Page 9

Chapter 8

What the actual fuck?

My brother and I never used names on these messages in case someone found our burner cells, but I checked the number, and it was definitely Fiero’s secret phone. I texted him back.

Me: Can I call you?

[unknown]: I’m not alone. I’ll call you when I can. Whatever you do, don’t get on there.

Me: Why?

I stared at my phone, waiting for a response, but one never came. He must be with our father or one of his goons. Stuffing the phone into the front pocket of my suit pants, I fisted the bags and walked back to the hangar, my nerves on high alert.

Why the hell didn’t my brother want me on this chopper? With sharp eyes, I took in everything as I secured the bags, furtively darting my gaze from the back to the front of the interior.

Wait. Is that…

Moving forward and crouching beside Rodrigo, I hissed, “I need Guido to disappear for a few minutes.”

Without a single question, he flicked one more knob, unbuckled himself, and climbed out. “Guido, I need to hit the pisser before we lift off,” he called to the man standing in the hangar opening.

“Fuck’s sake. You’re throwing the schedule off, old man,” he groused, lifting a stubby finger to point. “It’s back there.”

Rod craned his neck and squinted. “Where?”

“That door back there,” Guido sighed, waggling his finger at the very clearly marked restroom door.

“Which one? There’re two doors.”

“Can you even see good enough to fly this damn thing?” The punk’s eyes rolled to the top of his head. “Fuck it. I’ll show you.”

As soon as they were walking away, I dropped to my back and slid my head beneath the pilot’s seat. Motherfucker.

Pieces started falling into place. Guido’s nervous demeanor. His insistence that we leave immediately. But who was behind it? I was pretty sure I knew, but I needed confirmation.

“What are you doing? You’re going to get your suit all dirty.” Evie’s quiet voice penetrated my thoughts, and my heart rate kicked into overdrive as the implications of what I’d just seen sank into my bones.

“Come here,” I told her. I hated to scare her after everything she’d been through, but I needed her to see this for herself. Because everything I had planned was about to change.

After a brief hesitation, she lowered herself to the floor beside me, and I pointed at the underside of the seat.

That little soft spot appeared between her eyes for a long moment before she angled her gaze toward me. “Is that…”

“An explosive device,” I confirmed, and her blue eyes rounded. “In exactly,” I checked the timer, “ninety-eight minutes, this helicopter will explode.”

“Oh my god. What… who… I-I don’t understand.” She scrambled to her feet, her hands flapping like wounded birds, and I followed her.

“Listen to me, Evie.” I gripped her pretty face with both hands, my voice hard and forceful. “I need you to run to the car before Guido gets back. Stay there, and do not get out, no matter what. Do you understand?”

“Flava fucking Flav was going to blow us up?” she screeched, and I shushed her.

“Keep your voice down and go. Now. Stay to the right, and the helicopter will block you from his view.”

Her eyes circuited back and forth between mine three times before she nodded. I helped her from the helicopter and watched as she darted to the car, my lungs finally deflating once she was safely inside.

Then I brushed off my rear and pulled the suppressed gun from the back of my pants before straightening my suit jacket. Keeping the weapon slightly behind me, I strolled to the back of the hangar.

“What’s the hold up?”

Guido’s ugly face scrunched in annoyance. “He said he ate something bad. Fucking ridiculous.”

I whipped the gun out and placed it against his forehead. “Who?”

“Wh-who wh-what?” he stammered, though he knew exactly what I was asking.

Keeping my eyes trained intently on him, I didn’t let on that Rodrigo was now standing directly behind him. “Who told you to put the explosive device on the chopper?”

“Me? I wouldn’t… I don’t know what you’re talking about.” A droplet of sweat dripped from his dark hair and slid down his temple.

I noticed his hand slowly inching toward his jacket pocket, and I pretended not to notice. “Was it Luca?”

I could read the answer in the fearful gleam of Guido’s eyes, but I wanted to hear it anyway. His hand finally reached into his pocket, and I tried not to smile.

“Looking for this?” Rodrigo asked, walking around Guido and dangling the idiot’s gun by two fingers. Rod was a slick motherfucker, I’d give him that. He tapped a button on the wall, and the hangar doors began to close.

The man with my gun barrel still pressed against his head began babbling as tears poured down his face. “I-I didn’t want to. I swear, I didn’t. I like you, Damiano. You know how Luca is though. He’d kill me with a snap of his fingers.”

“Why does he want me dead?” I asked, my voice cold even as I burned with hurt inside. I knew my father didn’t give a shit about anyone except himself, but hearing the actual words… Yeah, not a great feeling.

