The Forbidden Secret (Forbidden #2)

Chapter Six

Evelina Bianchi

I only allowed myself one day to contemplate the odds of my escape and survival before I made my decision.

Maggie had done more than enough, and I wouldn’t risk her and her child’s life if the person stalking her had been because of me. I wouldn’t risk Beatrice’s life. Because if this was a mafia-related threat, she would stand no chance against them.

At least I had lived a life surrounded by crime and knew how to avoid it.

I could get us both out of the city, and when we landed somewhere else, nobody would find us.

I waited until Zeke did his final rounds of the night before tucking myself into a bulky hoodie and sliding open my bedroom window. The fire escape had been secured to the wall about three feet beyond the window, and the sill was too narrow to climb. I knew Zeke had likely deemed it a minimal threat if he allowed me to sleep here, but he had not expected me to leave.

I didn’t care.

I stood on the window ledge, leaned forward, and jumped.

I didn’t dare to look toward the ground, knowing that the multiple stories below me would likely scare me out of my plan. And it didn’t matter. Not as I easily found my footing on the fire escape and began shuffling down the levels quickly, making sure to conceal as much of my face and hair as possible.

And then I was off.

I had expected to feel at least some sense of regret, but after the lack of answers Zeke had given me, I realized it was for the best that I got away. I would face nothing but heartache and disappointment if I stayed. The logical side of my brain knew that he was entirely uninterested in me. I knew it was a one-night stand, and I knew that his pickup lines and interest in my body meant nothing for the longevity of a relationship between us.

I also knew that my general lack of social awareness in many situations could have been hard at play here. I knew that beneath the surface of his words and behaviors, I felt something, and I wanted to believe that he did, too.

I stopped myself before delving too deep into that thought.

Zeke was a part of my past, and Beatrice would be my future.

I smiled at the thought of finally taking back my little girl—finally being able to live the life together that we deserved. I couldn’t wait for the day I could spend more than a few hours with her. The day I would have her to myself, day and night.

I would be able to take her outside on walks and, eventually, when she got a little older, to the park to meet friends and other moms.

That life sounded sweeter than anything I could have imagined for myself before her.

I grinned as I strode toward the street, raising a hand to hail a cab. Maggie only lived a few miles away, but walking through the streets when people were looking for me was a bad idea, and I knew that. I needed to stay as out of sight as possible. Once I got to her studio, I would cut my hair and change clothes. I would hitch a ride to the airport and gather all the documents I had crafted for me and Beatrice weeks ago—the ones I had left in Maggie’s safe keeping.

Lost in thought, I didn’t pay much attention to the taxi until it pulled beside me, and I slid into the back seat. I closed the door, and the vehicle immediately pressed on the gas, merging back into traffic.

The doors clicked locked.

I glanced at them, wondering if it was an automatic feature, as I opened my mouth to give him the address. But something stopped me.

Everything had felt fine moments ago, but now—after getting into this cab—I could feel the shift. I could feel that something was off even without a basis for that feeling.

I met his eyes in the rear-view mirror.

It should have meant nothing. He said nothing, and I couldn’t even see the bottom of his face. But there was a sense of accomplishment there. Cruel excitement. The emotions didn’t make sense, and I tried to rationalize them as Maggie’s address became lodged in the back of my throat.

“You’re not going in the right direction,” I said, trying to make my words sound less paranoid.

I had not given him the address yet, so he couldn’t possibly know that…

“Yes, I am.”

His deep voice and the words repeated in my mind. Over and over again, I tried to explain away what I knew was happening.

“Stop the car,” I said, leaning toward the door.

He didn’t say anything as my heart began pounding in my ears.

“Stop the car!”

Nothing. No response.

In the city’s traffic, he couldn’t go more than fifteen miles an hour, and I wouldn’t let him get to a place where he could go faster. I wouldn’t let him take me away from my daughter the way my father had already done once.

I reached for the lock, steeling myself to the pain I knew would come once I ducked and rolled from this vehicle. He didn’t even seem to notice my intention as I pulled the lock and then the door handle.

It didn’t budge.

Child locks.

A flimsy screen separated me from the man, and I didn’t hesitate as I sat back in the seat and kicked it. Again. Again. It began loosening from a corner.

“Stop it!”

I didn’t listen as I kicked one last time, and the bolt holding it in place fell free. The screen jerked toward him, and I slammed my body into it, lunging for the passenger door.

“Get the hell back in here,” he said, his hand grabbing my ankle as if that would stop me.

I pulled the lock of the passenger door and then the handle as I kicked with all my might. The car veered, and I went flying through the door. I tried positioning myself to roll as I fell from the vehicle, but he had slowed the car from my kick. Just enough that I felt only the skin on my palm pull before I was up and moving. Running.

