Are we still in New York?
Daylight has vanished, which gives me an excellent opportunity to see much of our surroundings. It’s dark. There are no nearby lights outside, except for the stars. The sky is clear, unlike when we left New York City.
The vehicle comes to an abrupt halt after traveling on the back roads, through mountainous terrain I’m unfamiliar with.
Sophia’s leaning against my side, her eyes closed, asleep.
Liam is resting his head against the door; he, too, has been resting for the past hour after whining about being hungry.
Mario kills the engine and steps out of the vehicle. He yanks the backdoor open. “Out!” he demands.
There’s a gun in his right hand.
“Please, don’t do this,” I say, pleading with him not to kill me. If I’m dead, I can’t protect my children. Is this Antonio’s way of having access to the twins without my complication?
Sophia stirs awake as I’m yanked out of the back seat. She sounds sleepy but fearful as her voice quivers. “Mommy?”
I want to lie to her, tell her to go back to sleep and that everything is all right. But it’s not. Nothing is all right.
Liam stirs, and though he’s pretending to be asleep, I can see the tremble in his hand as he reaches for the handle to the car door. He gives it a pull, but it doesn’t open.
“You’re a complication that we don’t need,” Mario says. He grabs me forcefully by the arm and tugs me up to my feet to follow.
He slams the back door shut, ensuring the twins don’t leave the vehicle.
If I run, I abandon the twins. That’s not an option.
“Let go of me!” I shout, stomping on his toe, fighting back. I jab my knee into his groin, wrestling for the gun.
His hold doesn’t loosen in the slightest. The cold metal grazes my temple as he places the gun on my head. “You’re making it easy for me,” Mario says with a snicker.
It’s hard to see much in the darkness, but my eyes have adjusted, and the car is still running, the headlights pointed in the opposite direction.
I can’t see the twins from the car, and I pray they don’t watch. If Mario kills me, I don’t want them to witness my death.
“Why kill me?”
He hasn’t pulled the trigger yet. He’s had plenty of ample opportunities. Does he like dragging it out, making me beg for my life?
“You’re clouding Antonio’s judgment.”
I don’t know what he means. How have I interfered in his mafia dealings?
“Get down on your knees!” he shouts at me, pushing me into the dirt.
The ground is frigid like the air.
“Is this what Antonio wants?” I don’t beg for my life, but I’m on my knees, my hands grabbing fistfuls of dirt. Anything that I can use to disorient him.
Mario refuses to answer me.
Antonio mustn’t know what Mario is up to. Which means there’s little chance of him being my savior. We’re out in the middle of nowhere, probably so he can dump my body, if not all three of us.
He cocks the safety, the click sending a chill down my spine.
“Antonio will kill you,” I say.
He murdered the last mob boss. Why wouldn’t he take vengeance on a man who killed the mother of his children?