Sergio grins at Timeo. “I like her. Let’s get her in there, and let’s get Mario’s ass outta there.”
I hear a cry of pain from inside the cave and feel anger surge inside me. Someone’s hurting Mario. My Mario.
“Move!” I hiss.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Mario
She’s here, I know she is. Emma isn’t one to sit idly by when shit goes down. It’s one of my favorite things about her. One of the things I love about her.
Love.
I’m tied up in a fuckin’ cave by this goddamn pussy son of a bitch, and all I can think of is Emma out there. She’s well-armed and experienced in tracking down criminals. In defending herself.
My money’s on Emma.
That motherfucker stopped me mid-track, just when we’d come to the pass below the cliff where visibility’s shit. His asshole cronies shot out the tires of my Ferrari and dragged me off the course in seconds. He had a whole team of them. Of course he couldn’t come accost me at my home like an upstanding son of a bitch. No, he had to get me off the racecourse like the drama queen that he is.
I will get out of this chair, and I will gladly beat his too-pretty face to a bloody pulp before I call Rome and put the screws to his goddamn father. Fuckin’ little pussy.
“You mocked me, Rossi,” Peterson says, pacing in front of me like the narcissistic pussy he is. I see something—no, someone, behind him in the trees. I keep my face neutral, my eyes blank. A flash of red hair—she’s donned a second wig as planned—and the shadows of two bulky men at her side.
My cousins? She isn’t alone, thank fuck. My heart surges with hope. I knew I could trust her. Count on her. I knew she’d pull through.
They slink to the corner of the cave, and it takes me a second to realize what they’re doing. I’m flush up against the cave wall where there’s a small window. It looks like this once was a place where people camped or something similar. They’ll somehow unfasten my bonds, I know it. I’ll get my hands on a weapon. They’ll distract Peterson, and when I get my chance, we’ll take him down. Together.
I can almost hear her plan as if she told me herself. The woman’s brilliant.
I hear sirens in the distance. Peterson planned it this way, a dramatic ending for me, all because I had the audacity to defeat him publicly. If I had it to do over again, I would’ve humiliated him a lot worse than that, the asshole.
“You and that pretty detective were pretty damn full of yourselves, weren’t you?”
I shake my head and huff out a laugh. “For having a one-night stand?”
“You’d have me think that’s a one-night stand? I had you tapped, Rossi. I heard what you said about her to your sister.”
“Oh yeah?”
Distract him. Anger him. He’ll never see them coming.
“I heard you saying how she was nothing like anyone you’ve ever met before, how you couldn’t get her out of your mind, blah blah blah. You professed your undying love and affection, didn’t you, you romantic motherfucker?”
I know Emma’s out there. There’s a chance she could hear me. I take my chance.
“It’s true. She was so much more than a one-night stand.”
Peterson grins. “Perfect. Which is why I went after her and not you. She turned down my pal, so that was an easy target. Too bad you decided to beat the shit out of Grady.” He shakes his head. “That sealed your fate, you know.”
“Oh yeah? Lovely,” I mutter. “You know Emma’s gonna find you. She’s too smart to not figure it all out. She knew Grady was in on something. She’ll hunt you down, and believe me, you do not want Emma on your ass. She’s ruthless.”
“Shakin’ in my fucking boots over here,” he says, rolling his eyes. “Like I give a flying fuck about your little princess.”
I hear a low voice behind me, barely audible, just as sirens blare again above us. “Keep him talking and don’t move your hands.”
I stay as still as possible. Strong fingers—larger than Emma’s, a man’s—drive a knife along the restraints on my wrists. I feel the snap but keep my wrists together as something snaps directly in the woods behind Peterson.
He swivels and I test my wrists. Free. Someone slides a heavy pistol into my palm. Anger surges in me, adrenaline pumping through my veins, on the brink of a beatdown.
“Ah, you would, though, if you knew her. If you knew how smart and sexy she is.”
Peterson rolls his eyes at me.
“So smart and sexy she never saw me coming when I ransacked her apartment, eh?”
“Ah, so you were the one that did that.”
“Told you. You humiliated me. Decided to beat up my one connection to the Boston PD. You think that goes unpunished?”