Revenge (48 page)

Kate and Antonio were seated at a table in
the beautiful dining room, one whole wall nothing but windows so
they could look out at the moonlit lake. Kate glanced at her watch.
Still plenty of time to eat at least part of her meal, then meet
Dom at eight thirty. She glanced around them, her foot tapping
under the table.

Antonio touched her hand. “
Signora
,
you seem… not easy.”

Uh-oh
. “I’m a little restless. We’ve
been here over a week now.”

“Perhaps a walk after dinner?”

She smiled. “I’d like that.” Then she looked
down at the menu. She wasn’t going to take that walk. She wasn’t
going to see him ever again after this.

They ordered and ate leisurely, Kate
struggling to keep up the usual small talk. Then Antonio introduced
something of interest. “Ruggero discovered our problem.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Problem?”

“The source of the break-in. And the trouble
returning from Capri.”

“Ah.” The traitor. “Who was it?”

“Fiammetta’s father.”

Kate pressed her lips together. She could
understand his reasons. Still, the man didn’t care if anyone else
got hurt while he got his revenge. “I’m sure Enrico is
relieved.”

“I think that is not all of it. None of us
are convinced.”

“Who else do you suspect?”

Antonio glanced at the guards, then looked at
her. “I think you know.”

She looked him full in the eye. “Yes, I think
I do.”

Antonio broke their gaze and looked down at
his plate, using his fork to push around a few mouthfuls of
risotto. “He is not to be trusted.”

Kate’s stomach dropped.
That’s just what
I’m doing. But helping me leave gives Dom what he wants. And he
doesn’t want anyone to know about the baby
.

“
Signora
, are you all right?” Antonio
placed a hand on her wrist and leaned toward her.

“I’m just thinking.”

He studied her. “You seem pale.”

“Don’t worry. My stomach is just fine.”
Then why does it feel like I’ve swallowed a school of live
anchovies
?

“Should I ask for the check?”

Kate shook her head and glanced at her watch.
Eight twenty-five. “I’m going to the restroom. Please order me the
panna cotta for dessert.”

He rose and pulled out her seat. She walked
away from him, Paolo following her. Kate glanced back at Antonio.
He’d been so kind to her, so understanding. She had to blink
furiously to hold back her tears.

She hurried past the lobby bar and the great
rooms, then slowed when she started down the marble staircase that
led to the restrooms. Her heels clicked on the marble, echoing in
the space. Near the bottom, she stopped and turned back to the
guard. “Paolo, I left my purse at the table. Could you get it for
me?”

He hesitated. “
Signora
, I shouldn’t
leave you alone.”

“What’s going to happen?”

Paolo hesitated again, then nodded. “Do not
move. I will return soon.”

Kate waited until he reached the top of the
staircase, then she rushed down the remaining stairs and rounded
the corner to the left. The service exit was at the end of the
hall. She didn’t pause until she reached for the handle. Was she
making a mistake? A sharp rap on the door made her jump and her
heart gallop. She took a deep breath. She had to do this. When she
opened the door, her hand slipped on the handle, her palm slick
with sweat. Dom stood to the right of the door. “We must hurry.” He
motioned for her to precede him.

Her hesitation must have showed; he smiled,
visibly relaxing. He looked so much like Enrico then that it was
comforting. “Come,
signora
. The guards will soon miss
you.”

She glanced back over her shoulder, but the
corridor was empty. There was nothing more for her here. She had to
go, she had to be free of Enrico. And she had to save her baby. She
touched her stomach, then stepped out the door.

Dom guided her to an unattended side lot, his
car nearly hidden by a large spreading maple.

They got in and he started the Lamborghini,
his movements quick and decisive. Kate looked behind them and saw
Paolo burst through the service exit. Could he see her through the
tinted windows? She ducked down as Dom pulled out.

Paolo rushed toward them, and she shouted
“Go!” at Dom. He pressed down on the gas and the car leapt forward,
its tires spewing gravel as they barreled through the open front
gate.

They’d driven for some time, Kate checking
the side mirror, looking for cars in pursuit. But no one was racing
after them. “I’m surprised they aren’t following.”

