“To kill me.”
She stared straight out the windshield. “To rescue me.”
I knew she didn’t care if I ended up a corpse. Hell, maybe she even wished for it, prayed for it. It was hard to blame her after all I’d put her through.
“Why do you care about that USB drive?” she suddenly asked.
I slowly shook my head. “It might be nothing. But it was weird.”
“Yeah. It was weird.”
“I think that’s the first time you’ve ever agreed with anything I’ve said.”
“Don’t get used to it.”
I grinned. I wouldn’t. Still, it was better than having her try to claw my eyes out.
It was time to put my money where my mouth was and head somewhere safe. To the MacCarrick family meeting place, in fact, aka Mom’s House. I needed help, and my family had been the only people on the planet I knew I could always rely on.
At the same time, I couldn’t help worrying about what they’d say when I showed up with Sofia Accardo in tow. I’d kidnapped the daughter of the mafia don who’d ordered Cal murdered, and I was bringing her into the lion’s den.
Christ Almighty. This certainly wasn’t going to be boring.
CHAPTER SIX
SOFIA
“You should be honored,” Leon said to me. “I’ve never brought a girl here before.”
I stared out the car window at a small, custom Colonial-style house, still not knowing where we were or why. The front yard was winter-barren, but plenty of flower pots and trellises waited patiently for spring. Christmas decorations and lights covered the house in wreaths, jingle bells, and fake candy canes. Smoke curled from a chimney into an almost equally gray sky.
Leon parked on the street in front of the house. He climbed out and headed to the back of the car. He didn’t bother to threaten me if I didn’t behave. Was he getting complacent, or had he pegged me as docile? I wasn’t, but I also wasn’t eager to die.
The last two days had brought me dangerously close to it. Especially this morning when Dominic DeMeo—a guy I’d spoken with before and who should’ve known me on sight—shot a bunch of bullets my way. I’d heard one of them whizz past my head. Another hit the side of the car with a dull metallicthunk. God only knew why I wasn’t dead right now after all that chaos.
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Then I opened the door and climbed out of the car. I was still salty about my carry-on suitcase and my things. Leon the Bastard sure had a great time dumping all my tuff and then chucking the suitcase.
But that tracking device and the USB drive had left me deeply unsettled. I wanted to accuse Leon of planting them, but that made no sense. It looked like he was innocent. Of that, at least.
I waited on the curb for Leon to finish in the trunk, crossing my arms and zipping up my coat. It seemed even colder now than it had first thing this morning. Maybe a storm was coming in to fit my mood.
The Caribbean had never felt so far away. Did any of my friends know I was missing yet? The three of them would be waiting at the private airfield for me, and when I never showed up for the flight, there would be calls and text messages. Concerned at first. Then increasingly panicked as their calls and texts went unanswered. How long until someone called the police?
It all made me feel deeply alone. I was exhausted from a fitful night’s sleep, my body was running on empty because I’d had no coffee, no breakfast, and I was a little dazed, maybe lightheaded. It was bitterly cold. I was supposed to be on my way to a tropical paradise and wasn’t. Oh, and a killer had kidnapped me for reasons I still wasn’t sure of—and neither was he, apparently.
Leon shut the trunk and tossed his duffel bag on the curb. An old man and old woman came shuffling out of the next-door cottage, both of them using cane-like walking sticks. They glanced at me with no reaction, but when they saw Leon, their faces lit up.
“Leon!” the old man called, beaming. “Good to see you! How long are you staying?”
Leon put his hands on his hips and grinned back at them. It was as if he’d transformed into a completely different person, no longer a cold-blooded reptile with gorgeous green eyes.
“Not long,” Leon called back. He actually sounded as if he cared when he continued, saying, “Be careful on the sidewalks, Mr. and Mrs. Williams. It’s been icy.”
“Aren’t you a peach?” the old woman replied with a laugh as rich as butter. She looked ancient, her face heavily lined, but her eyes were bright and kind. “Who’s your pretty friend?”
“This beautiful lady is Sofia. I’m taking her to meet Mum.”
Mum? I blinked at him, realizing I must look utterly dumbfounded but unable to help myself. Was this actually his mother’s house? Was heinsane?
