Page 9 of Escaping the King (The Sovrano Crime Family #13)

Giselle

“H ungee, Momma. Hungee,” Dani said in a pitiful voice from the back seat.

It was only three in the morning, but it looked like I'd have to stop soon and feed her. She mostly slept through the night, now. But with me waking her up and upsetting her—I'd put her off the normal schedule of things.

Not to mention we were still on Italy time.

I hated to complain about something like jetlag—but it really was a bitch. I'd been feeling a little tired. I'd have to stop off soon and grab another coffee. The awful cup I'd picked up from a fast food place on the outside of town had turned my stomach a bit.

The only problem was—not much would be open right now. If I found a truck stop, I'd pull over.

“Okay, baby. Momma will stop, soon. Okay? Very soon. Shh,” I said, knowing it wouldn't make a difference. Dani wanted food. And she wanted her dada.

At the moment, I couldn't give her either of those things.

I turned the music up slightly and took some deep breaths to calm myself down.

I didn't want my mind to wander and think about Carlo. Had he rolled over and realized I wasn't there? Had he woken up and walked through the house looking for us?

If he had—I could only imagine the thoughts that must've gone through his head.

I quickly shoved thoughts of Carlo away. It wouldn't do me any good to think about him. My plate was pretty full at the moment. I loved Carlo. And it hurt me to think of how much this would disappoint him. Me, running away with Dani.

When he'd made it crystal clear how much he wanted us in his life. Forever.

This was definitely something he'd never forgive me for.

I wondered how long he'd mourn us for.

Before grabbing another young woman and putting a ring on her finger. And trying to plant a baby in her womb.

Ugh.

That stung.

Bad.

My stomach twisted up and ached.

Not as much as my heart, though. My poor heart was killing me.

Was this what a heart attack felt like?

Maybe I'd gone and broken my heart for real. Maybe it would stop beating altogether, and I'd run us into the ditch.

Where I'd die.

And Dani would be left for Sergio to find.

My chest suddenly got even tighter. So tight I could hardly breathe.

I couldn't let anything happen to me. I needed to stay calm, for Dani's sake.

She needed me to stick around and protect her. I was the only one who knew the dangers that lurked around us.

I was the only one who knew who and what were after us.

Only me.

I felt tears sting at the back of my eyes, but I refused to let them win.

Not yet.

Not until after we were safe.

I took a few deep breaths and concentrated on the task at hand.

Hand.

My eyes looked down at the shiny, gorgeous rings on my finger.

“Oh, crap,” I muttered to myself—hopefully low enough so that Dani wouldn't hear. I'd meant to remove my rings and leave them in a drawer for Carlo. Or in his luggage.

Somewhere he'd find them. But not right away.

I didn't want to leave it on my bedside table, or he'd know immediately that something was up.

And I didn't want him to know a thing until he absolutely had to.

But I loved these rings.

Loved them.

So much.

I'd never been given anything this nice in my life. But even more than the sheer extravagance of the rings—was the personal message behind it.

Carlo had wanted me to be his wife.

Me.

Out of all the women he'd been with in the past. And all the other possibilities in the future.

He'd stopped and decided I was the one.

Giving up these rings was going to suck.

Maybe that was why I neglected to take them off. Something greedy inside of me wanted to keep them.

I sighed.

It was too late now.

I couldn't even mail them back without giving away my location.

No, I'd have to keep them. And then eventually pawn them off for pennies on the dollar.

Yeah, that was going to suck a whole lot.

Up ahead, I spotted what just might be a truck stop. We were nearly in Iowa City.

I didn't want to drive into the city and see what else was open.

Quite honestly, I could do with a hot meal and a few strong cups of coffee to help keep me awake.

“Momma, hungee. Pweese, Momma,” Dani whined in the back seat.

I squinted and—yes. It was absolutely a truck stop. “One minute, baby. One more minute and we'll get you some food.”

That seemed to quiet her down.

“See the lights, Dani?” I pointed with my finger. “We'll get you some food and some juice.”

She gasped dramatically, and it made me smile. “Juicy?”

In our house, juice was a rare occurrence. I didn't give it to her very often. But when I did, she loved it.

“Yes, baby. One more minute.”

I turned off the highway and onto the side road. A few semis were parked off to the side. Other than that, the parking lot was pretty empty. Thank goodness.

I found a spot close to the front and parked. I got out and shut my door, then I opened Dani's door. She smiled at me.

Gosh.

This kid.

She stole my heart on a daily basis. I loved her so much. “Ready to eat?” I undid her straps and pulled her out. She clung to me. “Juicy?” she asked in her cute little girl voice.

