Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 56831 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 284(@200wpm)___ 227(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56831 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 284(@200wpm)___ 227(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
Seeing him tonight, all those memories came flooding back. I still hated him, but I had to push it aside, for Romy’s sake.
Dombruso and his companion climbed the stairs to the front door, and then they paused and shared a lingering kiss. Great, now I felt like a peeping Tom.
I waited until they went inside before starting the engine, because I didn’t want to attract their attention. Then I drove back to my hotel and immediately did an internet search for pavilions in Golden Gate Park. It was a relief when I found what had to be the right one.
A glance at my watch told me I had almost twelve hours to kill until I got to see Romy again. It was going to be a long night.
14
Romy
My heart was pounding as I closed the French doors. How on earth had Marcus found this place? And what would have happened if my brother had come home just then?
I grabbed my clothes and shoes from the chair and hurried downstairs. When I reached my room, I shut the door behind me, threw on a T-shirt and pajama pants, and climbed into bed.
Not ten seconds later, I heard my brother and Jack come home. Damn, that was a close call.
When one of them knocked on my door, it made me jump. In an attempt to look casual, I snatched a paperback from the nightstand, opened it to a random page, and called, “Come in!” Fortunately, I noticed the book was upside down and corrected it as the door swung open.
Jack smiled at me and said, “I saw your light was on, so I thought I’d check and see if you wanted some tea. I’m about to make myself some.”
“No, thanks.”
He tilted his head as he asked, “Are you okay? You’re pretty flushed.”
“Yeah, fine. The bath was really hot.” Technically, I wasn’t lying to him, though the color in my cheeks was probably because I was freaking the hell out.
Jack gestured at the book in my hands and asked, “Are you enjoying that so far? It’s one of my favorites.”
I nodded. I’d actually only borrowed it from him that morning and hadn’t started it yet. But it was open to the middle of the book, so I had to pretend.
“I’ll let you get back to it. Good night, Romy. See you in the morning.”
“Good night.”
As soon as he was gone, I returned the book to the nightstand and slumped against the pillows. I felt like an ass for that little charade, but I couldn’t tell him I was freaking out because I’d just seen Marcus. If I did that, he’d tell my brother, and the massive manhunt that was currently happening in Las Vegas would shift to San Francisco.
How the hell had Marcus pulled that off?
There should have been no way for him to find this place. My brother had rented it under the name of a fictitious business, just like he did with everything. When you made your living illegally, it was important to hide both your whereabouts and your finances from rivals, the IRS, law enforcement, and so on. Marcus obviously did the same thing, otherwise Adriano’s people would have tracked him down by now.
But if Marcus could find my (and by default, Adriano’s) secret location, couldn’t my brother do the same thing in reverse? I hadn’t been all that worried about the fact that he was searching for Marcus, because I’d assumed finding him would be impossible. Maybe I’d been overconfident about that.
Wait—was my brother in danger, now that Marcus knew where to find him?
When I’d seen him in front of the house, all I could think about was Marcus’s safety, not the other way around. Why was that?
After I thought about it, some things came into focus.
Adriano was fiercely protective of my mom and me. I’d always known that. I didn’t believe he had it in him to kill anyone…but if he thought that was the only way to keep his family safe, maybe he was capable of turning his back while one of his ex-mafia relatives did the job.
At the same time, no matter who he was or what he’d done in the past, I realized I really did believe Marcus cared about me and wouldn’t want to hurt me—not after what we’d shared. I felt it in my gut. That also meant he wouldn’t harm my brother, because he knew how much Adriano meant to me.
And yes, I cared about Marcus, too. But that didn’t necessarily mean I’d be able to forgive him.
I had a million questions and a lot I needed to say to him, and I was glad we’d have a chance to talk. So much was hanging on that conversation. It was going to reveal whether there was even the slightest chance of working things out, or if everything we’d started to build was lost forever.