to ruin that, or the fun we’d had today.
I wanted our day to end on a light note.
“I’ll be busy all day tomorrow,” Gabe said as we entered the city limits. “But I would love if you had dinner with me afterward and maybe spend the night.”
I had been dozing and yawned as I considered his request. “I’ll have to check my work schedule. The new one comes out tomorrow.”
“Just let me know.” He kissed my knuckles again. “Don’t make me stalk you in the produce section.”
I smiled at the image of Gabe, in his fancy suit and as tall as he was, squeezing melons while chatting with the elderly women who shopped there.
“I’m a cashier,” I reminded him. “Unless you’re going to get in line a million times so we can hang out, your plan isn’t going to work.”
“My plans always work.”
I started to make a snarky reply when our car was hit so hard that the impact jarred me. The car spun in a circle, glass flying everywhere, my head slamming against something hard. I vaguely heard Gabe shouting as he reached for me.
Something wet and warm trickled down my scalp as pain exploded on my right side.
“Fitch! Talk to me, Fitch. Are you hurt?”
That was the last thing I heard before I passed out.
Chapter Ten
Gabe…
I had no idea if this had been an accident or an attack. I was still trying to get my bearings, but I didn’t have the luxury of waiting for any kind of help to arrive.
Not if this was an attack. I had to think fast.
My guns. My beloved guns. I had an extensive collection and never went anywhere without at least two on me. I’d left them in the car when I’d taken my flight. I always kept weapons in the glove box, even when Andrew was driving.
Now I reached for them, pulling out my Desert Eagles and climbing out the window of the driver’s side, because the door had been jammed so badly that it wouldn’t open.
My left side felt as though it were on fire, but I pushed the pain down, gritting my teeth as I staggered toward the car that had struck us. When I looked inside, the driver’s seat was empty. I wiped at my brow then saw blood when I looked at the back of my hand. My head was bleeding.
We weren’t in the heart of Ridgeview. We were still on the outskirts, in the rural area, houses far between each other. Unless someone drove by, no one would’ve seen the accident.
“Did you really think you got good intel at Purple Sunrise? Did you honestly think you overheard a diabolical plan?”
It wasn’t Antonio’s voice behind me.
“You heard what we wanted you to hear.”
I closed my eyes and cursed under my breath. There were moments in life when you wished you could go back and do things differently. This was one of them. “I should have gutted you on that street corner.”
“You should’ve,” Deon said. “But you won’t be around long enough to warn the other council members that they’re sending your pack to the rally to get slaughtered.”
I’d been right, in a way. Having the Russo pack there in numbers would appear to be an act of war to Alverez. I had to let Max and the others know that it was a trap, to not send our men.
The only thing I could hope right now was that Lucas was able to talk to Alverez and smooth things over about the rally and having our men there, but I was dead certain Alverez wouldn’t listen. He would say that he didn’t need protection, that he could handle the Malkovich pack, although the Romanos didn’t have the numbers that Antonio had.
I was done talking. I shoved the gun in my right hand into the space between my arm and body of my left and fired my gun several times, spinning around and ducking when Deon fired in return.
But I’d hit him, at least once. I saw the blood on his shoulder, which could’ve been from the accident. I didn’t have time to figure it out. I had to get Fitch out of the car and to safety.
And possibly to the hospital.
Deon took cover behind his car, and I did the same, pressing my back against the frame. My heart lodged in my throat when I saw Fitch stirring and raising his head. From the way the cars were positioned, the windshield was facing Deon.
Fitch was a sitting duck.
I