireball hurts my eyes, but I shield them with my forearm as I run back outside, screaming, “Valentina!”

The flames from my truck are licking the heavens. The roar is deafening.

It’s too late for Donkey.

With my heart in my throat, I frantically search for Valentina.

The ringing in my ears has me swaying from side to side, throwing off my balance, and the smell of burning rubber and fuel burns my eyes and nostrils, but I push past it and continue my search.

“Valentina!” I bellow, ignoring the rumble coming from my burning car.

A relieved breath escapes me when I see her slumped against a dumpster.

“Valentina!” I run to where she is and drop to my knees, cupping her face in my palms.

She’s unconscious, but thankfully breathing.

Looking over my shoulder at the inferno, I know I have mere seconds to drag her to safety. I pick her up and toss her over my shoulder, then run down the street. The moment I enter an alleyway, an earsplitting eruption rocks the entire neighborhood.

The fire ignited the fuel tank, causing an explosion that shatters the windows of adjacent buildings. The sound wakes Valentina.

She groans.

I sigh in utter relief.

Gently placing her on the ground, I lean her back up against the bluestone wall. “It’s okay, you’re safe. Can you open your eyes?”

She opens and closes her mouth, but no words come out.

Her face is black with smoke, and her forehead is bleeding from where I assume she hit her head when she fell. But apart from that, I can’t see any open wounds.

No matter my anger, I’m thankful she’s all right.

Brushing the hair from her brow, I cup her cheek. “ Tesoro mio, can you hear me?”

She wets her lips with her tongue. “Le-Lettie.”

And it’s at this moment that I know Valentina isn’t lying.

Lettie is real.

“We’ll find her. I promise. But for now, I need you to open your eyes.”

Her eyelids flutter, appearing to be stuck together, but eventually, I see those incredible blue eyes. They slay me just like always.

My heart returns to a semi-normal pace.

It takes her a moment, but she realizes what happened. “A bomb?” she asks, her voice hoarse.

I nod. “Meant for us.”

She pales. “Who called you?”

“I don’t know, but I heard a nursery rhyme before he said the word, boom.”

“What nursery rhyme?” Her voice quivers, and the answer may be the key.

“‘Ring Around the Rosie.’”

Tears fill her eyes, and I know it has nothing to do with us almost being blown to smithereens.

“Explain why this is important.”

I see her slipping away to a past she’s tried so hard to escape.

But I won’t let her because this time, she’s not alone. We’ll face her demons together, and I’ll slay each one.

“It’s just you and me,” I whisper, lowering my face to meet her downcast eyes. “I’ll keep you safe. He can’t hurt you ever again.”

A tear falls down her cheek.

“Father Merry…it’s what he used to sing when he—”

But she shakes her head, eyes squeezed shut.

She doesn’t need to explain.

I understand.

I understand why she did what she did to that motherfucker.

She crawls into my arms, wrapping herself around me while I cradle her tight.

Sirens sound in the distance, but she never lets me go.

Nor do I.

Father Merry is dead.

But someone knew of his despicable ways and is now trying to torment Valentina from the grave. The question is, who?

I can think of only one person—Gianna.

The bomb was in my car, but was it a coincidence that Donkey decided to drive his wife’s car tonight?

The phone call was a warning.

We’re not safe anywhere.

Our attacker is two steps ahead. They knew we would be here tonight.

So the question is, who wants us dead?

Chuckling under my breath, I hold Valentina tighter because the better question is, who doesn’t?

Bria isn’t around when we arrive home after midnight. As much as this makes me a bastard, I’m glad for the fact, as I can’t deal with any more drama.

Thankfully, I have the right cops on my payroll who wrote off tonight’s incident as a freak accident. My insurance company will take care of it.

As for the store, nothing but some broken windows and a few other minor damages. The crystals were working their magic, it seems.

Valentina is sitting on the balcony, peering into the starless night sky.

I almost lost her tonight.

It certainly brings home some hard truths that if she died…I would have too. I don’t know what that means because I am still furious that she kept Lettie away from me.

Everything is just a fucking mess.

“Do you know where Gianna is?”

She shakes her head.

I rack my brain.

Suddenly, the answer stares me straight in the face.

“Did she send you any text messages?”

She meets my eyes, the confusion apparent. “Yes.”

“Give me your phone.”

She doesn’t question my request and hands it to me.

