Even my brothers hadn’t been truly involved in the business when I disappeared. Alessandro was the eldest, and the closest he came to being involved was attending meetings, but they weren’t with the highest ranking members within the family. And then there was Antonio. Dad had seen his usefulness early on. He was great with weapons and ruthless. The more that he went out on jobs for Dad, the less I knew my brother. He had become someone that I didn’t want to be anywhere near in the end. Ricardo was the closest in age to me, only a year older than me. I wanted desperately for him to find a way out, but he insisted there wasn’t a way. He was such a gentle soul, and in my father’s business, he wouldn’t last long before someone took him out.
“Hey, I think he’s here,” Josh said, pulling me out of my thoughts. I ran over to the table where the monitors were set up. He drove through town in a flashy sports car, which didn’t surprise me at all. Discreet had never been something he could pull off. Five minutes later, he pulled up to the motel, and his disgust was obvious. He went to the front desk, and then walked out minutes later, directly to the room we had set up. I had paid the guy at the front desk to give him my room number if he came asking for it.
He knocked and when no one answered, he tried the doorknob, finding it unlocked. He shoved it open warily, but what I didn’t expect was for him to pull out a gun. He slowly pushed the door open and cleared the room, then sighed and sat on the bed, hanging his head in his hands.
“Ready?” Josh asked, handing me the phone.
I took it from him and dialed the burner phone that was in a drawer waiting for him. When he heard it ringing, he immediately started searching for it. He found it in just a few seconds and then his heavy breathing filled the line.
“Carla, is that you?”
“Put on the clothes in the dresser and leave your phone behind. In the drawer, you’ll find keys to a car in the back of the lot. It’s a blue Honda Civic. You need to head east out of town.”
“Carla, you’re not making any sense. Where are you?”
“Just do it,” I pleaded.
I watched on camera as he sighed, nodding to himself. “Alright, but I need to grab something out of my trunk.”
“No,” I said sharply. “Don’t bring anything.”
“It’s just money. I don’t know what’s going on with you, but I figured you might need some money.”
I looked at Josh and he shrugged. We weren’t prepared for this. “Find a plastic bag. You can bring the bag into the motel room and transfer the money into the bag. You have five minutes.”
“Wait-“
“When you hang up, smash this phone.”
I hung up and waited to see what he would do. He stared at the phone for a moment and then smashed the phone under his boot. He raced out to his car, and came running back a moment later with a black duffel bag. Running around the room and throwing open drawers, he found a plastic bag and started transferring the money into it.
“Do you see anything?” I asked Josh as we both watched the monitors closely.
“No,” he shook his head. “If he’s trying to track you, I’m not seeing it.”
“It could be hidden in the money.”
“Do you want to take the chance?” he asked, looking up at me.
We could use the extra money, but if we took it and it led back to us, we were screwed. “The next location is set up. We’ll just have to wait it out and see what happens. If he came alone, this shouldn’t be a problem.”
By the time we finished talking, Levi was dressed and rushing out the door to the parking lot. We watched as he found the car and climbed inside, firing up the engine and pulling out of the lot. When he passed the city limits, I dialed the burner phone that was stashed in the car.
“Hello?”
“Drive for a half hour. You’ll come to a dead end and you’ll turn right-“
“Carla, what’s going on?”
“Levi, please just do this.”
He sighed. “Alright, I’m going.”
I finished giving him directions and hung up. “Let’s go,” I said to Josh. We quickly packed up our stuff and headed for the next location. As I drove, Josh watched the monitors for any sign that Levi was leading someone to us. After two more phone calls giving Levi directions, we were at the final location. Josh was set up, ready to intervene if anything happened, and now it was my turn to meet Levi in person for the first time in years.
“Remember, he has a gun on him,” Josh said, pulling me into his arms.
“I know, but I have two on me, and I’m trained to use them. It’ll be fine.”
“You know the signal if anything goes wrong.”
“I know, but I think it’ll be okay. At least for this meeting. I don’t see how he could have anyone following him.”
Josh sighed and pulled me into his arms. I knew he was scared for me, but if I could get the information we needed, then Josh and I might have a shot at having a different life.
“Be safe.”
“I will.”
He grabbed my hand as I turned to leave and pulled me back in for a scorching kiss. He pulled back, cupping my cheeks in his hands, his eyes piercing mine. “I love you,” he whispered, then gave me another kiss and turned around, unable to watch me go. I wanted to tell him that I loved him too, but I had to focus on what I had to do right now.
I walked out the door and drove the five miles down the road to meet with Levi. When I opened the door to the motel room, Levi stood and stared at me like he was seeing a ghost. He looked the same as I remembered, just a tad older. He was dressed in jeans and the shirt that I provided, and his dirty blonde hair was slicked back. He was clean shaven as always, but I knew he had the ability to grow a full beard. He just preferred it this way. He said he felt more powerful, more in charge when he was dressed for the boardroom. Seeing him like this, dressed down and not fully armored, reminded me of better times when our parents weren’t forcing us to be something we weren’t. But he looked like he slipped into his designated role without any trouble.
