stared at him in silence. Danny hoped and prayed Carmine was just waiting for il Sacchi to let down his guard. He wasn’t really going to leave Danny in this gangster’s hands, was he? Especially not after that maniac had been so ready to shoot him?
But then il Sacchi handed Danny off to one of his wise guys. And Danny was being taken to the car. And being shoved into the back of it. And the cars were leaving.
Carmine. Carmine, you’re just letting him…
He was.
Someone fired two gunshots into the night, but then there was silence. No return fire. No cars in pursuit. Not a sound except tires and engines and Danny’s pounding heart.
He hadn’t thought it was possible to be more afraid than he’d been earlier, but he was. The bright lights faded behind them, and Danny’s hope went with it. He was terrified now. Not that they would kill him, but how, and how slowly. Gangsters were not known for being merciful to those who’d crossed them. Especially not those who’d drawn familial blood.
Lord, please, don’t let me die like—
The car stopped so suddenly, Danny was tossed off the seat. One of the wise guys shoved him back against it.
“What now?” il Sacchi demanded.
“Uh.” The driver leaned forward. “Boss, it’s the cops.”
Danny’s lips parted. What in the world…
Suddenly, they were again bathed in blinding light. Shouts came from all directions, and before Danny’s eyes had adjusted or he’d made sense of anything, he was again hauled from the car.
By a police officer.
Renewed fear crashed over him. He’d already been nabbed once by the “police,” and now one of his friends was dead.
The officer looked him up and down. “You all right, son?”
“I’m…” Danny stared blankly. What was happening?
More light. More engines. More cars pulling up, this time behind them. Doors opened and closed, and there were hurried footsteps.
And once again, it was Carmine emerging from the shadows behind the lights, and Danny’s knees nearly dropped out from under him. He had never before had to fight so hard to keep from running up to someone and throwing his arms around him. Gratitude, relief, things he couldn’t quite identify—he needed to grab on to Carmine and just hold on until the world stopped spinning so damned fast.
But there were too many people around. And anyhow he wasn’t sure his legs would move.
Carmine came up to him and looked him over. “You all right?” His tone was flat, almost disinterested, but his near-black eyes betrayed his concern.
Danny just nodded because he was afraid to speak. He’d either start sobbing, or throw up and then start sobbing, and he didn’t want Carmine to see him like that. He didn’t want anyone to see him like that.
Carmine put a hand on his shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze before letting go. That brief contact almost broke Danny; to anyone else, it was probably just a reassuring clap of the shoulder, but it made him believe this really was over. By some miracle, he was free, and he was…
Safe with a gangster?
That shouldn’t have been possible, but it was. Of all the gangsters in New York, there was one and only one who Danny trusted, and who Danny was safe with, and by the grace of God that gangster had saved him and his friends tonight.
“Danny?” Bernard’s voice broke through Danny’s thoughts, and he turned to see his friends hurrying toward him. They all embraced and breathed sighs of relief. They were all safe. All except…
Danny looked around. “Liam. Oh God.” He turned to Carmine. “There’s one of us still missing. Liam. He’s—”
“He’s safe.” Two words had never brought with them such profound relief. “He took a beating, but he’s at my house, and he’s all right.”
Danny closed his eyes and released his breath, swaying on his feet. Behind him, Peter murmured a tearful prayer in Irish.
“Giulia is all right too,” Carmine said.
Danny’s head snapped toward Carmine. “She is? She escaped?”
He nodded. “She’s fine.”
Closing his eyes again, Danny exhaled, dizzy with relief. He’d still been in so much shock over everything, he hadn’t even reached Giulia in his mind, and his knees were ready to drop out from under him as he absorbed that she’d survived after all and that she’d escaped somehow. There was nothing in the world that could take away the hurt of losing Francis so violently, but Danny grabbed on to the realization that the person Francis had been trying to save hadn’t died with him.
“And your friend