31. June
JUNE
Iscream and try to run, but only make it two steps before Nunzio slams me to the floor.
I gasp in shock and pain. His knee smashes against my spine as he roughly wrenches my hands behind my back. “Please,” I wheeze, confused and afraid. “Why?”
He doesn’t respond. Instead, he tightens zip-ties around my wrists, binding them together. I groan as the plastic digs into my skin. He pulls me to my feet and throws me against the wall, my head knocking back. Light flashes at the edge of my vision.
“Can’t trust you not to scream,” he mutters and shoves a cloth in my mouth. I grunt and try to spit it out, but he ties another cloth around my face, keeping the gag in tightly. “Breathe through your nose. Hey, look at me. Breathe through your fucking nose.”
I try to tell him to fuck off, but can’t.
Hattie. Oh my god, Hattie. My daughter. Does he have my daughter? Did he hurt her? And Marnie, and Priya?—
“I don’t want any of this fucking mess,” Nunzio snarls as he drags me down the hall toward the back stairs. It leads down into the maze of staff hallways.
And the kitchen.
Byron… maybe if I make enough noise…
“You can blame fucking Rafe. That’s how it always is.
They pay enough to keep me coming back but never enough to cover all my hospital bills.
Ignazio though, he’s got deep pockets. An old bastard like that, he’s been squirreling shit away.
So I take my checks, pay Pops’s medical bills, and do what has to be done.
And you know what? I don’t fucking feel bad.
” He pauses at the bottom of the steps and shoves me against a wall. I groan, pleading with my eyes.
Please, Hattie. Please, not my daughter. Please don’t hurt her.
His lips curl in disgust.
“I know what you’re thinking. But Rafe’s not coming anytime soon. He’s in Philly.”
Nunzio drags me onward.
I stumble alongside him, trying to think. The kitchens are coming up. If I act at the right time and slam into him hard enough, maybe I can make some separation and run to Byron, or maybe I can make enough noise for Byron to realize something’s wrong?—
Nunzio’s grip on my arm is iron. His fingers dig in tightly as we reach the kitchen doors.
Now. It has to be now. It has to be?—
He pulls me through and I’m about to ram him with my shoulder when I freeze.
Byron’s standing near the back door. When he looks back, there’s no surprise in his expression.
No.
Please God, no.
“Any problems?” Byron asks.
“None at all.” Nunzio shoves me against a prep station. “Don’t fucking move or I swear I’ll cut your throat. Byron, keep an eye on her. Where’s the delivery van?”
“Waiting outside.”
“Good. Stay here.”
Nunzio strides away.
I watch him go before turning to Byron. The cook drifts closer. He has a big, sharp chef knife clutched in his right fist. He’s pale and sweating, clearly terrified. I try to speak but the gag is tight and I can’t do much more than drool and mumble.
He made his choice. That’s what Nunzio said the other day, isn’t it?
Byron would have to choose, and now he did.
I should’ve gone to Rafe. I’m so, so stupid. I wanted to protect Byron. I didn’t want him to get in trouble. Whatever Nunzio was plotting, I figured it wasn’t that big of a deal.
But of course I should’ve known.
This isn’t my world. I’m too trusting and naive. I thought Rafe would’ve vetted Nunzio… that there was no way his own head of security could turn on him…
I was wrong.
Byron shakes his head sadly as he approaches.
“I’m so sorry, June,” he says, glancing over his shoulder. “When he came to me, I couldn’t say no. But I did my best to get Hattie away. I told Priya to take her into Marnie’s room and to lock the door no matter what she heard.”
My eyes go wide and my heart skitters in my chest.
He did that?
“Hold out your hands. Hurry up, before Nunzio comes back.”
Confusion swirls. Isn’t Byron working with him? But when I offer my wrists, he jams the knife between them and slices, freeing me from the ties. He releases the gag and I spit out the cloth, coughing and gasping for air.
“Hattie,” I say desperately.
“He doesn’t care about her. I think he’s afraid of what Rafe would do if he touched the girl.
But I wasn’t sure…” He trails off, looking at the loading doors.