“Don’t know. H-he called me in the middle of the night and said he found out something, and this was the only way to fix it. He was fucking crazy. Sent me a flight plan and told me to set up the device so it would blow up over the water. Then called again a little while ago to make sure I’d done it. That’s all I know.”

“That’s why this asshole was so anxious for us to leave,” Rodrigo noted, meeting my gaze. “The timing.”

“I’m sorry,” Guido blubbered. “Please don’t—”

Blood sprayed from the back of his head as my bullet shut him the fuck up. Permanently.

Rodrigo stared down at the body. “How long till it blows?”

“About an hour and a half.”

“Where’s Evie, and does she know?”

“Yes, I showed it to her and then had her go get in the car.”

“Fuck, you’ve gotten yourself into a goddamn pickle, son.” His worried brown eyes rose to mine.

“No shit.”

“Let’s go check on the girl while I think this through,” he said, pushing the button for a couple seconds to open the doors a crack. “Do you think Luca found out about what happened at the house last night?”

We walked swiftly across the concrete floor. “No clue. I made sure to shoot the guard inside the house because, even in New Orleans, a dead body on the back porch would draw alarms.”

“What made you think to check the bird out?”

“Got a tip.”

Rod nodded, knowing without me telling him that it had come from my brother. He opened the back door to the car, and I was relieved to see Evie sitting there, her thumbnail in her mouth.

“Why the hell is there a bomb on that helicopter?” she demanded to know.

“We’re still trying to figure that out,” Rodrigo told her in a soft tone. “We’ll make sure to get you out of here and safe before it goes off.”

Her crystal-blue eyes jerked back and forth between us, and then she nodded. “Okay, what then?”

I don’t have the first fucking clue.

“Rodrigo’s working on a plan,” I told her, my hand going to my pocket when I felt the phone vibrate with a call. “He’ll stay in here with you while I take this. Might be more information.”

My finger pushed the button to answer as I heard Rod climb into the car and shut the door. “Yeah.”

“Jesus fucking Christ. This is a nightmare, bro. Do you have any idea who that girl is?” My brother sounded as frantic as I felt on the inside.

I strode to the hangar, leaning my shoulders back against the metal wall and keeping an eye on the car. “Her name is Evie.”

“Yeah, Evie, which is short for Evelyn.”

“Okaaaay?” I drew out.

“Evelyn ‘Evie’ Bouvier is the only daughter of Paul Bouvier.”

My blood stopped flowing through my veins so abruptly, my knees went weak. “The fashion guy?”

“That one. He’s a goddamn billionaire, one of the most well-known people in New York. Hell, the whole damn country. They’ve brought in the Feds, and the media is all over it. Have you even turned on the news?”

I shook my head, even though he couldn’t see it. “No. I haven’t exactly had time.”

“Luca saw a press conference last night. I was out, but one of the guards called and told me to get back to the suite because our dear father was on a rampage.”

Fucking hell. Press conferences and a famous family shoved this situation directly into a high-profile nightmare, something Luca Cappitani did his best to avoid.

“What happened?”

“I came back to the hotel, and he was losing his shit. Tore the entire room apart. He swore he would do whatever he had to do to keep this from coming back on him.”

“So he was going to get rid of the evidence,” I added flatly.

“Yeah, I overheard him on the phone with Guido this morning, asking if he’d planted it in the chopper and if he had the timing right. He said he wanted it to blow up off the coast. That’s when I figured out what he was planning. Did you find it?”

“Yep, under one of the seats. It’s on a timer.”

“Shit, bro. This is not good. You’re not safe and neither is Evelyn Bouvier. You need to get the fuck away from her because he’ll be coming for her once that chopper explodes while still on the ground and he realizes she’s still alive.”

The thought of leaving her to fend for herself against the most brutal man I knew turned my stomach. “I’ll talk to Rodrigo and let you know the plan.”

“Okay, brother. Stay safe.”

“I’ll try. I wouldn’t be if you weren’t looking out for me.” My voice clogged with emotion. “Thank you.”

“You’d do the same for me.” His own tone was slightly husky. “Later, Dame.”

“Later, Fi.”

My temples throbbed as I replaced my phone in my pocket. This already horrible situation just took a hard right turn onto shitshow road. I’d thought my father would be after me and me alone when I didn’t show up with his prize . I thought he’d never know who the hell the girl even was. But now he did know.

And Evie Bouvier was in grave danger.

Steeling my spine, I walked over to the car and plastered a fake-ass smile on my face for Evie’s benefit before opening the door. “We’ll be leaving in a few minutes,” I told her. “Just need to talk to Rodrigo for a second.”

She frowned but bobbed her head in a nod, fingers twisting nervously at the fabric of her shirt. Hell, I didn’t blame her. There was literally a ticking time bomb less than fifty yards away.