Dom glanced up at the rear view mirror. “That
is because they already know where we are.”

“How?”

“Ruggero planted a GPS tracker on the
car.”

“Why?” Though she knew.

“He thinks I am the traitor.”

“Are you?”

He laughed. “Who else would want both of you
gone?”

“Why would you want
me
gone?”

His eyes flicked to her belly. “I will not
lose the
cosca
to your child.”

Kate’s heart seized, and fear ripped through
her, her stomach rolling in a way that made her nauseous. “You
don’t have to worry about that. Just help me disappear. Enrico will
never see his child.”

Dom shook his head. “He will never stop
looking for you.”

“I told you. I’ll tell him I lost the baby.
He’ll give up on me then.”

“What a fool you are. He has risked
everything for you. He started a war over you.” He shook his head.
“He will never give you up, regardless of the child.” When Dom
spoke again, his voice was thick. “You do not deserve him.”

Kate felt the truth of that with a bitter
pang. “Neither do you.”

“True. But I have to save my family’s future.
Rico is throwing it all away, over you. I have no choice.”

“Yes, you do.”

Dom let out a huff. “You do not understand.
Rico has put the life of every man who works for him at risk. Carlo
has already attacked us, and he will certainly do so again. Rico’s
refusal to deal in drugs has put us at a disadvantage against
Andretti’s deep pockets. The only way for us to survive is to make
an alliance with Carlo. But Rico will not marry Delfina, even if
you leave; he will not give you up. And so
I
have to make
things right.
I
have to give Carlo what he wants.”

“Which is?”

“You. And Rico. And a discount on certain
services he receives from the family.”

Kate shuddered and hugged herself. She
couldn’t let Carlo near her. She should open the car door and jump
out. But Dom was driving so fast. What if she hurt the baby? What
if she broke a leg? There had to be another way. She needed to
remind him about the letters. “I thought you didn’t want anyone to
know about the adoption.”

He laughed. “I don’t. But it wasn’t hard to
figure out what you’d done. I did a favor once for the concierge at
the hotel. It wasn’t hard to intercept that package you were
sending to your parents. The letters are ashes now.”

Kate’s stomach went hollow. She and her baby
were going to die.

They drove higher into the mountains
surrounding the lake. There were few homes, and the road was unlit.
As they ascended, the road switched back and forth, making Kate
queasy, the forest to their left an unbroken mass of darkness, the
drop-off to their right an unending chasm. Finally Dom turned onto
a gravel road that disappeared into a thick grove of trees. In the
bouncing light from the car’s headlamps, ghostly branches jutted
into their path.

A little ways down, he stopped and pulled a
gun. He held it on her while he opened his window. “Why are we
stopping?” she asked, tensing herself to run.

“I need to get rid of this.” He showed her
the tracking device in his hand. “Ruggero is a fool to think I’d
fall for my own idea.”

Kate watched the tracker sail out the window
and into the night. She grabbed the door handle and Dom shook his
head. “Take your hand off that if you want to keep it. Carlo did
not say I had to deliver you in one piece.”

She looked into his eyes. He meant what he
said. She’d have to hope for another opportunity. A better one.

The gravel road wound through a dense tunnel
of trees. When branches scraped the doors on both sides, Dom
muttered about Carlo being too cheap to keep the brush cut
back.

Rage burned a hole in Kate’s chest. “You’re
about to deliver me and my baby up to that horrible man, you’re
about to destroy your cousin’s
life
, and you’re worried
about scratches on your car?” Her voice had become shrill. “What
kind of monster
are
you?”

“A practical one. Better to suffer a few
deaths than many. Better to save the
cosca
than have Rico
destroy it.” He drove around another bend, and she saw the glimmer
of lights. “I want to save my children’s future.” He glanced down
at her belly, then up at her face. “I am no different from
you.”

“Except I won’t kill anyone to do that!” She
yanked on the door handle.

