“Nope. I’m good.”
His smile fell. “I want you to think long and hard about your choices from this point forward.”
“Is that a threat?” My voice was far more confident than I felt.
“No. It’s a fact. You can either go down with your fiancé or save yourself.” He pushed off the car and reached into his pocket. My mind went immediately to the handgun in my bag. I wouldn’t have enough time to draw and protect myself if he went for his sidearm.
Detective Bennington took out a business card and passed it through the small crack in the glass as an upscale sedan stopped in front of my parked car. He let out a chuckle and straightened as the Marino twins approached him. “Boys.” Bennington dipped his chin and strolled back to his unmarked vehicle.
They waited until he pulled away, then turned to me, the one with a scar through his eyebrow glaring. “What the fuck was that?”
Not what I expected. I thought they’d say something about leaving me alone in the sticks.
“It’s the cop that came to the house. Ask Frankie about it.” I turned on the car and rolled up the window. The twin with perfect, thick brows frowned and used his arm to move his brother back and out of my way.
As I drove away, Scar-brow pushed his brother, shouting something and gesturing to the back of my car. Externally, I was cool as a cucumber. Internally, I was terrified of the cops, the twins, everything. I blindly reached into my bag, wanting to feel the cool reassurance of Luca’s gun, but I came up empty-handed, and my stomach fell to my ass.
Where’s the gun?
When I got home, I searched the car but came up empty-handed. In a panic, I dialed Tootsie.
“That was quick.”
“Did I leave a gun there?” I whispered, despite being alone in my house.
“Uh. I haven’t come across one. Let me check the bedroom.”
I paced the kitchen, my eyes darting to the French doors every two seconds.
“Found it in the bedroom. Must’ve fallen out of your bag.”
I let out a huge breath. “Thank God. Uh. Can you put it somewhere safe?”
Tootsie laughed. “Sure. Anything else?”
“Nope. Be Safe.”
Tootsie hung up, and I stared out at our perfect backyard with my palm resting over my wildly beating heart.
ELEVEN
After a weekend of cleaning up vomit and warming up soup for a sick Dante, Adriana, and eventually Rosa, I was back in my living room waiting for Luca to get home. At eight p.m. on the nose, Luca came through the door.
He hung up his coat with a wry smile and set his bags neatly under the hallway table. “Honey, I’m home.”
I stood but made no move to join him at the door. “Explain.”
He shook his head, his eyes narrowing at me. “You haven’t been answering your phone.”
“And you’ve been a lying bastard. Now that we have that cleared up, explain why Tootsie’s holding Zoe Chronis hostage at your cabin. What the fuck, Luca?”
“It’s business. I told you I would keep you out of Moretti business.”
“Then why are you lying to Marco?”
“Because Marco will gut her for all the trouble helping her has caused. He doesn’t realize we’d be in this mess whether or not I helped her.”
That made sense. Marco saw the world in black and white when it came to the Chronis family. He wouldn’t be moved by Zoe’s story or recognize they were always going to start a war.