“You have to run. The guards are out for a break for another twenty minutes. Run into the woods and hide. No matter what you hear, don’t come out. ”
“Byron, what are you doing?”
“The right thing.” He smiles sadly. “Now go. I’ll stall him.”
“He’ll kill you.”
“I don’t think so. Please, June, just run.”
I take a few steps back.
But Nunzio pushes into the kitchen.
He freezes. His jaw twitches like someone punched him in the face. Byron turns toward him, hands raised, the knife clutched in one fist.
“What the fuck are you doing, Byron?”
“We both know this is wrong. Please, it isn’t too late to stop.”
Nunzio yanks a gun from the holster to his hip. “You stupid fucking prick. You weak, pathetic—“ He levels the weapon. “If that bitch moves, I’m shooting her. Ignazio doesn’t need her alive.”
“No!” Byron hurls his knife. It flips at Nunzio, spinning through the air.
Nunzio jerks sideways. The gun moves too. He pulls the trigger and the pistol bucks.
Byron makes an odd sound. It’s not a scream. More like a surprised grunt. My hands come to my face as blood blooms across Byron’s chest.
“Oh, shit,” he says, clutching at himself. The blood swells through his fingers. “Oh, that’s bad. That’s really bad.”
“Fuck, Byron!” Nunzio runs forward but stops. “What the fuck did you do?”
“You shot me.”
“You threw a knife at me! I didn’t mean—“ He waves the gun in the air. “SHIT! Byron!”
I take another step, inching to the door. Maybe he won’t see me. If he doesn’t realize I’m here, I might be able to get away.
Byron moans as he topples to the floor. I remember them embracing, their mouths pressed together.
Nunzio’s face is twisted in rage and horror.
And his eyes lock on mine.
“You’re fucking dead, bitch.”
I turn and run.
Bullets smash into the wall behind me.
I’ve never moved so fast in my life. I’m gasping for air, arms pumping, legs working.
My brain’s going, run run run, but my heart’s saying, Hattie Hattie Hattie, and in the end I can’t bring myself to follow Byron’s orders.
I probably could lose Nunzio in the forest. I could hide under Leanna’s rosebush for hours.
But that’d leave my daughter alone, and I can’t risk it.
Nunzio might not want her now, but he could change his mind.
I careen down the hall and back up the steps. He’s running behind me, roaring like a wounded animal. I slam my shoulder into the wall at the top of the stairs and keep going, sprinting, wild and out of control. I’m gasping, lungs burning, muscles straining?—
“You killed him, you fucking cunt! You bitch! I’m going to fucking cut your throat, you bitch!” It sounds like he’s crying as he screams at me.
But I reach Marnie’s room first.
I pound on the door. “It’s me, it’s me, please, Priya, I know you’re in there, let me in let me in let me in?—“
The lock clicks. “Byron told me to stay hidden.”
I ram the door open with my shoulder then slam it shut behind me. I lock it in time, throwing the bolt at the top, as Nunzio bashes into it a second later. The frame flexes but it holds.
“June, I know you’re in there,” he snarls from the other side. “You can come out now and make this easy. Or I can break my way inside and make this hard. Your choice.”
I step back, vomit rising into my throat.
Behind me, Hattie’s sitting with Marnie on the bed. Both look pale and scared. Priya’s shaking, hands wringing in front of her.
I brought Nunzio here. If I had only run?—
“Mommy!” Hattie sprints over and throws herself into my arms, and I’m sure I made the right call. I hug her tight and tell her it’ll be okay, even though I know this whole episode is going to be another year of therapy to unpack, assuming we make it through.
“Is there another way out?” I ask Priya and glance over to Marnie. “Do you have your phone?”
“It’s not working,” Marnie says. “What the fuck, June? Did that asshole go nuts?”
“There are windows, but—“ Priya doesn’t sound confident.
“Time’s up!” Nunzio shouts.
Then he slams into the door.
It shudders and shakes.
I back away with Hattie in my arms. She’s trembling, she’s so scared. I tell her it’ll be fine. Everything will be okay.
But I don’t know. I don’t know.
Windows. Drops. Escapes. There’s no good plan.
We’re trapped.
And as Nunzio keeps working on the door, I realize we’re out of time.