me do this. I needed Darien by my side the way he'd been my whole life. The thought of him not being there...
“What if I told you that I know he's alive?”
I snapped my eyes up to him from the box of fries. “He is? How do you know?”
“I pulled Armo Pontarelli's number from your cellphone before I turned it off. I called him when you were in the shower this morning.” Hunter sipped from his glass of coke. “He's alive. Injured, but alive.”
I closed my eyes as the words rushed through me. I needed to hear it, but... “Why didn't you tell me?”
“Honestly, I was worried you'd try and get him to come with us. I still am.” He shrugged a shoulder. “I know you love him like he's your dad, but we can't risk going back to California, because they'll be waiting for it.”
“I know, and maybe I was considering it a little. I understand what you're saying, though. It's too risky to go back.”
He slowly nodded. “It's almost time for us to go back to the Gardarelli's. Let me go in and get everything from Gemma if you're really worried about how trustworthy she is. You'll soon know if you need to drive.” He smirked.
I thought about it a minute before it hit me how sensible that idea was. I couldn't say the idea of him putting himself directly in danger for me was something I liked, but it'd be a battle I'd lose.
“Fine,” I said quietly. “You go in. Say I'm sleeping in the car or something.”
“Got it.” He smiled. “Come on. Let's go now and get it over with, then we can drive. We probably have nine or so hours to get going together. We can probably stop close to Denver before midnight if we go now.”
I took a deep breath and glanced at the clock. It was not far past twelve thirty. He was right. If we wanted to stop near Denver before midnight—and I did—we'd have to leave now. We were in for three days of endless road, so the sooner we could start, the sooner we'd finish.
“Okay. Let's go.” I stood and shoved all our trash into the brown paper bag the food had come in. At least there was always McDonalds, right? Not that I'd eaten anything more than half a burger.
Hunter took the bag from me and stuffed it into a trashcan. He took my hand before pushing open the door. The humid air hit me like a ten ton truck, and I wrinkled my face up as we wound our way through the parking lot to the car. I got in the passenger side as Hunter started the engine, and I glanced at the backseat. We'd stopped by a couple stores before getting lunch since he had no spare clothes and I had hardly any. We'd also grabbed a bunch of toiletries from the drugstore, and miraculously found an overnight bag big enough for it all, but small enough that you could run with it quickly if you had to.
I had a feeling we'd probably have to one night.
If we didn't, then I'd probably die anyway of shock.
By one o'clock, we were pulling up outside the Gardarelli household. Although I knew Darien was safe, I hoped Hunter would come back with a phone number for me to contact him on. I wanted to hear his voice.
My palms got sweaty as Hunter left the car without a word. My paranoia was going into overdrive, and I was starting to believe, yet again, that no one could be trusted. Maybe not even him, although my heart said differently.
Hearts were liars, though. I knew that. Even if it was Hunter my heart wanted.
I didn't want to think about any of that until this whole situation was over. I wasn't dumb enough to believe I could head the Romano family alone—Mamma couldn't, and that's why she had to marry my father. Nonno told her as much. Women were respected and revered, but the mafia was still behind the times.
I could be queen, but I couldn't rule without a king.
A consigliere would stand in for me until I got married, but it had to be within six months, or that was it. My blood would mean nothing.
Why am I thinking of this now? Am I seriously considering marrying Hunter?
Well. We were in Vegas.
I rolled my head to the side and snorted at my own crazy thoughts. Maybe we could get drunk and draw stupid