father do for a living?”
“He’s a Sicilian Mafia don.”
She cracked up laughing. “Get out of here.”
How I wished that it were a joke.
“Do you know if Angelo is an LA native?” Christine asked.
“No idea, but judging by his accent, I don’t think so,” I replied.
“Buckle up, girls. You never know. We might be on a bit of a car chase.”
“Don’t you dare,” Mandy said, her voice rising with alarm. “I have plans that don’t include getting whiplash.”
“Don’t worry. I’m a good driver,” Christine responded confidently as she glanced into the rearview mirror.
“What happened to our plan of going to the mall and losing him there?” Mandy whined.
Christine shook her head. “Well, now that I’ve seen his eyes up close, I don’t think that plan is going to work. He’s too sharp. So we’re going to—”
“Going to get into a car chase with the latest, high-performance Mercedes Benz?” Mandy cut in incredulously.
“Have some faith,” Christine said calmly as she drove us into the Freeway heading north towards Downtown. “My plan is a lot more diabolical than that.”
“I can’t wait to hear it,” Mandy said sarcastically.
“My plan is not to give any indication of taking one of the upcoming exits, but at the very last moment to swerve into it. It would be impossible for him to stop or change direction at the speed we’re doing and he would simply have to remain on the freeway and zoom past us.”
“Jesus, Christine. That’s one dangerous plan.”
I frowned. Mandy was right. It was a highly risky plan and I did not want to put my friends in any danger.
“How about this exit?” Christine asked.
Mandy shook her head. “No, there are too many cars on it. It’s way too dangerous. We need one that is somewhat free, and we also need him to speed up, otherwise he could swerve in time with us. Christine, step on it.”
“Look you guys, let’s not do anything dangerous, okay. I don’t want anybody getting hurt on my behalf. Hell, if we are not careful we could cause a multi-car pile-up,” I warned.
“I know I can do this,” Christine insisted.
“Let’s just take the next exit,” I suggested. “And see if he’s able to follow or not. If he does, we’ll find another way.”
Christine’s hand tightened on the steering wheel as she vigilantly moved her gaze between the side and rearview mirrors. “Don’t nobody look behind. We don’t want to warn him that we’re up to something.”
“This next one,” Mandy cried suddenly. “14B. It looks empty enough.”
I was too afraid to even speak.
“Ready?” Mandy said, her voice high with a mix of excitement and fear.
“Yeah,” Christine replied tightly.
“Then step on it,” Mandy shouted.
“If I go any faster, he will guess what we are up to,” Christine yelled back.
Mandy turned around to look at the traffic. “Okay, now!” she screamed, as we were almost on the exit.
I turned my head and saw a huge truck coming on the right of us. “There’s a Mack truck coming up. We won’t make it. Don’t do it,” I screamed.
“Yes, we fucking will make it,” Christine said through gritted teeth as she swerved suddenly to the right. The sound of tires screeching on the hot asphalt ‒ Mandy screaming, and the furious truck driver blaring his horn at us ‒ filled the air. We could have caused a fatal accident. I turned to my left and for a split-second I saw into my car, directly at the driver. Our eyes met. And it was as if the world stopped. In that crazy second, something passed between us. A knowing. An inevitability. I knew then I wasn’t going to escape him. Then the moment was over.
Our car accelerated away. We were speeding down the exit we had taken.
“Hell, yeah!” Christine shouted victoriously, whirling her head to look behind at me. She kept gripping the steering wheel so hard her knuckles were bone white. “We fucking lost him. For a moment there, I was sure he was going to reverse on the freaking highway and chase us down the exit.”
“Oh, my God. That was fucking dangerous. I think I’m about to pass out,” Mandy gasped.
I was trembling. I brought my hands to my face and I could see the goosebumps had broken out across my skin. “Let’s hurry. I fear he’s going to somehow catch up to us."
Chapter 17
Sienna
“The airport’s only about twenty-five minutes away,” Mandy said. “Christine, why don’t we just take her there ourselves?”
“No,” Christine said. “He might still be able to find us with this