Mafia's Final Play (Mafia's Obsession #3) - Summer Cooper Page 0,69

repair costs already put on yet another credit card, and they boarded the plane.

The pilot was already in place and they took their seats as someone closed the door and locked it in place.

“We’re ready when you are,” Anton said to the pilot who gave him a thumbs up.

The mid-size jet was made for long-haul flights and would make the flight with plenty of fuel left, Matteo had told her earlier. As the pilot started the take-off procedure she looked around. It was a narrow plane, but the plush leather seats were luxurious and she had plenty of room to stretch out.

A dark-haired woman with a kind smile came around and made sure they were ready before she went to sit down herself and buckle in. Another plane trip, another moment of fleeing. Was it all worth it? Matteo had spent a small fortune on this flight alone, what had he paid for damages to the car and the cabin? What did he pay for the equipment, the clothes, Anton’s time?

For a moment, she thought about fleeing, running from them both. She had a bit of money in her purse, money she’d collected here and there when Matteo gave her cash to buy things with. It would keep her for a few months if she was careful. And maybe she could find a job somewhere that wouldn’t ask too many questions.

She’d file for divorce and he would be able to get on with his life. He’d said he’d be happy to give up his life in New York, and so far he’d proven that he was honest about that, but later, would he regret giving up all of that for some woman that probably couldn’t even get a job as a waitress?

She tapped her thumbnail against her teeth and stared out of the window as they launched into the air finally, but she didn’t see any of it, she was too caught up in her thoughts to see it. She could wait until they were both asleep tonight, ask the hotel manager to call her a taxi to the bus station, and catch a bus back to Louisiana, maybe.

He wouldn’t look for her there, and neither would Fiona the assassin. He wouldn’t think she’d go back there and Fiona would assume she was with Matteo. She’d be safe for a while anyway, and so would he.

Her eyes cut to him in the seat to her left and she saw he was staring out of his own window. After the aircraft leveled out, he let his head fall back and he closed his eyes. Within moments his chest settled into an even rhythm. He was that fucking tired, she told herself. That’s because of you, you stupid twit.

But, as she watched him sleep, the pain that came every time she thought of being without him overwhelmed her senses. Tears sprang to her eyes and she couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t leave him, it would hurt too much. God, she’d thought about it so many times, for his own good, but every single time, panic took hold and she had to stop the thoughts or she’d suffocate.

She unbuckled the seatbelt and pushed the seat back to relax with her feet up. The woman with dark hair came back and offered her a drink. Marie asked for ginger ale and hoped it would calm her stomach. Anton was in the seat in front of Matteo, on guard even though the plane was in the air.

She calmed her thoughts and opened a book on the new tablet Matteo bought for her. She was reading books in the public domain since she didn’t have to register for an account to read those, and opened a tale of mystery and woe from 1920. It was amazing to read the thoughts the writer had expressed about how life would be now that the Great War had ended, how full of hope the author was about the future. A future that would see war breaking out barely 20 years later in Europe - the start of World War II.

Depression settled over her for a moment as she thought about history, the current state of the world, and her place in it. All she’d wanted was to not lose her home and maybe have a chance with a man that she’d loved even before she really knew him. She’d sensed that he was the man for her, even back then, and it was more than just sex and nothing at