“Please don’t…I DIDN’T KNOW! I DIDN’T FUCKING KNOW!” I shoved up as screams filled the bedroom before Caleb pressed the button, ending the sound. Still, they rang in my head, terrified, tortured cries. My breaths turned shallow and my pulse raced.
“We need to go.” He glanced my way, those dark eyes etched with pain. “Now.”
Nick shoved up, kicking off the sheets. “T.”
“On it,” Tobias snarled, and rolled to the other side of the bed. In their absence, I grew cold.
“We need to get as much stuff from the apartment as we can, princess,” Nick urged as he yanked on his clothes and glanced my way. “Can you do that for me?”
I nodded, sliding my way to his side. He turned, grabbed my face in his hands, and kissed me, before breaking away and staring into my eyes. “I’m going to get us a ride, one they can’t trace, then we need to look at getting rid of our phones and anything else those bastards can trace us with. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
That thunder in my chest flared into an ache. No, please don’t leave me.
I wanted to stop him as he shoved on runners and headed for the door. “Stay with her. No one gets inside without you taking them out, got it?”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Caleb muttered as he left.
I could hear Tobias grumbling outside the bedroom, his growl sounding desperate and pissed. I could only guess he was talking to Lazarus.
“Tobias told the truth last night.” I jerked my gaze to Caleb as that ache in my chest radiated. “He would indeed kill the world…for you.” He turned then and headed for the door, muttering, “And that includes his brother.”
He left me standing naked in Nick’s bedroom, his words mingling with those tortured screams in my head. I moved, yanked on my clothes, and turned to the bathroom. Take everything. That’s what Nick had said. I yanked open the cabinet, searching for a bag and found one in the back, finding perfumes and female deodorants, as well as shampoo and conditioner.
They’d been Natalie’s…they had to be. I swallowed down a flare of jealousy and shoved it all into the bag. I was past caring about ex-fucking girlfriends. Right now, all that mattered was staying alive…and together. My stomach tightened as I emptied the bathroom of all I could, even taking towels and washcloths before dumping it all on the bed and turning my attention to his closet.
By the time I was done with Nick’s room, Tobias came looking for me. “Nick’s back, and we have a place to stay. We gotta move fast, you understand, princess?”
I nodded, glancing at the kitchen. “I need a few minutes.”
“You have ten, then we’re out of here,” he threw over his shoulder.
Rebel gave a whine, drawing my focus. “It’s okay.” I rushed forward, yanked open the freezer, and started pulling out the contents. “I’ll make sure you’re fed.”
My hands were burning with the cold when Nick shoved open the door and strode back in. “Ready?”
I gave a nod. “Bags are in the bedroom.”
“T,” Nick barked.
Tobias strode in, wearing jeans and a black t-shirt and tucking a gun behind his back. He looked dangerous in that moment, more than he’d ever looked before. Caleb’s words resounded in my head. He hadn’t spoken as though the idea of Tobias killing for me was a fantasy…more like a reality.
“Ryth?”
I jerked my head up, meeting Tobias’ dark brown eyes. “Yes?”
He lifted his hand and brushed a strand of hair from my cheek, his gaze fixed on the birthmark. “You ready?”
I swallowed hard. “Ready.”
“Car’s downstairs,” Nick announced. “We’re out of here. T, you got the address?”
“Got it.” Tobias dropped his hand, stepped around me, and grabbed four of the shopping bags, filled with as much food as they could hold, then strode toward the door.
We were out of there in a heartbeat. Nick grabbed Rebel and carried her to the elevator. We rode down in silence. I shivered even though I wore one of Nick’s sweaters, walking barefoot as we carefully made our way to the car. Tobias was first, his gun in his hand, scanning the area before he glanced over his shoulder and nodded.
The car was older, a blue Ford with the engine still idling. Caleb moved forward. “Stay behind me, Ryth,” he whispered, glancing around before he yanked open the back door and motioned me inside with a jerk of his head.
I hurried to climb inside, pushed aside two full shopping bags, and held out my arms for Rebel.
“Okay, princess?” Nick asked. I nodded. “There are clothes and shoes in those bags for you. We’ll get more when we arrive at the safehouse.”
Clothes…shoes? I gripped the puppy to my chest and glanced at the bags as Nick closed the door and slid behind the wheel. Caleb climbed in beside me and Tobias settled into the passenger seat. Then we were pulling away from the apartment building, leaving it all behind.
“Here.” Caleb reached for a bag, pulling out a pair of brand new runners.
“I’ve got them,” I snapped, eased Rebel into the gap between us, and grabbed them from his hand.
