34. Ravenna #2
We get into the car, then wait. There’s nothing else we can do. Maybe this is a stupid idea. We can hardly rescue Sophia if we don’t know where Roman’s taking her, can we? There’s no guarantee that they’re headed to his house. Wherever that may be.
Arianna sends Sophia one text after another.
I wish I knew someone who had the technology to ping Sophia’s phone. Or that in all these years we had thought to share our location with each other. Hell, I’d even take jewelry with a tracking device in it at this point. Anything that would let us know where Roman De Luca is taking my cousin.
I could call Brendan, he’s set us up with all sorts of fancy new security systems, but I don’t want to get him involved. How would I explain what happened to Wolfe?
Arianna’s phone vibrates in her hands. She answers it. “Sophia, are you okay?”
“ M ake a left up here. Not from this lane, from the other lane!” Arianna screams as I swerve through traffic.
“Sorry. I’m not used to driving. Now where?” I glance at my cousin. She’s focused on her phone and the little pin icon that points us to Sophia’s location in Connecticut.
As she’s navigating for us, my phone keeps chiming with calls and texts from Wolfe.
I don’t dare answer a single one of those until this is all over.
I’m probably giving the man a heart attack, but if he wasn’t such a grumpy bastard I might have placed more trust in him.
Then he could be the one driving late at night in questionable weather.
As we near the state border, the weather gets worse. Snow flurries obscure the highway. The temperature plummets. If this keeps up, we might not be able to reach Sophia tonight.
Which is unacceptable. She could be dead by morning.
Maybe that’s an overreaction since Mr. De Luca did said he’d marry her, stealing her away from Nik and the Russians. But I’ve learned never to take a man for his word. They all lie. I don’t trust Roman De Luca any further than I can throw him.
Plus he murdered his last wife. I’m not letting that happen to my cousin.
“Oh no!” Arianna gasps, shaking her phone.
“What?” My gaze darts to her. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s gone. It was just there. Now it’s gone.”
“What’s gone?”
“The pin on the map! Her location. She was moving one minute and the next… poof , gone!”
“Okay. Just calm down. We’re in the middle of a storm, so I’m not surprised. We have her last known location. Get us there and we’ll figure out what happened.” My grip tightens on the steering wheel. The windshield wipers struggle to keep up with the worsening blizzard. God, what is this weather?
Once we get off the highway, the main road leads us to an area of large estates. Sprawling mansions with gated entries, and acres of land are covered in fresh, white swirling snow.
“This must be it.” Arianna glances up at a formidable gate as I slow the car. “Sophia’s pin was right beside this place when it disappeared.”
Turning into the driveway, I stop at the entrance and roll down my window. Frigid air and freezing rain mixed with snow blast in the vehicle. Arianna gasps at the sudden cold.
Ignoring the weather, I press the intercom. No one answers.
I press it again.
“What if they won’t let us in?” Arianna asks, her teeth clattering. “I don’t know about you, but I can’t climb those walls in this dress, especially in this weather.”
“If they don’t let us in, we’ll make a new plan. Hold on.” I press the button for a third time, annoyed. If they don’t answer soon, we’re going to freeze to death out here.
Static crackles, then an irritated male voice says, “Mr. De Luca doesn’t see visitors at this hour. Come back in the morning.”
The crackling cuts out.
I press the button again, and again. My stomach drops with disappointment. Frustrated, I sigh.
“They’re not going to let us in,” I state the obvious.
“So what’s plan B? Are we scaling the walls?” She casts me a doubtful look. “Or can we slip between those bars on the gate?”
The wind has picked up again, obscuring the sight of everything further than five feet away. I roll up the window and crank the heat on high, then evaluate the situation.
We’re in evening dresses and high heels. Neither one of us thought to bring a coat on our hasty departure. If we get out of the car, we’ll more than likely die in this blizzard. Who knows how long the walk is from this gate to the house, it could be half a mile or more, too far to risk.
Damn .
“Is there a hotel nearby?” I ask.
Arianna taps on her phone. “Crap.” She types some more. “I can’t get any search results. My phone says I have service, but it’s not working.”
I try my own phone, but nothing will load. Even when I attempt to send a text to Wolfe it fails to go through. We’re on our own.
Defeat settles heavily across my shoulders. “We’re going to have to stay here for the night.”
Arianna’s gaze snaps to mine. “In the car ?”
I nod. “If we stay inside where it’s warm, we should make it through until morning. There should be emergency supplies under our seats.”
I reach beneath mine, pulling out a small bottle of water, a flare, and a thermal blanket. Arianna discovers the same under her seat. Thanks goodness Cian’s some kind of boy scout.
“Better than nothing. Maybe we won’t freeze to death,” she mutters.
“I’m so sorry about all of this.”
She glances over at me, a rueful smile on her face. “What an amazing rescue attempt. I wouldn’t hire us, that’s for sure.”
“It’s not over yet. This is just a setback. In the morning, hopefully the storm will pass, then we'll get into that house and save Sophia.”