He stopped the car and seized her wrist as
the door popped open. “You are not listening. Your existence, your
baby’s existence, guarantees that many people will die before this
is all over. But if I give you to Carlo, if Rico rushes over here
to rescue you, that will be the end of it. Two deaths.” He cocked
his head. “Four deaths, actually. Ruggero and Antonio too. They
will never trust me. But the rest of the men will.”

Kate struggled against his hold. She tried to
throw herself out the door, hoping her entire weight would loosen
his hold. Gravel crunched as men approached. She screamed and tried
to wrench her arm from his grip. Dom’s fingers dug into her flesh.
If she lived long enough, she’d be bruised to the bone. Lying
almost flat over the seat, she brought up her legs and lashed out
at him. One of her heels struck him hard in the face, and his head
snapped back.

Dom lost his grip, and she scrambled out on
her hands and knees. When Carlo’s men started running toward her,
she headed for the trees. She’d been so stupid, thinking she could
manage Dom. And now she was on her own. Enrico would never find her
in time. She should have taken her chances with a broken leg.

Her heart trying to beat its way out of her
chest, Kate ducked through the trees, running blind in the dark,
branches smacking into her, scratching her face and arms, snatching
at her hair. She could hear the guards behind her, shouting to each
other, though the noise loudest in her ears was her own breathing,
a ragged panting as she sucked in oxygen.

A tree root snagged her right foot and she
smashed into the ground, air whooshing out of her. Panicked, she
gasped for breath, wheezing with the effort, struggling to stand.
She’d just gained her feet when one of Carlo’s men seized her
around the waist. He lifted her in a bear hug from behind, his
voice thunderous in her ear as he shouted for another guard.

Two men, followed by Dom, raced to them.
“Don’t let her get away,” Dom shouted. The guard holding her
laughed and said something in Italian. From the way the others
laughed, he must have been insulting Dom.

The guard, a massive man in every way,
scooped her up over his shoulder and carried her hanging down over
his back. Kate kicked and screamed and beat at his head and
shoulders with her fists, but she might as well have been punching
a wall. After a while, the guard jostled her and barked at her to
stop. When she didn’t, he swung her down in front of him and pulled
back his fist. Kate screamed and put up her hands. Too late. A blow
to her temple rendered everything black.

Enrico and Ruggero raced through the hills in
the Maserati, followed by Claudio and Santino. Antonio, Paolo, and
Tommaso were in another car, coming from the hotel.

“You’re sure we won’t lose them?” Enrico
asked.

“I’m sure.”

“Maybe we should call in more men.”

“How many do you want to risk?” Ruggero
looked at his boss.

“You’re asking because she left me.”

“And because we might all die.”

Enrico looked at him. “If you want out of
this, say so.”

Ruggero shook his head. “I’ll never abandon
my don.” He paused. “There are others at stake who perhaps should
not be.”

Enrico nodded. He’d persuade Antonio to
leave. He closed his eyes and pressed his palms into them. “I’m
well aware of what I’m doing. I shouldn’t be asking any of you to
help me. But I can’t abandon her to that thug. I can’t abandon my
child.” He looked at Ruggero. “Even if she never comes back to me,
I couldn’t live with myself.”

Ruggero grunted in agreement. “I wouldn’t
wish Andretti on my worst enemy, much less on the woman I
loved.”

Enrico stared straight ahead. His throat was
so tight he didn’t trust himself to speak. Finally he said, “Love
is the most wondrous thing and the most terrible thing. Because now
you have everything to lose.” He shook his head. “For the briefest
time, I had everything I ever wanted.” The lump in his throat felt
like a
bocce
ball. He had to stop and take a deep breath.
Finally the lump dissipated. “I will
not
lose it all
again.”

“I will not fail you,
mio capo
.”

Enrico gripped the guard’s shoulder. “You’re
a good man, Ruggero. And a great friend. I can’t thank you enough
for all these years you’ve stood beside me.”

Ruggero nodded, keeping his eyes on the road.
“Thanks are not needed. But I am honored you would call me
friend.”

Enrico squeezed his shoulder once more, then
released it. There was nothing more to say.

Ruggero downshifted for the climb into the
hills, the purr of the Maserati’s engine taking on a deeper tone.
“If we get out of this, I’m going to save up for one of these.”