by Lexi Cross
More men were coming, though. Alerted by the gunshots and the commotion, no doubt. They had to get out of there fast. He turned and three men were coming through the front door, slowed by the bodies in the way. Two more were to his left. On his right, two more. So many guns were pointed at them in that moment. If they’d all shot simultaneously, a rain of bullets would fall around them, surely killing them both. He had to get them out of there now before they wised up and figured out that they had Ryder and Pia completely surrounded.
***
Pia had never been so terrified in her life. When she let her father hug her, she’d been wary of him. But she never expected him to do what he did. When his arm tightened around her hard, she cried out for him to let her go, but he spun her around and tightened his arm over her throat. That was bad enough. The pressure hurt and she could barely breathe, let alone swallow. But then he pressed the end of his gun to her temple.
Her father truly was an evil man. She’d been upset before, thinking he didn’t love her, but deep down inside, she figured he did and was just being mean to get his way. She did that sometimes, too. But this was different. Such a blatant and hard threat? There was no going back when someone acted like they would kill you at any second. Her heart turned cold to her father in that moment. She wanted him dead. She’d shoot him herself if she had a gun. Now she wished she had. She’d have to get Ryder to teach her to shoot and buy a gun so that she was never in this helpless situation again. She’d never play the victim or be someone’s pawn. She was going to learn to stand on her own, with Ryder by her side.
When Ryder had come in the door, she’d been so relieved to see him, she almost forgot about everything going on around them. She wanted to run into his arms, to throw herself at him. To feel his arms around her, keeping her safe, to feel his lips on hers, hot and passionate. She lurched forward to get to him, but her father held her tight, choking her. When Matteo held his gun to her, Paolo pointed his at the door, under her father’s command.
“That’ll be the man who thinks he can steal Pia away from you,” Matteo said. “We have to kill him. That’s the only way to stop him.”
“No!” Pia shouted, but her father pressed his gun harder into her head.
The look on Ryder’s face when he came in and saw her father holding her was something she’d never forget. He was horrified and shocked. Maybe he didn’t think Matteo would ever do something like that either. How long had it taken him to see Paolo and realize there was a gun pointed at him, too? Despite all that, the look in his eyes when he looked at her was of pure longing. It mirrored everything she felt. Love, desire, yearning. He must have wanted to hold her tight as badly as she wanted him to.
In that one look, any residual hesitation was gone. If she hadn’t been one hundred percent sure of him before, she was one hundred and ten percent sure of him now. If she’d thought for a second he wouldn’t come or that he’d meant it when he ended things, all of those thoughts had vanished. They’d never return. She knew now. With him being here and killing the guards outside and looking at her like that, that it had all been part of the plan. He was playing their game and it looked to her like they had been winning and her father and Paolo were losing.
Except that now Matteo was holding her and pointing a gun at her, and within seconds of him being in the house, Paolo was holding Ryder and had a gun pointed at him. How would they get out of this? Ryder had to have some plan, she was sure of it. He wouldn’t come all this way, go through everything they’d been through, just to give up in the end. That was outrageous.
But she couldn’t see what the plan was. That was probably a good thing because if she could see it, then her father and Paolo probably could, too. They were mob bosses and what was she? Just a woman with little experience at any of this. Despite what she’d said to the doctor upstairs, she knew little of this world, had almost no connections that would help her, and had zero training when it came to guns and self-defense. She should have taken a class or something after she was almost kidnapped at her store. That felt like years ago now. She hadn’t, though, which was stupid, but nothing she could do about that now.
She waited. She kept her eyes on Ryder, waiting for him to make his move. It had to be soon, right? He couldn’t let them take them somewhere, or maybe they’d just shoot them anyway. Her father had said Ryder needed to be killed, so maybe he was only seconds from death. They met eyes and he smiled a little. She wanted him to give her some idea of the plan. Some little sign or something so she would know what to do.
But as she waited and watched him, she could almost see him thinking. And he didn’t look like he had a plan. He looked like he was still figuring things out. Which was no good. She couldn’t wait any longer. There had been too much of this. Too much waiting and too much anxiety about what might happen and too many threats. She needed this to be over. Needed to just be with him and have him hold her close and kiss her. Enough of this.
She didn’t want to put any more stress on the baby. She’d heard that stress was bad when you were pregnant and the level of stress she had faced in the last few days was likely far more than she should have faced in months. She needed to get to safety and have peace, and she should see a doctor. She didn’t even know when she was due and she wanted to know if the baby was a boy or a girl. Doctors could do all of that. Maybe not the one upstairs, clearly, but doctors who did that sort of thing could see inside her belly and assure her everything was just fine.