I ran as fast as I could down the street, trying to figure out the best move.

I was only a few blocks from the safe house, and if I got there, I would at least have Zeke to help me face this threat. It didn’t matter how outraged he would be. I could deal with that later.

My frantic run was halted no more than a block from the house. Someone grabbed my arm with a bruising grip and jerked me back and into a storefront with boarded-up windows and a door that looked like it had seen better days.

I panted for my breath, the run having taken everything from me.

But I wouldn’t— couldn’t —let him pull me into a random building.

I may have been a mafia princess. I may have hidden myself in my room for my entire life and avoided my family at every opportunity.

But I still joined my sisters in self-defense lessons every week.

And I knew how to get out of a situation like this.

With the momentum he had taken from me in pulling me backward, I used the man’s large arm to balance myself. I pulled his arm and used his leverage to heave me upright. It didn’t throw him off balance as much as I had hoped, but it had given me enough momentum to drive an elbow into his throat.

He coughed and stumbled back, finally losing the balance I had tried to take from him.

I kicked him in the chest and sent him back into the abandoned store.

I pulled the door closed behind me and made it only one more step before someone wrapped an arm around my waist, and I thrashed. My arms had been pinned to my sides, and I was left with nothing to do but kick at a pair of shins that seemed somehow immune to my attack.

“We’re going to get a pretty penny for finding you,” he grumbled into my ear as he kicked open the door that I had just closed.

Panic flooded me. “No!” I shouted, looking around at all the people driving on the street. All the people walking the sidewalks. “Help!”

Nobody looked my way. Not even one person noticed me struggling and begging for someone to do something.

He closed the door behind him, and every ounce of hope faded. I knew people were looking for me, but how had they found me so easily? They wouldn’t just be standing around the safe house and waiting. If nobody knew where I was, how did this happen? I should have made it out of here safely.

I wondered if this was much bigger than Zeke and Jaimie had insinuated.

“Stop,” I said as I squirmed again. The second man was on his feet as he glared toward me. I began shaking as I considered what was going to happen to me. I didn’t want to die, and I didn’t want to be sold into some kind of modern-day slave trade, either.

Beatrice needed me.

I wiggled with all the strength I had in my body, but it didn’t seem to do a damned thing as the man continued holding me off the floor as if I weighed nothing.

“If you don’t let me go, I will kill both of you.”

The one I had pushed into the store on his ass scoffed and lifted a hand. “You won’t have the chance, Bitch.”

I closed my eyes as I waited for that strike to land, but it didn’t.

Instead, the door behind me crashed open.

Zeke filled the doorway, looking as outraged as an avenging angel.

No, not an angel. Zeke could never be construed as something so good and pure.

With his dark clothes, tactical vest, gun in hand, and lip ring glinting in the dim lights, he could be seen as nothing less than the devil himself.

And when his lips pulled back in a menacing smirk, I shuddered.

“You’ve found yourself in quite the predicament, Princess.”

My eyes widened as the man not holding me charged forward, and Zeke proved exactly why he was considered the best. While the man was bulkier than him, likely weighing fifty pounds more and absolutely radiating malice and intent to kill, Zeke kept his cool. He easily avoided the combination of punches the man sent flying toward him before bringing his body close and sending a few gut shots of his own.

And Zeke was fast.

He ducked and wove his body around attacks while meeting some of them head-on.

He had his opponent fighting for breath while he merely smirked at him and egged him on.

It was like a symphony of violence, and I couldn’t peel my eyes away. Every strike and weave. Every single motion that Zeke made was intentional and powerful.

He was a machine of chaos, and nobody could stand a chance against that.

The man holding me tightened his grip and squeezed me more tightly.

Something biting dug into my throat, and I gasped just loud enough that Zeke glanced my way and froze.

“Keep fighting, and I’ll kill her.”

For possibly the first time in my life, I saw rage personified. I saw everything Zeke held back from me in the past, and I understood why he considered himself a monster. There was nothing good behind that expression.

Only it didn’t scare me.

I didn’t dare to move as he held the blade to my throat. “If you kill her,” he said through clenched teeth, “there will no longer be a reason for me to keep you alive.”

“Keep me alive?” he scoffed. “You think you’re in control here?”

Even I knew Zeke was in control here, and the man holding me had to be a fool not to see it.

“Three.” Zeke said, pausing for emphasis. The man he had taken to the ground began rising, and he pulled out his gun before I even knew what he was doing. He slammed it into the man’s temple and sent him crashing back to the floor.

“Just walk away, man. It’s not worth the trouble messing with Clide.”

“Two.”

Zeke loaded the gun and kept it pointed at the man on the floor.

The man holding me began trembling lightly, and I waited to see what Zeke would do.

