Page 97 of Sins and Secrets

Another message comes in with an address beneath it. I show the message to Christian before getting in my car. He stands beside the car as I start the engine and roll the window down.

“Call Jovan,” I say as I put the address into the GPS. “Get his men on the border. Get your men on your border. Paolo is going to be with Billie. I know he is. His other men might try to make a run for it, though. Anyone who is captured is killed.”

Christian nods and looks at his men. “We’ll meet you there. I’ll make the calls on the way.”

As soon as the words leave his mouth, I take off. There isn't any time to waste. None of my men will be able to get to Savannah in time to help. The few that are stationed here are already searching the city high and low for Paolo and his men.

I race through the streets, my stomach tossing and turning. Car horns blare as I weave in and out of traffic but I don’t care. I have to get to Billie before Paolo kills her.

I should have gone to her room and talked to her before she left. She should have known that I would never kill her. That I was just hurt, so I was lashing out. I can’t believe I said that.

As I head to the edges of town, Christian’s car behind me, two cars following along behind him, I breathe a small sigh of relief knowing that I won’t be going in there alone.

Though I don’t know what I’m walking into, there is no way that I will be walking out without Billie.

After a few more minutes of driving, I turn onto an empty street. Most of the buildings that line either side of the road are abandoned. Broken glass litters the cracked sidewalk. Graffiti covers crumbling bricks. There is an apartment building with an old man sitting on the front step, who looks as run down as the buildings.

The most stereotypical place to take a hostage.

I should have seen it coming. If I was paying more attention to Billie and had known her schedule, I would have known that she was planning a trip to Savannah. I would have looked at it from a critical standpoint and seen Paolo’s ability to get her alone.

There are a thousand different things I could have done to prevent this, but I did none of them.

This is all my fault.

I peer out at the numbers on the buildings, trying to find the right one as the GPS tells me to stop in front of a group of three buildings. I park behind one of the warehouses across the street and get out.

Christian and his men join me behind the building. While they arm themselves, I pop open the trunk of my car and rummage through it for the weapons I brought with me. One of the many perks of owning a private plane is bringing my own car and weapons with me.

“Are you ready?” Christian asks just as gunshots crack through the air.

I feel like I’m going to throw up as I pull out my guns. I slide one into my boot and another in my waistband. I keep the third in my hands, my heart racing as I nod.

“Let’s go in there and get my woman.”

33

BILLIE

“The next time you run your fucking mouth, it’s going to be you that gets shot,” Paolo says, lowering his gun. The body of a man I don’t know hits the ground. His blood stains his white shirt as my stomach turns.

My head still aches from the hit I took when Paolo knocked me out. I could use painkillers and an ice pack right about now, but my main focus is trying to survive.

At least until Alessio hopefully comes for me.

I glare at Paolo, my heart hammering in my chest. The rope tying my hands together behind the chair is starting to bite into my wrists.

Running alone was possibly the stupidest idea I’ve had in a long time.

If I had given it more thought, I never would have gone alone. I didn’t think about it, though. I just knew that I needed a way to relieve some of the stress in my body and headed out.

I thought it was safe and I was wrong.

“Look, all I need to know is where your boyfriend is right now,” Paolo says, crouching down in front of me. He runs the muzzle of the gun up my leg. “Just be a good girl and tell me where Alessio is. I won’t hurt you.”

As laughter comes from the shadowy corner of the room, the blood in my veins turns to ice. I recognize that laugh. I grew up with that laugh.

I feel like I’m going to throw up. As I bite back the tears that fill my eyes, I try to process what is happening. There is no way that she would hurt me like this. Absolutely no way. We’ve been best friends for too long.

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