Twisted Fate (Dark Heart Duet #2) - Ella James Page 0,107
plan to make things…go better. We can do it all right now, if you’re not happy about you and me both being in here.” Her hand is on my forehead, on my cheek. “Do you have a doctor who can see you at home?”
“Yeah.” I try to look like I feel better than I do, so she won’t worry.
“Whew, well that’s good. Our plan kind of hinges on that.” She kisses my chest, right by a bandage. “C’mon…let’s move slow but steady. Lean on me. I’ve got you.”
36
Elise
The plan is probably insane. But I’m not in the mob. I’m just a D.A. caught up in a star-crossed love affair, trying to help my injured mob boss lover fake his own death—or if not that, at least insinuate his disappearance.
Poor Luca is hanging with me, but I know he’s hurting. I can tell by how he’s breathing, how he moves. I wish I could carry him the way he would me. Instead I’m whispering encouragement as we make it down the last flight of stairs. Then we’re at the ground floor door, and I’m looking into his dazed eyes.
“Dani is going to pick us up in her housekeeper’s car. But first we have to slip out a side door and walk about a fourth of a block.” I take his unhurt hand in mine. “You think that would work?”
He nods once.
“They may be mad at you for leaving, but it’s not a crime or anything.”
“Thank God for that,” he says with an eyeroll, and his face makes me laugh.
“I love you.”
“Love you more.” He puts an arm around me, holding me against him for a second.
“Dani’s got some pain meds left over from a surgery she had a few months back.”
He shakes his head once. “Advil.”
“Okay, mister. You stand here for a second. I’m going to open the door and look for an exit sign out there in the lobby.”
Moments later, he and I are walking down a narrow, mostly empty corridor, our hands clasped.
“One time,” he pants, “when you were…in college…I stole a…photo…of you…from your dad’s house.”
“What?” I laugh at the randomness of this confession, and he gives me an exhausted smile.
“I’ll show you.”
“Yes, you have to. I want to see this picture that prompted you to steal it.”
His thumb rubs the top of my hand. Then we’re at the exit door. I hesitate, and he says, “Act like…it’s normal.”
I push the door open, and we’re in a patch of grass. We’re at the side of the hospital. “Perfect! This is where I hoped we’d come out. Dani’s just behind that building.” I point to a narrow, red brick number.
He nods, and I feel him straining to pick up the pace. His hand clutches mine. “I think I know…what you’re doing,” he whispers. “Is Ree…gonna say she…saw someone get hit?”
“Yeah, she’s going to do it anonymously. I thought she could say the person had some bandages and no shirt. That way, when we disappear to Timbuktu, maybe the Armenians will think someone already took you out.” I laugh hoarsely. “I don’t know.”
“You wanna…disappear with me?” He smiles, looking drained.
“Oh yes.” I bite my lip before disclosing what I’ve found out in the last few days. “Dani’s been in touch with Max. She told me Max said Aren’s been obsessing over me for a while. And you’ve been trying to keep him at bay. But it all blew up because he acted like he was suspicious you were turning on him, re the human trafficking. But he was only doing that because he was in fact turning on you. So Max said when you talked to the FBI to explain things, that screwed Aren over. If you’re not really a human trafficker…then the only person who could possibly be in trouble with the FBI for all that stuff was him.”
Luca nods as we approach a curb that divides parking lots.
“You ready for a step up?”
His hand tightens on my arm, but he says nothing as we start through some patchy grass toward the back of the corporate headquarters, where Dani waits in our getaway car.
“There she is—you see that little silver Accord? Once we get in there, you can relax.”
His lips twitch. “I’m fine.”
But my guy is bluffing. As soon as we duck into the car and he thanks Dani for the pillow and blanket she brought, he wraps his arm around me. I fold Dani’s feather pillow over my shoulder. He lays his head right there and falls asleep.