Chapter 29
ENZO
I’m still shaking when we get back to the apartment. A torrent of unease streaming through my blood every time I replay that scene again in my mind.
I can’t lose Molly.
But I almost did.
“Enzo.” Her fingers brush my hand and she looks up at me. “You’re shaking.”
“I was scared for you.”
I can't get the sound of the taxi horn out of my head. Or the flash of the camera. Molly's heel leaving the curb, and me grabbing her. A shiver darts through me again.
How could I let that happen when I've only just found her?
I realize in that moment I need to be with her for as long as it takes. Father can say what he wants. I don't care. I know what I need to do: I need to take her away from all this. Take her to a place of safety.
“But you caught me.” She seems to handle it better than me. “Why are you so worried?”
I stare at her, dumbfounded. “Why are you not?”
She's remarkably resilient given what happened. She clasps my hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. If it’s supposed to reassure me, it doesn’t.
Because for all the sunshine Molly spreads wherever she goes, this moment, what happened to her, when it could have gone so terribly wrong, is dark and dangerous.
“You almost died,” I choke out, struggling to understand why she’s so calm.
“I’m fine.” She moves away, as if I’m the one who’s overreacting, but she’s pale, and her hands aren’t steady. She’s insisting she’s fine, but I can see that she’s not.
“You saved me, Enzo. I’m fine. We’re fine.
But it was my fault. I’m sorry. I overdid it, pretending we were together.
The waitress must have noticed it then. Did you see how she changed?
She was happy and smiling at first, then I did that silly pretend thing, and when she returned she didn’t look too happy.
I’m sure she recognized us. She might have tipped the media. ”
That silly pretend thing.
I hear her words, but the only thing that imprints in my mind are those four words.
And she’s blaming herself.
I pull my cell phone out, thoughts churning in my head. A plan of action. What we do next. Molly cannot stay in New York. It’s too dangerous.
She walks back to me, her eyes filling with worry. It’s the sweetest thing. She’s the one who almost got hit by a taxi, and yet she’s concerned about me.
“You can’t stay here,” I say. “Things have changed. I said we’d go back to our regular lives tomorrow, because everything seemed to have quietened down, but that’s no longer the case.”
She tilts her head.
“We have to go into hiding again, lay low for a while.” I’m running through the possibilities in my mind. Where to go. How I can keep her safe.
“I have to go back to school next week,” she reminds me.
“Then we’ll go back to Chicago.”
“We?” I hear the dread in her voice.
“I’m going with you.” I have to keep an eye on her, make sure nothing bad happens to her, like it almost did today.
“But, Enzo—” She starts to protest. “It’s not necessary.” She gives a hollow laugh. “I’ll go back to school. Business as usual. The media frenzy won’t follow me there.”
She has no idea how these people operate. They’ll go wherever they can find a story, and right now the Knights are a hot topic.
Molly can’t convince me that this will blow over, or that she’ll be fine, because I know things never work out as planned. I call Rio. He picks up on the first ring.
“You okay?” he asks.
My insides sink. “You know?” The news has spread lightning fast.
“I’m here with Matteo. He got an alert. Someone posted footage of what happened outside the restaurant. There are already photos of you and Molly everywhere.”
I clench down on my teeth.
Of course there are.
“I told you to hide. Hide. In the penthouse. What were you thinking?” Rio cries.
He’s mad. I can just see his face, but I don’t blame him. “Long story.”
“You need to–”
“I need a favor. “I cut him off; not something I ever do, but knowing Rio, he’s probably about to tell me what to do, and I already know what I’m going to do.
“We can’t stay here. I need the jet. Can you organize it for me?”
“The jet?” Rio asks. “Where are you going? Bermuda?”
“Chicago.”
“Chicago?”
I’m not going to explain a thing. “Text me when the jet is ready. I want us out of here by tonight.”
I hang up.
“You’re definitely coming to Chicago?” Molly’s face fills with dread. I start to second guess myself. What exactly am I doing here?
Keeping her safe.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m not sending you back there alone.”
She doesn’t say a word. Then, “We’re taking a … a jet?”
“I don’t like using it, but I have a jet at my disposal. There will be no cameras, no security lines. No possibility of us being recognized. We’re going tonight.”
“And staying where?”
“I’ll find a discreet hotel, something out of the way.”
“But I don’t want to stay in another hotel, Enzo. If it’s okay with you, I’d rather go home.”
She wants to get back to the life she loves. It takes me a moment to shake the thought away.
She doesn’t feel anything for me.
From a security point of view, Molly returning to her apartment isn’t a good idea, and I tell her that.
“Why not?”
“I want to keep you safe, Molly. That’s paramount.”
“Then why can’t I go home? These people will think I’m still in New York. Let them continue looking for us here. My place or a hotel in Chicago, what’s the difference? It’s just an address. If they track us down eventually. I’d rather be at home.”
I still don’t like the idea. “I’ll need my security detail to check it out first.”
She stares at me for the longest time and I wonder what has upset her.
“Our lives are so very different,” she says, finally.
“If my security detail says it’s safe, we can stay at your apartment.”
“We?”