Chapter 18 Sophia
SOPHIA
“There she is. There’s my sunshine.”
I hear him, but it’s like I’m underwater. The sound is distorted. I’m rocking slightly from side to side, and the sensation would be pleasant if it weren’t for the occasional bump that makes me bounce. I’m sitting up, my head resting against something firm behind it.
“I’m sorry I had to do that. I didn’t want it to be this way, really. I wanted to take you last night,” the voice continues. I recognize it, and I’m not even surprised, but part of me still doesn’t want to accept this.
It can’t be happening.
He wouldn’t go this far.
But I don’t really know him anymore, do I? We’re both different people. The Enzo I knew, the boy who won my heart and left me yearning for him over long, lonely years, would never set off an explosion in front of my home. He would never abduct me like this.
“It’s a good thing you’re so light, or I would’ve had trouble carrying you over my shoulder up and down the ladders,” he jokes. There’s glee in his voice. He’s so proud of himself.
I have no idea what he’s going to do next, and the thought makes me shiver before I force my eyes open, because let’s face it, keeping them closed isn’t going to help me. Avoiding reality is useless.
“Tell me something,” I whisper while the world comes into focus. We’re on a highway, with bright sunshine practically blinding me, making me blink hard as I try to figure out where we are. How far away has he taken me already? “Did you send that bouquet? The eyes?”
“I couldn’t exactly sign my name to the note, could I?
” he asks, chuckling. I have to force myself to look at him, and his disheveled appearance doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.
His cheeks are scruffy like he didn’t shave today.
His hair looks like he’s raked his hand through it enough times that it sticks up at odd angles, a darker shade of blond thanks to the sweat he’s shed.
“Didn’t you know how it would scare me to get something like that?” I’m not trying to set him off, but I have to ask.
“That’s exactly what I thought wouldn’t happen.” He glances toward me before turning his attention back to the road. We’re going far enough beyond the speed limit to leave the cars around us in the dust. Maybe a cop will stop us? I can’t believe I’m actually hoping for a traffic stop.
“I don’t understand,” I admit, and that goes for pretty much every aspect of this situation.
“Alessandro is the last person who would want to hurt you. Well, besides me,” he adds. “I figured if you thought it came from him, you would know you weren’t in any danger.”
I guess his twisted logic makes sense. “That was a pretty big gamble,” I muse. Everything is in one piece, right? Nothing feels bruised or broken. He hasn’t harmed me except to knock me out, and even that didn’t hurt.
“Yeah, and it cost me today. Well, not me directly, but the courier I was using as a drop-off.” He sighs, then shrugs. “The bomb went off too soon. These things happen.”
Don’t. You’re smarter than this. Thank God that thought comes along when it does, making me bite my tongue before I can ask what the hell happened to him. What robbed him of his humanity? How can he be so like this?
“You think the guy died?” I ask as casually as possible.
“He hasn’t answered my calls. I’m guessing he was injured at least.” With a soft growl, he mutters, “He had better keep his mouth shut if he did live.”
Maybe he was always like this, and I didn’t see it. Too blinded by young love, remembering him as a sweet, eager-to-please kid. For all I know, he showed me what he thought I wanted to see so I would love him. And it worked, didn’t it?
Okay, calm down. My heart is beating too fast, my hands are shaking, and I’m having a hard time catching my breath. Having a panic attack won’t help.
Which means I can’t think about Dante. He must know I’m gone by now.
What is he going through? What is he doing?
Who is he threatening? No. I can’t think about that now, either.
I need to focus on Enzo and reach him in some way.
I can only guess he thinks this is the start of our life together, like we’re running away from everybody trying to keep us apart.
I can’t shatter that all of a sudden and risk him cracking even worse than he already has.
“Where are we going?” I ask, sitting up straighter. I’m still a little woozy, but nothing I can’t handle after a few slow, deliberate breaths that help clear my head.
“That’s for me to know. You’ll find out,” he promises.
“I’ve waited so long for this. Like I said, I came so damn close last night when I saw you getting out of the car outside the hotel.
For a second, I saw myself rushing that prick Dante and grabbing you away from him, but there was added security,” he grumbles.
Yeah, because of you, genius.
Nope. Not going to give in to that impulse, as tempting as it is. “What will you do if they come looking for me? I don’t want you to get hurt.” I have to make sure he believes I’m only worried about him. Granted, I am worried, but not for the reasons he would want to believe.
“They won’t come looking, trust me.”
“You sound very sure of yourself.” I even manage to make it sound like I’m joking while my blood runs cold, and we keep moving farther west. We are now in North Jersey, according to the signs overhead as we approach an exit ramp.
“They’ll be so busy putting out the fires I’m setting, they won’t know what the hell to do with themselves.
” He sounds so proud of himself too. “Your family wasn’t the only one who had a beef with the Santoros.
If anything, the Vitali and Santoro clans uniting consolidated a little too much power for everybody else to feel comfortable with it.