I lost my cell in the explosion, but I have a burner phone.

Quickly dialing Gonzo, one of my men who is a tech whiz, I order he gets his ass over here immediately.

He arrives in ten minutes in his blue striped pajamas, his blond hair a mess.

I toss him the phone. “I need you to pinpoint the location from which this text message was sent. Go into my office and don’t come out until you have an answer.”

He makes it clear that I’m asking the near impossible, but nods nonetheless. He opens his briefcase and retrieves a fancy-looking laptop. He plugs the phone into it and frantically types away. Two minutes later, he passes me the phone.

I’m assuming he has copied the data from Valentina’s phone onto his laptop.

He retreats inside.

Valentina is beyond exhausted.

This could take a while, so I say, “Go to sleep. I’ll take care of it.”

“I can’t sleep,” she confesses, drawing her knees toward her chest. “I keep hearing that nursery rhyme. What if…what if he’s not dead?”

Crouching before her, I place my hands on her knees. “Father Merry is dead because you killed him.”

“Then who is it?”

“I wish I knew, but we’re going to find them.”

She works her bottom lip, deep in thought. “I’m fearful for our daughter.”

To hear her refer to Lettie as ours tugs at my heartstrings.

She taps her phone and scrolls through it. When her eyes soften, I know she’s looking at our child.

“This is Lettie, the day she was born.” She offers me her cell.

I cradle the phone, unable to take my eyes off the screen.

I’m hit with so many emotions. It almost feels surreal to look at the baby on the screen and be told she’s mine.

She’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.

Her hair is dark, and her eyes are blue.

“You can scroll across. There are thousands of pictures of her.”

I take a seat beside Valentina and get lost in a life I never experienced, but now, I can live it through these photos.

Each one takes my breath away.

Seeing my daughter grow before my eyes is poignant, and a warmth I’ve never felt before fills me. I don’t know what this feeling is.

It’s beyond love.

“She’s perfect,” I whisper, running my finger over the screen, caressing her face.

I’ll never tire of looking at her.

Through Valentina’s happy snaps, I’m able to see my daughter grow. From birth until her fifth birthday. I’m an outsider, looking in on a life I wished I had lived.

And now, I get it.

I understand why Valentina did what she did.

Do I agree with it?

No.

But I understand why she wanted to keep Lettie hidden.

It’s a parent’s job to protect their child, and Valentina did what she had to do to keep our child safe.I assume she used her childhood as a blueprint on how not to raise a child. We both were dealt a shitty hand when it came to our parents. Valentina was doing what was best for Lettie.

I don’t realize the time, but over an hour has passed.

Valentina sat silently as I caught up, so to speak.

I peer up from the phone and look at her. She is plagued and broken. Harm done to us, we can accept. But to our daughter? It’s a different sort of pain.

“What happens if we don’t find her?” she whispers, her lower lip trembling.

“We will.” I will search high and low until she’s found.“I promise.”

Gonzo knocks on the balcony door before coming out to greet us.

I arch a brow.

He nods.

Jumping up, I slap him on the shoulder happily.

He pushes his thick black glasses up his nose. “Here. All the messages were sent from this address.”

“Congratulations. You just earned yourself a pay raise,” I say, reading over the address in his scribbled handwriting.

“I tried to trace the call made to you before the explosion. No luck.”

I pat him on the back. “It’s all right. Thank you.”

The new lease on life animates Valentina. I see the fire in her eyes.

She’s ready.

“Where is she?”

She reads my face instantly because Gianna is where the ghosts of Valentina’s past dwell.

“You don’t have—”

“Yes, I do,” she interrupts. “We’re doing this, and we’re doing it now.”

This place is a haven for the depraved. So it makes sense that Gianna is hiding out at Saint Maria’s Orphanage.

What better place for a fugitive to hide?

I have no doubt she’s putting on a holier-than-thou act. If anyone came looking for her, she would say she found her calling helping the less fortunate.

No one questions someone who is doing “good” or someone who is repenting for their sins.

She has connections with the sisters. So they are providing her sanctuary.

Most would not start a war in the house of the Lord.

But we’re not most.

We’re sitting in the car, taking in this Gothic-style orphanage that was once our home. Far from welcoming, the outside reflects the gloom within.

Valentina is silent, but she’s wrangling a personal battle because this place holds memories that won’t let go.