Chapter 4
Massimo
I do my best to let the pain of the hot shower water burn the fresh claw marks down my chest and back because they are the reminder I need. How dare I let myself lose control. Hadley isn’t a conquest. She is the means to me being even more powerful.
Doesn’t that still matter? I, condescendingly, ask myself, due to my dick not comprehending the mission.
An uncomfortable ping in my gut, stinging way worse than the scalding hot water against marked skin, speaks the truth: the waitress is getting to me.
Fuck!
At full force, I slam a palm against the shower wall housing the spout. Unforgiving imported large grey tiles—this house may not be my mansion, but I still have standards—snicker at my ego, “That all you got, softy?”
Unlike Hadley, I’m far past my first kill—hardly a softy , yet I keep finding myself breaking rules due to her very existence. Yes, I tell myself, over and over, that I go to Clyde’s only to gather intel, but there are other ways to gain knowledge. If I truly expected her to reveal who has betrayed me, why would I ever involve my son by taking him there—
My mouth gapes. Why have I taken him there? That child is the only good I am in this world. He is a treasure. One, until recently, I have guarded with the utmost care.
Suddenly, an image of Hadley smiling enters my mind. I grab my chest as I realize the sincerity of it reminds me of my son’s. My son, even as young as he is, has already shown he is nothing like me. Thank God . He always wants to do charitable things, such as be kind to those who are not as monetarily fortunate as he is. One time, while watching him on a playground, I sat on a bench in disbelief as I witnessed him share his snacks with other children who stared at the food. He’s so caring, just like Hadley with Charlie and that damn hitchhiker. Imagine that: she was being kind-hearted to a man who had every intention of abducting her.
Anger spikes through my thawing heart as I think about how irresponsible such ridiculous notions are. She’s a fool, just like my son, who has to learn better. I can’t take such chances with my boy, allowing him the same fate in the midst of his generosity.
Grabbing a washcloth and drowning it in liquid soap, I growl and scrub my skin clean of the woman who dares to bring danger near my son by summoning any humanity in me.
I’m going to throttle her for information, not while having sex with her this time.
Without command—or permission—my dick hardens at the mere thought of the best—
“Nope,” I chastise myself. “We are finished with that woman. Time to get back to the much overdue revenge.”
But she’s most likely innocent and clueless , my mind argues.
I rinse my body while replying—as if I have some sort of multiple personality disorder. “None of that has ever bothered me in the past.”
Still back on track, I get out of the shower, rush a towel around my waist, then swing open the door only to have my nostrils attacked by the best scent in the world. For being so sweet, she sure smells like a sensual and tantalizing vixen.
I close my eyes to recompose. “Hadley, it’s time to talk.”
Not waiting for a response, because nothing she has to say or ask is going to derail me again, I walk to a dresser and snag a pair of silk boxers. “You have a past that may be a bit shocking to you—” I pause to swallow down unneeded pity for her, “—not that any of that matters to me.” Moving to a closet, I gather a pair of black slacks and a white button-down. I need simple at the moment. “Your past seems to withhold answers I need.” I slip into the pants, already feeling more grounded in my decision. “So, your issues are your own.” Confident in my lying to myself, each foot glides into leather shoes while my arms slide into the shirt.
I turn toward my bed while looking down and buttoning my shirt, expecting the frustrating woman to be where I left her. “Whether or not an enemy of mine wishes to kidnap you is not my concern.” Beginning to glance up, I notice her clothes aren’t where I dropped them on the floor.
Nostrils flaring, I look to the bed to see the woman I placed there is gone.
My voice lowering, I warn, “You better be in the kitchen getting water,” I move toward the open bedroom door like an animal searching for his prey, “hydrating, preparing for me to fuck you again.”
Really? But I thought you said—
“Shut up,” I whisper to my celebrating dick.
After checking the kitchen and other bathrooms for my missing vixen, I rush out to my garage to discover Hadley wasn’t the only thing missing.
Cursing, “Sweet and innocent, my ass,” I stomp back to the bedroom to retrieve my cell phone.
Tapping on the screen, I charge back toward the garage for a set of keys—that haven’t been stolen.
I don’t give Big John a chance to finish answering the call before interrupting him. “No questions, but locate my Escalade.”
His voice tightens with immediate anger, “Did that fucker take it from you?”
He’s speaking of the man sent to kidnap Hadley; however, insulting my abilities to protect myself—and a fucking car, I sneer, “Did I not just say ‘no questions’?”
More to himself, he mumbles, “Doesn’t mean I don’t have any.”
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I caution, “Locate. The. SUV, you overgrown Texan.”
He tries to muffle a chuckle before saying, “I think I now know who has your wheels.”
I open my mouth to explain that he’s wrong. Not every time I speak about Hadley do I get irritable. Since that was the hundredth lie of the day, I, instead, listen to him click away on his laptop before he adds, “Boss, I know you said no questions, but…”
“Make it quick.”
“If you-know-who sent someone for her and failed—” he waits for me to catch on.
I do. And, again, realize how much this damn woman distracts me.
My stomach plummets with fear of what’s to come. “Another is already on the way.”
Hadley
Heart thundering for mounting reasons, I drive and drive as fast as I can without wrecking. There’s a slim chance of a speeding ticket due to this town, population ninety-four, having every deputy dealing with the man I killed.
“Oh, God help me.” My stomach threatens to purge at the memory of what I’ve done.
