Riding Dirty: Luciotti Crime Family (A Bad Boy Mafia Romance) - Kara Hart Page 0,53

the air turned cold. I was used to being the bearer of bad news. The only difference now was that this was the woman I was falling for. “Some bad. Some good,” I said.

“Spill it,” she said. “I can handle it.” But the look in her eyes said something different. It was fear, plain and simple.

“I've got an address from a reliable source,” I said, looking around. In the back was a young kid, maybe around 25 years old, listening intently to us. I motioned for her to follow me out front. “Let's talk outside.” The kid quickly went back to cooking an egg dish.

“Hey Joel,” she began, “I'm taking my 15.” We both walked out front, feeling the breeze wrap around our bodies, demanding a certain type of warmth from the both of us. We stood close to each other and talked low.

“Look, you're safe here. But you need to make sure Jen is safe too. If you can, pick her up now and pull her out of school. I'm going to find him and end this wild goose chase after all,” I said, feeling the strain of the job pull on me. Kids weren't my favorite, but this kid in particular deserved a good, wholesome life. She deserved happiness and the absence of fear.

She looked worried when she asked “What do you mean? What exactly is going on?”

“I don't know if the information I got earlier in the week was wrong or what, but I've been told Cade has been hiding out in an abandoned building down by the water,” I said, grabbing a cigarette from a pack I had bought in Detroit.

“And you trust your source? What is he doing down by the water? Why is he in Monroe? None of it makes any sense,” she said, turning hysterical.

Here we go… I grunted loudly and grabbed the gun at my hip. “It makes perfect sense. He wants to kill me and take Jen from you. I don't know the guy, but he sounds like a lunatic,” I said.

“He is,” she agreed, taking the cigarette from my hands and taking a drag for herself.

“But that doesn't mean he's an idiot. He knows the quickest way to get to me and my family is through you.” I grabbed my cigarette back, took one more drag, and tossed it.

“Through me? What do you mean?” she asked.

“Because…” I groaned, as if in pain. “He knows I love you.” The words came out quick. Just hearing them spill from my mouth made me sick. Love? A guy like me? What was happening to me? But it was the truth and I wouldn't let myself hide from it any longer. Yes, God dammit. I loved her.

I may have been strong enough to tell her my innermost feelings, but I wasn't about to stick around and listen to what she had to say about them. Her face looked shocked and she began stuttering.

“Nope,” I said. “I'm going.” And before she could protest any further, I was already in my Cadillac, going 60 miles an hour south.

Driving like a maniac, I took out my burner phone and punched in my brother’s number. Even though I disliked the guy, he was known to have my back in tight situations. At the very least I needed to give him a head’s up that I was about to enter an unknown and dangerous situation.

The sun shone directly ahead of me, reflecting off the water and green leaves of the trees. Any time I collected on a debt, I knew it could be the end of my life. However, this was different. This felt more foreign.

I had to give it all I had. If no one thought I was a good person, I had to at least do one good deed to offset all the bad.

I pulled up to the street where the building sat and turned off the car. “If this is it,” I said to myself, “then at least you went out with some happiness in your heart.” That girl penetrated my very being. She was like a drug, invading my thoughts at every second of the day. And yes, she gave me a level of happiness a man like me never expected out of the world.

I drank the rest of my coffee and quietly got out of the car. When this was all over, I was going to miss this place.

I wore the lightest clothing I could and carried just my 9mm and my blade. They