“One.”

To hell with waiting.

As Zeke pulled the trigger, I slammed my heel down on the man’s exposed foot. In his communication with Zeke, he had forgotten to hold me off the ground. The blade nicked my skin, and I winced as I felt a trickle of blood ooze down my neck.

When he loosened his grip, I pushed the knife away and shoved myself toward Zeke.

He pulled me into his arms, glaring at the man over my shoulder, then to the one on the floor. “Take one step, and you are both fucking dead.” His hard gaze fell on me and softened just a touch as he ran a finger over the cut on my neck and pulled away. He examined the blood on his finger. “Are you okay?”

His gentle tone caught me off guard, and I nodded.

“Good. Because these gentlemen aren’t going to fare so well. Take a step back, Princess.”

I followed his order as I wrapped my arms around myself and watched Zeke do his work. I never would have thought it possible for him to take down two men larger than him so efficiently and swiftly. But in a matter of minutes, he had both men bloodied, incapacitated, and tied to a beam that ran down the center of the room.

I watched as he began questioning them with irrelevant things—throw away questions to build the tension and deliver a few blows. He knew exactly what he was doing and how to break these men, and I should have been appalled by it, but seeing the way he defended me without an ounce of hesitation brought to life something in my belly that couldn’t be ignored.

“Do I need to start cutting off larger pieces?” Zeke asked with a manic laugh. “Do you know who the fuck I am?”

“Of course we do,” one of them spat. The ballsy one. The one that Zeke seemed most inclined to kill first. “I’m surprised you’re not killing her. You took after him in every other way.”

Zeke exploded, slamming his fist into the man’s face before cleaving his knife through his ear and holding it up. He showed it to the other man. “You have anything to say?”

He wisely kept his mouth shut.

What was the “him” the man referred to? Why would he expect Zeke to kill me when his job was the opposite?

“How did you find her?”

“We tracked a call, and we got your information. We have a trace on you, and that’s how we learned who was keeping her away from the boss. When we tapped your phone, it would only give us a general location. We had the whole city block cornered, and we were preparing to search all the buildings when we found her,” the second man finally said. “Now that we know who you are and where you are, it’s only a matter of time.”

Zeke slammed his fist into the second man’s jaw. “I’ll let you keep your ear for answering my question.”

“You’re going to kill us anyway. We’re not going to talk to you.”

Zeke showed his teeth in something I couldn’t quite consider a smile. “How did you get a trace on my phone.”

I stepped forward, not wanting them to reveal that answer. I was already about to be in deep shit from running. I didn’t need the backlash of being the cause of this, too. I had not only been the reason our safe house was no longer safe, but my call had clued them in on my location. If I hadn’t called Maggie, maybe I would have made it to her house…

Only to be found and taken there.

Because if she was followed and her phone was tapped, they knew that I would be there eventually. They knew about Beatrice.

It begged a different question, though. Did they know Beatrice was my child, or did they just connect Maggie to me through our friendship and my art? If they had an inkling about Beatrice, she would have been brought into this already.

I had to proceed so carefully.

“You found me because of the trace?” I asked. “Why is Clide so interested in me? If he has multiple businesses, the lost money would mean nothing to him. If he’s involved with the mafia—“

“He is the fucking mafia. He runs the streets with Giovanni Rissi and has recently climbed into business with your father, too. He’s going to become the new Godfather of New York City, and nobody will stop him. He’s not going to let you go—not when you’re such valuable leverage with ties to both New York mob families.”

“I hadn’t even heard of Clide until this week. He can’t be that big.”

“He’s growing fast, girl.”

Zeke slashed his blade across the earless man’s face. “Shut the fuck up. You’re not going to call her girl. By existing, she outranks you and your miserable boss.”

He spit in Zeke’s face.

He had the audacity to spit in the face of the man who had cut off his ear.

I expected an outward show of aggression or anger, but Zeke only took one step forward as he wiped the saliva from his face. He grinned wickedly as he knelt in front of the man. The man began thrashing, trying to break free of his bonds. Zeke’s unhinged expression unnerved me also, and it wasn’t even directed at me.

“You seem to know a lot about me, tough guy.” Zeke dragged the knife down his face lightly, almost like a lover’s caress. “You should know that fucking with me is a mistake. You know who I am and where I came from. But I don’t even know your fucking name. You’re useless. Meaningless. Fucking garbage. And you’re going to die like it.”

I didn’t flinch as he slid his knife across the man’s throat, speaking searing words as the knife slowly moved. “This is for drawing blood on my fucking girl.”

My fucking girl.

Mine.

I didn’t even pay attention to the gurgling man as he died, with those words turning over in my mind. As I tried and failed to understand what they meant.