The distraction of having sex with Massimo only lasted so long. Now, I’m back in a reality I don’t want, including a pissed Italian who is sure to hunt me down due to a recent robbery.
Again, I reach to the passenger seat out of habit, hoping to find my purse with my belongings.
No such luck, it’s still in my car. “Where I should be!” I scream. “Not in Massimo’s—” The irony that I’m now driving the same vehicle has me grumbling, “Stupid, stupid girl.”
Thinking about how I had felt so hopeful about my future this morning, my hands tighten even more on the black steering wheel I’m gripping for dear life. Impossibly, this day keeps getting worse, like a massive avalanche threatening to bury me.
I struggle to swallow when remembering the stranger at Clyde’s coming around the counter, his body language just like when—
“No, don’t think about him. You’ll be home soon.” I exhale a breath I don’t remember sucking as if my last. “I’m safe. I take care of me. I’m in control. I’m safe…” Normally, this montage calms me whenever that horrid memory assaults me, but after shooting someone—killing someone, it’s not working. I did exactly what I say in the montage yet now feel horrible about it. Someone is no longer walking this earth because of me, again .
I lied when Massimo asked if that was my first kill. I’ve faced evil before. Lots of it. However, one certain evil I faced forced a do-or-die situation.
I chose life.
I’m choosing it again.
Eyes flickering to the rearview mirror, dreading to see one of Massimo’s fancy cars catching up to me, I assume adrenaline has my hands shaking until I notice several specks of sleet start to hit the windshield.
“No, no, no…” I beg Mother Nature since we rarely ever have such weather, and slippery roads will only add to the sketchy night vision. “Please melt. Please melt.” The asphalt recently had sun hitting it before it set. Chances are high this freakish ice won’t stick.
I scan the steering wheel and dashboard for a windshield wiper knob, but the damn vehicle is so high-tech I feel like I’m attempting to fly a space shuttle. “Hello?” I call out, hoping a computer will answer. “Can you please turn on the windshield wipers?” I feel dumb having to resort to this, but here we are.
When nothing happens, I try, “How about some heat?”
In silence, the windshield only thickens with slushy ice, so I resort to insults. “Fine, be a bitch, then.”
Without success in feeling heat, I do eventually get the windshield wipers to do their job. Not only do they clear the glass, but the sound of the swoosh-swoosh somehow soothes me. Gives me the moments needed to gather some sanity. And questions that need answers.
Who was the man who came after me? How does Massimo know him? And why didn’t he stop the stranger from trying to hurt me? Why did he only come in after I shot off a gun?
Massimo claims the man was sent to kidnap me. But why? By whom?
I think about Massimo handing me a knife after I shot the stranger. Why would he do that? I had thought it was to protect me from getting arrested, but now I can’t help but wonder if he was actually… protecting himself.
My foot slips off the gas pedal.
My blood runs as cold as the ice dropping from the sky.
What if Massimo sent the man to kidnap me, not expecting me to fight back? He appeared to have left Clyde’s yet never did. It’s as if he had been waiting for me to be brought outside once the dining room had emptied.
The knife was to cover his tracks.
On its own accord, I feel my left hand reach up to cover my gaping mouth. He didn’t take me home. I was to be ‘safe’ at his place.
Just about to lecture myself for sleeping with the enemy, I place my foot back on the pedal, then slam it to the floor, craving more distance between me and Massimo. I don’t get very far before I start to notice lights in the distance, coming from the middle of the road, shining into the woods. “What the—”
After a beat, I finally realize what I’m seeing. My back pushes against the seat as my arms straighten in front of me, pushing against the steering wheel. “It’s a truck!” Blocking my way!
Immediately, both of my feet join forces with my arms and slam down on the brakes. Whoever is in the truck waiting for me isn’t Massimo. There’s no way he could’ve got ahead of me.
The sound of locked brakes and burning tires pelts my ears as I try to understand what is happening. Is it someone working for him? Like the stranger? Or am I getting this all wrong and it’s someone even more dangerous to me?
“Not sticking around to find out,” I promise myself as I start backing up the stopped SUV to do a one-eighty. My body bounces in the seat as I drive forward—right into and through a ditch due to being a blind bat without nature’s sonars.
The fancy SUV crawls out of the ditch like a champ, giving me relief as I push harder on the gas to race away from the truck. Praying it doesn’t follow me, I feel my heart betraying me as it wishes Massimo were here to help.
Terror and confusion finally win, and I have tears bursting from my eyes. “Stupid, stupid girl! He’s not going to help me! He’s going to hurt—” The terror only grows when I see another set of headlights speeding in my direction, head-on. The way they sit low to the ground, I know there’s a powerful red Corvette behind them.
With no desire for survival, only for Massimo, my heart begs me to race to him. Luckily, my brain takes over and searches for an escape.
I peer into the rearview mirror only to learn the truck is rushing to catch up. Trapped.
Gasping for air, I scan my surroundings for a miracle. An open field to my right seems like the only one I have, so I shift my hands to demand the SUV take another dip through the ditch. “Show me what you got, bitch.”
Tears drip into my mouth as a grin appears. This SUV is driving across the bumpy field as if she’s waited her whole life for such freedom. “So, you have balls. Thank you, ma’am.”
Back to glancing in the rearview mirror to spy on my fate, I witness Massimo jumping into the passenger seat of the truck before it begins to chase me, easily handling the terrain.
“See, heart? He’s not our hero. He’s the opposite.”