He stared at me the way he used to, drinking me in like the last drop of water on earth. One minute his eyes were devouring me, and the next, I was in his arms and being held so tight I couldn’t breathe.
“God, I can’t believe it’s really you. I didn’t want to believe it when your father told me you were dead.” He pulled back and looked me over again. “You’ve changed.”
“Being on the run will do that,” I smiled.
His brows furrowed. “But why did you run? Did you not want to marry me?”
“Levi, it had nothing to do with marrying you. You know what was expected of me.”
“No, we were going to get married and that was it.”
“That was never it,” I said, shaking my head. “You know that. Eventually, my father would have involved me in the business. I couldn’t do that. You know I couldn’t.”
He had been there for me the night I killed the man when I was eighteen. He had seen how it had destroyed me, and held me through the nightmares for months.
“We can talk with your father. You can still come back. I’m telling you, he was devastated when he lost you. I’ve never seen a man so broken.”
“Yeah?” I said sarcastically. “How many people died because of that?”
He took a step back and stiffened. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“He would have assumed that an enemy killed me. So, how many people died in his crusade to bring justice to my name?”
He swallowed hard and glanced away.
“That’s what I thought. It was an excuse for him to go to war, and you know it. My death was the perfect opportunity for him to frame someone for my murder.”
“And you let it happen.”
“Levi, don’t kid yourself. No one in my father’s line of work is innocent. They all knew what they were getting themselves into. I didn’t want to be another casualty.”
He sighed, running his hand through his shiny, black waves. “So
, what happens now?”
“I need information.”
“You know I don’t work for your father. I don’t have any inside information.”
“I know, but maybe you know of something that’s been happening. I was on the run for four years, and not once did anyone come after me. But then four months ago, someone came after me. They’ve been hunting me ever since. I need to know why now.”
He looked nervous for a minute, shaking his head as he blew out a breath. “There’s a lot that’s happened since you died, Carla. I don’t know much about what’s going on in the business, but there’s been a lot of war.” His eyes rose to meet mine and my heart started beating faster. It was a sad look, a look someone gave when they only had bad news. My mouth became dry and swallowing seemed nearly impossible.
“No,” I said quietly, not wanting to hear what he had to say. “Don’t say it.”
“I’m sorry. Ricardo was killed in retaliation for something your father did.”
I pulled back a sob and my hand flew to my mouth to cover the sound that almost escaped. I should have taken Ricardo with me. He would have run, had I told him my plans. He should have been safe.
“That’s not all.”
I squeezed my eyes closed as tears threatened to spill over. I wasn’t sure I could take any more.
“Alessandro betrayed your father. He worked with the Russian’s to try and bring down your father. Antonio found out and he executed him in the middle of the fucking street. Just left him there until the next morning when someone walked by and found him.”
I couldn’t believe this. I stumbled backwards until I rested against the dresser for support.
“Antonio’s been on a killing spree ever since. He’s been destroying the family from the inside out.”
“My father would never let him do that,” I whispered.
“Your father is dying of cancer.”
I slowly looked up at him. Suddenly, being here in this room, being around him and all the danger of my past life was too much. I needed Josh. I needed him to ground me. Turning on my heel, I headed for the door, but he stopped me, grabbing me by the arm and spinning me back around.
“Where are you going?”
“I need to leave.”
“But you just got here. I just got you back,” he said, his hands coming up to cup my face. “I won’t lose you again.”
I smiled sadly at him. “You never had me. Not really. That was all our parents, but we weren’t really meant to be together.”
He shook his head slowly. “You can’t really believe that. We had something.”
“Maybe in another life, but that’s not the life I want.”
I turned to leave, but he grabbed my arm again. “Then let me come with you. I’ll go with you and we’ll…”
“We’ll what? Levi, I’ve seen the articles about you over the years. You couldn’t live in the shadows if you wanted.”
His face hardened and he jerked away from me. “Don’t judge me for the way I coped with your death. It nearly killed me to go through that. And now you show up and you say you’re walking out of my life again? You’re not even giving me a chance!”
“I just needed information,” I explained. “I’m not trying to hurt you, but I called you because I thought I could trust you. I thought you would understand.”
“Understand what? Betrayal?”
I stared at him, mouth gaping in shock. Was that really the way he saw what happened? “Tell me this, would you have been happy with me? Just me?”
“Of course.”
“And you would have had kids with me and been faithful to me?”
He hesitated for a moment. He was rarely faithful when we were together at the young age of eighteen. And I knew about his indiscretions, but I was going along with what my father wanted. And despite him not keeping it in his pants, I knew he truly cared about me. Levi just wasn’t the type of man to stay with only one woman. He had been my best friend, but that’s all we ever really were.
“Look, I don’t want to fight about the past. Right now, I’m just trying to stay alive. I need to know why someone would be coming after me.”