I learned a thing or two when I was away. ”
“So you’re starting trouble with the other families and expecting it to blow back on Dante,” I murmur.
“He’s about to get a very rude awakening about what happens to people who take what’s mine,” he says, before closing his hand over my knee and rubbing in a very familiar, very unwelcome way.
It doesn’t help that I’m only wearing leggings, so there’s a fragile layer of fabric between his hand and my skin.
Every part of me wants to pull away, but instead, I grind my teeth and swallow hard against the disgusted groan that wants to bubble out of my throat.
“He could go to war over this and declare it against you.” That’s right. Make sure he thinks you’re scared for him. “I’m worried.”
“You don’t have to worry about me.” He chuckles, squeezing my knee before taking his hand away. Thank God. I don’t know how much more of that I could have taken. “I know what I’m doing. I made friends with the other families. I have their protection.”
Is that true? I’m afraid to ask. I don’t want to piss him off by doubting him, especially when he almost punches the horn at another driver who speeds past us.
“Enzo,” I whisper, gripping the door handle tight when the car speeds up like he’s trying to catch up to the other car. “Don’t. It’s not worth it.”
“No, it’s the principle,” he grunts, weaving in and out of the center lane to pass another driver, still focused on the red convertible up ahead. “Did you see how he damn near sideswiped me on the way past?”
No, I didn’t see that because it didn’t really happen. All I can do is remember what Dante told me this morning about the girl who died after the car flipped.
Oh my God, what if that happens to me? What if he blames himself somehow? And he would come too. I know it. I feel it. The thought cracks my heart wide open and sends everything that’s been brewing inside spilling out.
I am going to get through this, if only to keep him from punishing himself for another ten years for not being able to keep Enzo from taking me.
“It’s not worth it,” I murmur. This time I’m the one reaching out, stroking his thigh, fighting my discomfort. “We’re going too fast. It’s scaring me.”
He keeps me waiting for a few painful heartbeats before easing back on the gas. “That’s the last thing I want to do. You’ve been through enough.” Dropping his hand onto mine, he laces our fingers together. “You always did know how to center me. I’ve missed that. I’ve missed you.”
Please, God, let me do this right. Let me get back to Dante.
“I missed you too.” That sounds sincere because it’s not a lie. “I waited so long for you.”
“You don’t have to wait anymore. I’m here, Sunshine,” he almost croons, lifting our joined hands so he can press a kiss against my palm. “And I’m all yours.”
Lucky me.
The sudden, jarring ringtone pumping through his stereo makes me jump.
His eyes light up when a number appears on the dashboard display. “Perfect timing,” he announces with a laugh before touching a finger to the screen to accept the call. “Hello?”
The voice is a little distorted, thanks to the stereo, but I would know it anywhere, and the sound brings tears to my eyes. “Guess who’s back on US soil?” my brother asks with a playful laugh that brings back a thousand memories. Alessandro. I need you.
“You are? What brought you back? I thought you were staying out there,” Enzo replies. Meanwhile, we’re still heading west, moving farther and farther away from home. I hope Isabella isn’t too upset. I hope Emilia and Guilia are comforting her if she is.
When I open my mouth to announce my presence, Enzo touches a finger to his lips and shakes his head. “Listen. We can catch up on all of this. Where are you? You didn’t fly into JFK, did you?”
“And what if I did?” Alessandro asks, chuckling.
“I’m in the area, laying low. I just got in this morning, and by all rights, I should be wiped out, but I’m strangely awake and thought I’d give you a call to see if you’d like to meet up somewhere off the beaten path for a cup of coffee.
I still don’t want to show my face around familiar areas. ”
“It just so happens I’m in the same boat at the moment. But it’s worth it.”
This time, I have to look out the passenger side window when he squeezes my knee. I’m going to be sick.
“I need to hear all about it.” Alessandro chuckles. “Is there any chance it has to do with that last message you sent me?”
“It might. It just might,” Enzo jokes, grinning broadly, sounding like a man on top of the world. It’s all I can do to keep from screaming. “I’ll meet up with you. I need a pitstop, anyway. What about that diner we used to hit up in Hoboken?”
“Sounds good. I can be there in ninety minutes,” my brother agrees, while I wonder about the message Enzo sent.
Did it have to do with me?
Does he know what Enzo was planning?
Will he help me, or will he look at this as another attack in his personal war against the Santoro family?
Once the call is over, Enzo moves into the far right lane to take the next exit.
“It’s almost poetic in a way,” he murmurs while I fight to hold my screams inside as he strokes my leg, inching higher all the time.
“The three of us, getting together like we would in the old days. I can’t think of a better way to start the rest of our lives together, Sunshine. ”
All I can do is force a smile while praying, as if for the first time in a long time, my brother will do the right thing.
Or else that bomb won’t be the only thing in Dante’s world to explode.