Chapter Fifty-Two Ella
Chapter Fifty-Two
Ella
How does this guy know my name?
The air in the car thickens, pressing against my chest. My throat tightens, my pulse thudding in my ears. I’m seconds away from throwing up my breakfast.
This guy isn’t a taxi driver. God knows what he did with the owner of this car.
“Stop the car,” I shout again, louder this time, banging against the window, hoping someone on the street hears and calls the police.
I’m done with this kidnapping crap.
“Listen, Ella,” the driver says gently as he pulls into the car park of a small Alpine hotel. One hand lifts in a calm gesture, as if to show he means no harm.
“I promise I’m not here to hurt you. Please, just calm down.”
My pulse spikes so hard it hurts. Every nerve in my body is screaming at me to move, to fight.
I’ve been fooled by soft voices before. Sofia smiled too, right before she led me to the men who threw me into a van. I’ve learned from my mistakes.
Grabbing the door handle again, I yank hard, praying that stopping the car might’ve released the automatic locks. Nothing. It doesn’t budge.
I’m about to slide to the middle of the seat, lift my leg and kick in the window, when he turns, and I really see his face for the first time.
He doesn’t look like the thugs I’ve seen around Tiero. His eyes are kind, and it throws me. His voice softens, steady and almost pleading.
“Please. You’re safe. Rhia sent me.”
What?
I search his eyes, trying to detect the lie.
“Rhia sent you?” I repeat, somewhat disbelieving.
For a split second, hope flares, but I crush it before it can take shape. Hope is dangerous. It gets you caught.
He nods. But how do I know it’s not a trick?
My body trembles, and I’m still hyperventilating.
Rhia sent him?
No way. That’s impossible.
How would Rhia know where I am? And how does she know this guy?
“Who are you?” I push out through my tight chest.
“My name is Garrett Hunter. I work for a private security company. I’m…”
The rest of his words blur.
Hunter.
Security.
My stomach lurches. Tiero must have hired him, sent him to drag me back.
Rhia sent him my ass.
There’s probably a huge reward for bringing me back. He must be a bounty hunter.
Black spots dance in my vision, my head spinning.
I ask again, “Rhia sent you? Is she here?”
When he nods, I’m certain this is a trap, and they’re using Rhia as bait.
She can’t be here. She’s under surveillance, and if she left Ireland, Tiero would know and follow her. Maybe that’s why I sensed him?
I study Garrett through the haze of adrenaline. I get no creepy vibes from him. If anything, he seems… calm. Sincere.
Then again, so did Sofia, until she wasn’t.
Still, there’s something earnest about Garrett. Either he’s the best actor alive, or he’s genuinely trying to help me.
“Where is Rhia?” I ask, my voice shaky.
“She’s waiting for you in there.” He tilts his head toward the hotel.
I don’t move. “I’m not going anywhere with you. You could tell me anything. How do you know Rhia?”
“I work with Lex,” he says. “Rhia got suspicious when she couldn’t talk to you. Lex started looking into Gualtiero De Marco. What he found… let’s just say it raised alarms.”
I blink back tears. I knew Rhia would sense something was off.
“We’ve been monitoring you since you arrived in Monza,” he continues, “and watched over you when you escaped yesterday.”
If they had been there, why didn’t they help me? Why wait and just ‘monitor’ me? It’s suspicious, isn’t it?
“From what we can tell, De Marco worked out you’re in Switzerland but not where, but it’s only a matter of time.”
My stomach twists. My earlier Tiero warning flare comes to mind. No, he knows I’m in Lucerne. He’s somewhere here, but I’ll be damned if I tell this guy.
What if Tiero is in this very hotel, waiting for me?
No. If he were here, I’d sense it.
Besides, he’d be outside already, on the steps, coming for me the second the car pulled in.
“We need to get you out of Switzerland, out of Europe. Gualtiero De Marco’s reach is extensive. Rhia and Lex will explain the plan, but we have to move now.”
Rhia and Lex are really here? And there’s a plan?
I still don’t move. This all sounds too good to be true.
“If I go into this hotel with you, there will be no witnesses if I disappear. How do I know I can trust you?”
“You don’t,” Garrett says without fuss. “Go with your gut.”
I laugh humorlessly.
If I had listened to my gut in the first place, I wouldn’t be in this dilemma.
I would have walked… no, run in the opposite direction from Tiero.
And now, he and his enemies are hot on my heels, hellbent on finding me.
As this guy said, it’s only a matter of time before they do. I can’t do this alone.
I let out a long breath, trying to think rationally.
If he were working for Gualtiero, he would have just restrained me and taken me back. The same goes for Molinaro. Those guys just take. They wouldn’t go to these lengths to convince me, would they?
My mind races through every possibility. Trap. Rescue. Coincidence.
None of it makes sense, but neither did getting entangled in the Mafia in the first place. Maybe this is the universe throwing me a lifeline?
My pulse pounds in my throat as my eyes connect with Garrett’s, and I take a leap of faith.
With a deep breath in, I say, “Okay. Lead the way.”
He unlocks the doors, and we both get out. Warm September air brushes my face.
My heart hammers as we cross the gravel toward the back entrance of the small, timber-framed hotel. Geraniums spill over the balconies, red against dark wood, too cheerful for what this might be.
Inside, the corridors smell of pine and coffee. We climb two flights of stairs. My fingers tap against my chest, trying to calm the frantic rhythm beneath.
Following Garrett might have been a terrible mistake.
We stop at the end of the corridor, and Garrett knocks in a deliberate, short staccato pattern. A reply comes from inside, and he taps again in a soft rhythm.
Then silence. It stretches until my lungs burn. Then, finally, I hear movement in the room.
My skin prickles. Every sound, every heartbeat seems magnified.
The door opens.
My vision tunnels. I grab the frame to steady myself, breath hitching.
No way!