“What is it?” Rod asked when he was out of the car and we’d walked out of hearing distance. As I explained who Evie was and my father’s extreme response to it, his haggard face grew more grim by the second. “Fuck. This is bad, Damiano. He’s never going to let up as long as she’s alive.”

“I know.” Not much more I could add to that.

“I’ve been thinking about what to do, and well… it’s pretty fucking extreme, but with what you just told me, I think it’s our only option.”

“Hit me with it.”

“Luca has to believe we’re all dead. That we blew up in the helicopter over the Gulf of Mexico.”

Those words sank like a sack of stones in my gut. “I’m not going to be able to get Evie back to her family, am I?”

“No, son, you’re not. All of us have to go underground.”

I screwed up my face and scruffed a hand through my hair. “How the hell are we going to fake a helicopter explosion?”

Rodrigo’s lips tipped up on one side. “I’m going to fly it out over the Gulf and…”

“No, absolutely not,” I hissed fiercely.

He placed a calming hand on my upper arm. “Let me finish. You know I always keep parachutes in the chopper. I’ll take her up, set the course, and then jump out well before time for it to go boom. I have a friend that can pick me up in a boat if I give him the coordinates.”

My eyebrows rammed together. “Who the fuck are you? James Bond?”

Rod let out a humorless chuckle. “Something like that. Luca will have someone tracking the helicopter, and when he sees it disappear from radar, he’ll think his plan worked and that we’re all dead.”

“What about Guido and the bodies in the house from last night?”

“I’ll handle all that. I’ve got someone I can call to take care of it. She likes to call herself a cleanup artist.”

I didn’t bat an eye that this person was a female. Nothing at all could surprise me today. “Okay, let me give you one of the money bags.”

“Don’t need a whole bag. I’ll just take enough to leave here for the cleaner to do the jobs and then be on my way. Time’s a tickin’.”

“And some extra for yourself,” I insisted. “Where will you go?”

“Don’t worry about me. Just worry about you and Evie.”

“I don’t even know where we’re going to go,” I muttered, jacking up my hair with my hand again.

“Gotcha covered on that. Do you remember my cousin, Rocco?”

I scanned the recesses of my brain. “Yeah, I do. He worked for Luca and then disappeared about… what… six or seven years ago? I thought he was dead.”

“Eight,” he corrected. “And that’s what he wanted everyone to think. He got word that Luca was about to have him taken out over some shit that went down, so he made himself disappear. Rocco and his wife live just north of Jacksonville.” He handed me a card with a Florida address, no name, and I pocketed it.

“You think he can help us?”

Rodrigo’s face turned grave. “He’s the only one who can. I’ll call and tell him to expect you.”

I shook my head in wonder. “You’re not going to have enough time to do all this shit, Rod.”

“Three quick phone calls and stashing some money behind the toilet in the bathroom for the cleaner,” he said, jerking a thumb toward the hangar. “I’ll be lifting off in ten minutes.” He handed me a set of keys.

“What are these?”

He gave me a broad grin. “I palmed them from Guido at the same time I took his gun. We need his car to be gone from here so we don’t arouse suspicion, so you and Evie will leave in that.” He pointed to a tricked-out, sky-blue Cadillac around the corner of the metal building.

“Jesus, that’s not conspicuous at all,” I retorted, letting the sarcasm seep into my tone.

“Yeah, but we can’t leave it here. Guido’s address should be in the GPS, so park the car at his house and take one of his other ones. Then get to Florida.”

“Okay, what else?”

“I need your regular cell phone, the one your father knows about. We can’t have that pinging if he has a tracker on it, which he probably does. It’s got to go up in the helicopter with me.”

Taking out my cell, I handed it over. “Thank you, Rodrigo.” Now I knew what Evie meant last night when she said that phrase didn’t seem like enough. This man was going to have to go underground to protect me. He’d likely never see his daughter, granddaughter, or anyone else in his family for a very long time.

“No need for thanks,” he said, looking at me with damp eyes.

I wasn’t a hugger by nature. Pretty sure I hadn’t hugged another adult since before my mother died—until Evie last night. But I reached for Rodrigo and wrapped my arms tightly around him. He looked like he needed it.

“Thank you anyway. You don’t have to do this, you know.”

He squeezed me so hard I could barely breathe, but it felt… good. “I’d do anything for you. I never had a son, but I always felt like you and your brother were mine.”

So many emotions welled up in my chest. Sadness. Fear. Affection.

“Anything else I can do for you, Rod?” I choked out.

To my surprise, he pulled back, grabbed my face in his wrinkled hands, and kissed me hard on the forehead before whispering, “Live, Damiano. Just live.”