He shook his head lightly. “I don’t know, but if I had to guess, I would say that it’s Antonio. He’s power hungry, and with your father dying…Maybe you should consider coming home,” he tried again. “You only get one father. Are you going to be able to live with yourself if he dies and you don’t see him one last time?”
“You said yourself, my brother is power hungry. Going home would be a death sentence. I can’t do that.”
He sighed and rubbed a hand across the back of his neck. “At least give me a way to contact you. I can let you know if I find out something.”
“No,” I said without a second thought. “That’s too dangerous for me. Write down your number. When I can contact you again, I will.”
His jaw clenched, but he nodded and grabbed a piece of paper off the desk and wrote down his number. “Take the money too,” he said, handing me the bag.
“I don’t need it.”
“Please,” he pleaded. “I need to know that you’re okay. And don’t wait four years to contact me again. Just…just check in with me every once in a while. Maybe I can figure out a way to help you.”
I wanted to believe that he could, but deep down, I knew there was nothing he could do. He didn’t understand the ins and outs of my family. And if he tried to get information from them, they would crush him. I couldn’t do that to him. I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around him, giving him a hug.
“Thank you for meeting me.”
He hugged me tight and pulled back. He brushed his thumb against my cheek and smiled sadly. “I would do anything for you. I’m glad you didn’t die in a car bomb.”
I grinned at him and stepped back. “Take care of yourself.”
“You too.”
I turned and walked out the door, heading toward my car. I would have to get rid of the car as soon as I got back to Josh. Even if Levi came alone, I couldn’t trust him not to memorize the plates so he could find me later. With one last look at Levi, I pulled out of the parking lot and left him standing in the doorway of the motel room.
Josh
I ran out the door as soon as she pulled into the parking lot. The moment she was out of the car, I pulled her into my arms and held her tight against me. I had never been so scared in all my life. We had planned for anything that could happen, but sending her off like that terrified me. She was all I had, and knowing that she might not come back was more than I could handle.
“Thank God you’re okay.”
“I knew I would be. Levi isn’t dangerous.”
I pulled back from her, cupping her neck in my hand. “You couldn’t have known for sure. It’s been years. People change.”
She smiled slightly and took my hand. “Not Levi. He never wanted to be part of that life. Come on, we have to get out of here and switch cars.”
“I already took care of it. There’s a car waiting for us down the road at a diner.”
“You did that?”
I quirked a grin at her. “You know, I’m picking up a few things hanging out with you.”
“And you weren’t seen?”
I shook my head. “No cameras, and I only paid in cash. All we have to do is grab our stuff and go.”
“You’re sure,” she said, trying not to sound like she was questioning me. I knew it was hard for her to trust me on this. She had been doing this all on her own for so long, but I had paid attention to how she did things, and I listened when she explained her methods to me. I was positive on this.
“Trust me.”
She stared at me for a moment before nodding slightly. I grinned and pulled her behind me into the motel. As we packed, I informed her that I had called in a tow truck to come collect the car and deliver it to a junksyard. I left an extra hundred in the glove box to ensure that there would be no record of the car being towed or where it was going.
By the time we made it to our new car and were on our way, I was itching to ask her a shit ton of questions. I had held off until we got out of there, but I needed answers. We had already planned out our next stop, so there was no need to discuss that as we drove.
“Is Levi going to be a problem?” I asked.
She shook her head. “No, he’s-“
“Still in love with you.”
She laughed. “Levi was never in love with me. We were teenagers, forced into an arrangement by our parents.”
“But you loved him,” I pressed.
“As a friend. He was my best friend for years. We knew each other growing up. We went to the same school, and my parents had been planning the union for a long time. It was no secret to either of us.”
“And you were okay with that?”
“I wasn’t okay with any of it, but when you grow up in the kind of family that I did, you didn’t ask questions. You did as you were told and you kept your mouth shut.”
“I heard you ask Levi if he could have been faithful to you.”
She looked over at me, expecting me to say more, but I wasn’t even sure what I was saying or asking. I just didn’t like that she was even wondering. I had fallen for this woman. I told her I loved her, yet she hadn’t said it back. Maybe she didn’t feel that way. Maybe she thought I only loved her because we were thrust together in these strange circumstances. And maybe that was partly true. It wasn’t that long ago that I thought she was a completely different person. But that didn’t change what had begun to grow between us. Those feelings didn’t just disappear because of a few lies.
“Would it have mattered?”
“Would what have mattered?”
“If he would have been faithful to you.”
I watched the way she swallowed slightly and shook her head slightly, her hair brushing against her shoulders. “I was trying to prove a point to him, not trying to find out if I had made a mistake. I’ve always known exactly who Levi is. And deep down, he knows that our marriage would have only been one of convenience.”
“Then why did he want to run with you?”
“Who knows. Probably because he thought I was dead and then I was alive. Or maybe he just misses me. Either way, he wouldn’t have lasted a week on the run.”
Wanted Dead or In Love: A Small Town Romance (The Cortell Brothers Book 3) Page 9