He flinched, my anger stinging, but I couldn’t help it. I wasn’t about to pretend what had happened in that place didn’t happen. The old Ryth who’d put up with shit like that was long gone. This one was just as savage as the men she loved. I leaned forward, glanced over Nick’s shoulder to see the ignition on the Ford a mess of twisted wires, before I focused on sliding the runners on and tying up the laces.
“Head north on Eastgate, then take Montview all the way up to Morningside.”
“You mean their warehouse? Fuck, T. I wanted safe. I didn’t want to be camped out in their fucking backyard.’
“You wanted a safehouse. Then this is a goddamn safehouse,” Tobias snarled and glanced over his shoulder. “Freddy’ll meet us there.”
Nick exhaled hard as he drove through the streets, taking the long way around as we avoided early morning commuters…and cops, seeing as how we were in a stolen car. By the time the sun beamed hot through the windshield, we were driving past warehouses enclosed with eight-foot fences topped with razor wire.
There were no people lingering in the streets here. It was…quiet, real damn quiet, and eerie as hell. A car sat at the corner of the street we turned into, the shadowed outline of someone behind the wheel. Tobias looked right at the guy, holding his stare as we turned in. I realized with chilling clarity that this was where my father had worked, where he’d lived mostly, because he was hardly ever at home and when he was…he argued with my mom.
More like she argued with him.
“Take the third on the left,” Tobias motioned. “Then it’s the fifth house on the right.”
Nick braked and turned hard, then glanced into the rear-view mirror, but he needn’t have bothered, one look around at the barred windows and massive dogs that patrolled the fences of these compounds told us no one came and went from these places without the Rossis knowing about it.
I’d had no idea…
Not how powerful they were, nor how dangerous.
Nick turned the car, then again, pulling into the driveway of a small, nondescript brick house. A black Explorer was parked at the curb, the paintwork gleaming. Nick left the engine running as he pulled up. The front door opened and Lazarus Rossi’s bodyguard stepped out.
Freddy…
That was his name.
Black sunglasses glinted as he turned his focus to me. He stood back, leaned against the brickwork, and crossed his arms. Tobias, Caleb, and Nick climbed out first, leaving our things in the car as they walked around the car and headed up the stairs to meet him.
Rebel gave a low whimper. I scratched her head and shoved the door open. Words were exchanged without the greeting of a handshake. Freddy just glared…at me, as the others stepped inside the house. Nick came out a second later, bending down to lean into me, his voice low. “Ready?”
“Sure,” I answered, grabbed the bag of clothes Nick had bought me, and followed.
The house was quiet and plain, but fully furnished. Nick carried Rebel inside and placed her down on one of the soft cushions on the sofa.
“Nice dog,” Freddy muttered as he followed us inside.
“Ryth, you’re in here with me,” Nick called.
A surge of excitement filled me as I followed him into one of the bedrooms. Tobias and Caleb had already dumped the bags from Nick’s apartment on the bed, then walked back into the living room. The moment I followed them out, I felt Freddy’s gaze fixed on me.
“Everything good?” the bodyguard asked, staring at me. But I knew the question wasn’t aimed at me.
“Yeah,” Tobias answered as he lifted a gun he hadn’t had before and placed it on the counter. “We’re good.”
A nod, and the bodyguard stepped closer. Only it was closer to me.
“Good, we want to make sure you’re all safe and sound,” he muttered, staring at me through those dark sunglasses. “Where’s your dad, Castlemaine?”
Heat rushed to my cheeks. I scowled, then glanced at Tobias and back. “I don’t know. Why are you asking me?” The longer I stared at him, the more pissed off I became. “I told Lazarus before, I don’t have his damn money.”
Freddy just smirked and let out a sigh as he straightened.
“We don’t have it.” Tobias stepped closer.
Freddy just cut him a stare. “You really think this is just about fucking money? Time to grow the fuck up, T. I taught you better than that. Just make sure you hold up your end of the bargain here. The first number you call after contact better be fucking mine.”
He turned then and met Nick’s stare, then Caleb’s, before heading out the front door.
Nick strode after him, locked the door, and peeked through the blinds as the thud of a car door sounded, followed by the growl of the Explorer’s engine
“What the fuck did he mean?” Nick turned back to us. “I thought they were after the damn money. What’s more important than that to the damn Rossis?”
There was silence before Caleb spoke. “Information, that’s what.”
“Information?” I murmured, and one by one, they glanced my way. “Information on what?”
“On the bastards who’re chasing us.” Nick dragged his fingers through his hair and turned away. “I can’t believe I fucking missed it. It’s not about money.”
“Whatever your father has on those people is dangerous,” Caleb muttered. “Which is why we need to find him…and fast.”
