what he meant, but Enzo didn’t give me chance to ask. He pushed me into the car and slammed the door, going around to the driver’s side.
Enzo climbed in. “You okay?” he asked coolly.
“Not really.” I leaned my head against the cool glass, trying to make sense of the last few hours. “But I will be.”
What other choice did I have?
Chapter 19
Nicco
My eyes snapped open, the blare of my cell phone like a siren in the night. “What the hell?” I mumbled, trying to locate it. “Yeah?”
“Nicco?” Enzo sounded distant.
I shot upright. “What happened?”
“It’s Ari, she’s... fuck, man. It’s messed up.”
“Is she okay?” A bolt of fear shot through me, my hands trembling as I gripped the phone tighter.
“She’s okay. I brought her out to the cabin.”
“Okay, I’m on my way.”
“Be careful.” He inhaled a ragged breath. “Fascini knew you were at the hotel, so there’s every chance he’s watching your movements. If you’re being tailed, you can’t lead them here.”
He was right.
The cabin was off the grid. A family hideaway few people knew about.
“I’ll take precautions.” My words shook. “Can I talk to her?”
“She’s sleeping.”
“Okay, I’ll see you soon.” I inhaled a ragged breath. “And E?”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you.”
After waking my uncle and explaining the situation to him, I packed a bag, grabbed my keys and fired up my bike. The ride to the cabin should have only been an hour, but if Enzo was right and I was being watched then I needed to take a different route.
It was the middle of the night, the roads deserted. But it worked in my favor. I’d barely made it out of Boston, when I realized I was being tailed.
The black SUV kept its distance, but when I pulled off the interstate and took the state highway, and it followed, gut instinct told me it was more than just coincidence. I didn’t gun the engine. I kept a steady pace, trying to figure out how best to let things play out.
If I tried to shake them and failed, I could be leading them straight to Arianne, which wasn’t an option. But if I tried to take them on, I could end up hurt … or worse. I had no fucking idea if they were here on Mike Fascini’s orders or his son’s. Not that it mattered. Either way, I was the enemy in their eyes. Just as they were the enemy in mine.
I pulled over at a rest stop just on the outskirts of Rhode Island. Ahead of them by a couple of minutes, I climbed off my bike and scanned the area. There was a small brick building signposted ‘restroom’ and a couple of vending machines, but not much else in the way of places to hide. Slipping around the building, I pulled out my pistol and waited.
The SUV rolled to a stop. I couldn’t see it, but I heard the doors open, heard heavy boots hit the gravel. There were two of them. One would have been easier, but it didn’t matter.
No one was going to keep me from getting to Arianne.
Neither of them spoke, probably hoping to sneak up on me in the restroom while I went about my business. Once I heard them both enter the building, I tiptoed back around and silently slipped inside.
“He’s not here,” one of them said.
“He’s got to be. Check—”
The shot rang out, one of the guys hitting the floor like a sack of bricks.
“Motherfucker,” the other guy roared but I cocked my pistol right at him.
“Don’t. Move.”
He lifted up his hands, edging backward.
“Who sent you?”
His lips pressed into a thin line, but I wasn’t looking to play games. Lowering my aim, I pulled the trigger and he went down on his knee, blood trickling from the hole in his leg. “Who. Sent. You?”
“Fascini.”
“No shit,” I grumbled. “Mike Fascini?”
“N- no. The son. Crazy sonofabitch that one.”
My brow quirked up. “What were your orders?”
The blood drained from his face as he whimpered in pain. “Please man, don’t kill me. I got—”
I stormed forward, pressing the barrel right against his head. “What. Were. Your. Fucking. Orders?”
“Tail you and make sure you didn’t make it back to Verona.”
Scott really was a crazy motherfucker.
“Look, man, I- I was just doing—”
The second shot hit him right between the eyes.
It should have bothered me, killing a man in cold blood. It wasn’t something I ever relished, but this was different. This was about Arianne, about keeping her safe.
Doubling back to my bike, I didn’t spare a second glance as I