Then she thought of something. Obviously, Ryder couldn’t shoot her father because Paolo would shoot him, and he couldn’t shoot Paolo because then Matteo would shoot her. But if she could cause some sort of distraction, then maybe Ryder would be able to kill them both. She was in the perfect place to hurt her father, too. He probably didn’t even realize it. She held Ryder’s gaze and went for it.
She stuck out her arm and brought it back as hard as she could, sending her hard little elbow right into his crotch. That always hurt men. That was why you went for that spot first. It was the easiest and the surest. A guy was nearly incapacitated when you kneed him or elbowed him in the balls.
And this time was no different. Her father bent over in pain. She smiled for an instant, but then shouted to Ryder to kill him. In case he’d thought maybe she wouldn’t want him to or something.
She ducked and moved out of the way. That worked out to be perfect because her moving drew Paolo’s attention. Then Ryder was able to get his gun and shoot.
Only then did she stop to think. He’d set down his gun. What if that had been his only gun? She might have just gotten them killed. Seemed like Paolo should have checked him for other weapons or something. She knew that Ryder never had just one gun on him. Didn’t her father know that, too? He had to. So, wouldn’t Paolo? Oh well, better for them that he hadn’t, because if he had, she might have done a very bad thing. She hoped Ryder wasn’t mad at her for doing it. It had been kind of risky.
But Ryder shot her father, then Paolo. When both of them were on the floor dead and her and Ryder were uninjured, it looked like it had been a good plan after all. Thank goodness. But there were more men coming for them. She heard footsteps all around them, and she was terrified all over again. There were so many guns, all aimed at them. But now she didn’t have to worry. Ryder was here.
She dove for him, throwing herself into his arms like she’d wanted to so badly for days. He squeezed her back and the feeling sent liquid warmth and comfort running through her. This was where she was meant to be. Right here in his arms.
There wasn’t time for a kiss. They had to get moving now or they’d be in trouble all over again. But the men were coming at them from every side. What could they do?
Ryder took her hand and tugged her forward. They ran up the stairs two at a time. She was out of breath when they reached the top. She still needed desperately to eat something to get her strength. She’d have to find some energy from somewhere, though, because the men were on their heels.
The
y went into her father’s room, the master bedroom. The door was locked, but with one hard kick, Ryder broke it down. As they ran, he would turn around every few seconds to shoot someone who was getting too close. How in the world did he aim like that as they were all running? He continued to amaze her.
She dashed over to her father’s dresser and tore open the top drawer. She reached to the back, where she knew he kept extra money. She grabbed everything that was there.
“What are you doing?” Ryder asked, exasperated.
She held up the cash for a split second before shoving it in her pocket.
“Come on,” he said.
They pushed open the French doors that led to the balcony. She’d been so upset when they moved into this house years ago and he wouldn’t give her the room with the balcony. He said he’d have one built onto her room, but he never did. Jerk. It was a gorgeous view usually. But right now, all she could see were two dead bodies in the yard.
Ryder led her to the side of the balcony and up to the railing. “Climb carefully down the trellis. I’ll be right behind you.”
“But they’ll be here before I can get down and you can follow. How will you get out?”
“Don’t worry about me.” He leaned forward and gave her a quick kiss. “As soon as you hit the ground, run.”
“But, Ryder—”
“Go!”
She swung her leg over the railing and grabbed onto the thin bars of the trellis. She looked over at him and met his eyes for a moment. “I love you,” she said.
He pulled his mouth into a crooked smile. “I love you. Now go.”
The trellis looked like it would barely hold her as she began her climb. How would it ever hold Ryder? She made her way down as quickly as she could. One foot, then a hand, then another foot and another hand. Her bare feet touched the grass, she let go, and looked back up at the balcony.
He was standing there, alternating between watching her and looking behind him. He saw her reach the ground and as she watched him watching her, a man appeared behind him and put his arm around Ryder’s throat.
Pia screamed and watched in horror. She reached for the trellis to climb back up, but she wouldn’t be able to do anything. She dropped her hand and as she continued to stare, saw Ryder clock the guy in the nose with his elbow. Then he turned around and she heard a gunshot.
Ryder hopped over the edge of the railing and grabbed the trellis. He didn’t go one rung at a time, foot then hand, as she had. He swung his body down far, caught two rungs with his feet, grabbed the bars at his waist and let his body hang. He let go and hit the ground hard. He had dropped at least ten feet.
He took her hand again and they were running. They ran right to the fence. She had thought maybe there was a broken piece or some sort of door that she didn’t know about. But when they got to it, Ryder bent down and laced his fingers together.
