Bullseye covered his grin as I rolled my eyes. “I am not a spook.”
“Dec has a point though. You can’t hide forever.”
“Enough of this shit,” I muttered, stepping out of the shadows. I didn’t have time for this. I needed them secured and fast. The quicker I get that done, the faster I can get to California. Walking past several offices, I stopped, seeing all of them clustered around a desk and walked right in.
“Dafuq!” Merc shouted, getting to his feet pulling his sidearm and pointing it right at me. The others followed suit fast.
“You’ve got balls coming in here asshole,” the one named Declan said. Yeah, he wasn’t going to be the trusting kind.
“Who the fuck are you?” Merc asked.
“The Guardian.”
Twenty-Eight
Donatella
Stretching, I yawned while opening my eyes and looked about the room I was in. Nothing looked familiar and when my panic started to rise, I remembered leaving the compound with a gun to my head. I remembered Lorenzo holding me until I passed out, then nothing.
Sitting up in bed, I heard voices coming from another room.
My mind whirled with everything that had happened and it all boiled down to one thing. My time was waning. I knew that now. The powers that be knew what I had. They wanted what was in my head and would stop at nothing to get it. I knew that now. There was only one ending for me. I don’t know why I didn’t see it before. All the information was there before me. The writing was on the wall.
They would come.
They would find me.
Knowing now what I needed to do, I got to my feet and slowly walked towards the voices. Finding Lorenzo standing in the kitchen with his back to me while two familiar men looked up at me from the couch.
“Good morning, Bella,” Nico said, getting to his feet. Running to him, I hugged him. Thankful he was here.
“Donnie,” Eduardo whispered. Releasing Nico, I hugged Eduardo too. I was so happy to see them both. I missed them. I was glad they were here. Lorenzo would need them when the time came.
“Baby, come eat something. It’s not much but the coffee is good,” Lorenzo said, leaning against the kitchen counter and holding a cup of coffee in his hands.
Nodding, I walked over to the bar and sat down, as he placed a hot plate of food before me. He was right. It wasn’t much, just scrambled eggs and toast but it was hot and I was hungry. I didn’t bother standing on ceremony as I ate the food Lorenzo cooked for me. It was remarkably good, which was astonishing considering the man had everything catered to him hand and foot.
Finishing my food, I wiped my mouth with a napkin, placing it over the plate. Leaning on my elbows I asked, “So. When are we leaving?”
“What?”
“I spoke clear English, Lorenzo. I want to leave this place and go back to Chicago.” I knew it was a long shot but I had to give it a try. Appealing to Lorenzo’s love of family was the best move, even though I knew his stubbornness wouldn’t allow him to take the bait. But hey, I had to try.
“Baby, we can’t. It’s not safe there.”
And there it was. His stubborn nature.
“Don’t care. It’s safer than here. Where are we exactly, anyway?” I asked, looking around the large fully decorated apartment. I knew that wherever we were it was outfitted with major security. I could easily spot the cameras around the room. We were being watched and I didn’t like it. Not one bit.
This place was worse than my aunt’s compound. At least there I knew what I was getting into.
All this bouncing around was becoming too much. I just wanted everyone to leave me alone. I wasn’t going to give anyone what they wanted. I never would.
I should have never come up with that damn formula. That’s what all this was about. It’s why my sister and parents were killed; why Lorenzo and I were on the run. Because of what I thought up. What I implemented. For once my sister was right. My brain finally did get me into trouble.
I just couldn’t take it anymore.
I wanted to hide somewhere and disappear where no one would ever find me. And this place wasn’t it.