“Yes, honey. Momma's going to get you some juicy.” I kissed her chubby cheek and hurried toward the truck stop's doors.

It was bright inside, and Dani and I both winced a bit at the shocking change.

“Oh, red!” Dani pointed to the shiny red chairs and booths in front of us.

“What a cutie pahtootie you've got there,” a woman's voice called out. I had to look around to find out where she was.

Finally, a gray-haired woman walked around the front counter. She wore a red and white uniform. It was a cute dress. If you were six.

But on a sixty-plus year old, it looked a little odd.

Her hair was up in a tall bun. I was curious how much hair product she had to use to get it to stay like that.

I'd guess a lot.

“Who do we have here?” the woman walked right up to us and offered her hand to Dani.

Dani smiled at the lady.

“What's your name, sweetie?” she asked Dani with a grin.

Dani's hand promptly slapped her chest. “Dammi.”

The woman and I both laughed at how cute Dani's confidence was. I hoped she held onto that.

“Her name is Daniella. Dani for short,” I said, and then quickly wished I hadn't.

We were hours away from Chicago. But still, we needed to be more careful and not stick out. And certainly not tell strangers our real names.

“That's a beautiful name, Daniella.” The woman shook her hand. “My name is Sheila.”

“Can you say, hi, Sheila?” I prompted my daughter.

And right on cue, she said, “Hi seewa.”

We had to giggle at her proud pronunciation.

“Very good, Daniella. And what is your mom's name?” the woman asked Dani.

I was fairly sure Dani didn't know the answer to that. So, I'd have to make up a new name to tell Sheila.

“Biss-Elle!” Dani shouted and I was plenty shocked. I hadn't taught her that, but somehow, she'd picked it up.

“That's right, honey,” I said to Dani and kissed the side of her head. I looked at Sheila and said, “You can call me Giselle if you like.” I gave her a smile.

“All right, Daniella and Giselle. Pick whatever table that tickles your fancy.” She leaned in and said, “I'd stay away from the back corner if I were you. Those guys can let the f-bombs fly, if you know what I mean.” Her eyebrows waggled and made Dani laugh.

“Thank you, Sheila. We'll pick a spot.”

After that, she left us to our own devices. I chose a booth so I could cage Dani in. And if she got tired, I could lay her down on one of the bench seats.

In no time, Sheila was at our table, handing us menus. Dani's was a paper one. “Can she have crayons?” Sheila asked, still holding them in her hand.

They were in a small box, and I loved that. A clean, germ-free pack of crayons we could take with us on the road.

“Yes, thank you.”

Sheila nodded and handed Dani the crayons.

Of course, Dani acted as though Sheila had just offered to pay for her entire college education.

“Oh, fanks you,” she said and dramatically hugged the teensy tiny box as though no one had ever given her a more precious gift.

“She loves to color,” I explained to Shelia.

“I can see that,” she laughed and shook her head. “So dang cute. You're one lucky momma. Lemme tell ya.”

I nodded in agreement before Sheila left our table.

I quickly looked over the menu and picked out what to order. Then I helped Dani color her paper menu while quizzing her on the different colors of the crayons.

“Have you folks decided on what you'd like?”

I gazed up at Sheila and gave her our order. She didn't write it down, just nodded and walked off.

We kept coloring and talking. Dani asked me to draw some bunnies. And, of course, she had to name each one of them.

There was a mommy bunny and a baby bunny and then—a daddy bunny.

“Dada?” she scrunched up her nose and looked at me.

And my freaking heart cracked.

I'd taken my baby away from the only father she'd ever known.

“Yes, a dada bunny,” I said, hoping that she would drop this subject. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

“My dada.” Her little hand landed on her chest. In exactly the same place mine ached.

I wondered if her heart ached like mine did right now. Or, once she realized she'd never see her dada again, if it would start to hurt.

I was betting, yes.

“Dada's at work. Momma's taking you on a little trip.”

Her chubby face scrunched into a frown. “Trip?”

I nodded. “Yes, watch.” I flipped over the paper menu to write on the back. “Oh, there's already a map on here.”

I knew Dani had no clue what a map was, but I might as well try to explain where we were going.

“So, we started here.” I grabbed a green crayon and made a small dot for where Chicago was. “This is Chicago.” I wrote the word above the dot.

“Chicka-gee,” Dani copied me and made me giggle.

“That's right. Chickagee. And we are going way, way, way over here.” I drew a line down to Denver. “To Denver.”

Dani suddenly pulled the crayon out of my hand. “No, Chick-a-gee.” She pointed to the green dot. “Dada.”

Yeah.

She was way too smart.