“I’ll boost you up. Grab the top and pull yourself over.”
“What?” she squeaked. Not only did she not think she was strong enough to do that, but what if she fell?
“You’ll be fine, just jump into my hands and grab the top of the fence.”
She took a deep breath and hopped into his hands. He pushed up, sending her up so high, she almost flew over the fence without even trying. She grabbed the top and flipped her leg over, then held on for an instant to lower her body before letting go. She heard a loud bang on the fence, then Ryder’s hands appeared at the top. He must’ve jumped on the fence. His head showed, then his whole body flew over the top and he landed on the ground.
He stood and took her hand again. They ran up a grassy hill, her feet slipping with the effort. He got behind her and picked her up, tossing her into his arms like she weighed nothing. He ran up the hill with her in his arms and all she could think was, He is so strong. She could fall asleep right now in his arms. She was that peaceful and comforted by him.
He put her down gently on the gravel next to his car and opened the door to get her in. Then he dashed to the other side, jumped in, and they took off. The tires spit gravel behind him as he sped away.
“We’re just going to make one stop, then we’re getting the hell out of this city.” He reached for her hand, took it, and kissed her knuckles.
Chapter 21
Ryder just had to get to his house. It would only take a minute or two, but everything he needed was there. This was risky, though. Matteo knew where he lived, knew Lorenzo had been sent and never came back. He might have people waiting for him here. If it was anything else, he wouldn’t bother. But Ryder had more than ten thousand dollars inside. They would need that. Pia had grabbed some money from her dad’s room, but they needed all they could get. He’d also grab his other guns, some ammo, and the bag of clothes he kept packed and ready to go at all times.
Pia was clutching his hand so tight. It hurt like hell. Somewhere along the last few days, with all the beatings he’d taken and all the fights he’d been in, his hand had been smashed. It ached just to open and close it, and since that was his dominant hand, he’d been using it to hold a gun and pull the trigger. But after all they’d been through, and now that he finally had her with him, touching him, he’d take whatever pain there was in this world if it meant she was touching him.
“How much money did you grab?” he asked.
She mercifully released his hand to dig in her pockets. She pulled out wads of cash. Thick stacks of hundred-dollar bills. “Looks like twenty thousand dollars. Thought he kept more than that.” She looked upset at this.
“Hey, babe, this is perfect. That’s a lot of money. Plenty for us to get away. And if we have to rob a bank on the way, we will.”
Her eyes went wide and her mouth popped open in shock.
“I’m kidding, Pia. We’re stopping at my house because I have some cash there, too, and some other things.”
“Are we staying there long?”
“No. I’m going to run in and out. It might not be safe.”
“Oh.”
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Nothing really. I’m just starving and I need a shower.”
“We’ll get a hotel as soon as it’s safe to stop. I’ll try to grab something when I run in, okay?”
She nodded. He pulled up to his house. He wasn’t sure what to do. He was so used to looking out for himself only. Taking care of someone else was new. Was it safer to leave her here? What if someone showed up and they took her again? No, she had to come in. But what if someone was in there, waiting?
His stomach clenched and clenched again. Finally, he settled on something that seemed okay.
“I’m giving you my gun. It’s already loaded and chambered. All you have to do it pull the trigger, okay?”
She nodded and gingerly took the gun. He positioned her fingers on it properly. “Like this. Anyone comes and tries to hurt you, aim at their chest.”
“Isn’t the head better?”
“It’s much harder to hit.” He kissed her and got out of the car, then locked the doors.
He ran into the house, dashing through the rooms with his other gun in his hand in case someone was there. Maybe they were all at Matteo’s? Or if someone was here, maybe they’d been called and sent back to Matteo’s when they knew Ryder was there instead.
He hit the bedroom first. He grabbed the duffel bag from the closet and opened the zipper, then shoved the cash from the box in the back of the closet inside the bag. He tossed in his other bottle of pain pills, a few boxes of ammo, and went to the bathroom. He pulled out every Band-Aid and ointment he had that might help them. Then he went to the kitchen. He didn’t usually keep much food around, but he had some chips and Pop Tarts. He threw them in the bag and ran out the front door.
He let the door slam behind him and bolted for the car. When he saw it, Pia wasn’t in it. His chest constricted and the sudden panic was there again. Had someone come for them? Had someone taken her?
“Pia!” he shouted, and ripped the door open.
&nb
sp; She scooted up from where she had been hiding on the floor in front of the seat. He sat behind the wheel hard, putting his hand to his face, shaking.
“Jesus,” he said.
“I’m sorry. I thought it would be safer if no one saw me.”
