Page 88 of Runaway Queen

As I ran out, a voice called to me. It was Dr. Evans. She was standing at a vending machine, her wallet in hand, waiting for a candy bar to drop down.

I veered toward her.

“Sophie? This is a late visit to the hospital. I hope everything is okay with Leo?”

“It is, thanks.” Forcing the words out made me want to cry. “My friend got hurt, so I’m just checking on him.”

Dr. Evans nodded. “I’m sorry to hear that.” She turned as the candy bar got caught before dropping down and tutted. “Isn’t that always the way. Just a moment.”

She set her wallet down on the side and leaned down to try to work her hands into the thin slot of the machine.

I had her wallet in my hand and was out the front doors of the hospital before I could see if she’d gotten her late-night snack or not. I sent a silent apology to her. I’d pay her back.

I jumped into the nearest taxi and gave him Chiara and Angelo’s address. I couldn’t risk going back to my house to get my car. If I was right, Angelo would have gone with Nikolai and Chiara’s car would be sitting in the driveway. I knew where she hid her house keys and where her car key was inside.

Nikolai might think he could handle whatever happened at Casa Nera, but this was my family, and I wasn’t sitting it out. I wasn’t going to let the man I loved hand himself over for Leo. I wasn’t going to let either of them be hurt. I finally had a life worth fighting for. I finally had hope. I wasn’t the same woman I’d been when I’d last seen my father.

This time, I wasn’t running away.

30

NIKOLAI

“Are you serious? You couldn’t hold on to her for one night?”

“She… she tricked me. She’s not an easy woman to keep hold off.” Andrei sounded anxious.

“Tell me about it. What about Bran?”

I was sitting in the passenger seat, and Angelo was driving. We were flying down the highway toward Casa Nera. Fear threatened to overcome me when I thought about Leo in the callous, arrogant clutches of his grandfather, but I forced it down with cold hard logic. Antonio wanted me. He might want to kill Leo, too, but he’d wait until I could witness it. Even in his revenge plans, he was unoriginal and predictable.

“Bran is out of surgery, the nurse said it went well.”

Something released in my chest at the knowledge. Bran had become a brother to me during our time inside, and the thought that he’d died protecting my son had threatened to send me off the deep end. No matter what I wanted to do, I couldn’t walk into Casa Nera with a machine gun and waste every single De Sanctis there. That wasn’t the deal.

Antonio had made his move sooner than I’d expected. I’d known since that day in the woods that he’d make a move. It had been obvious. His anger and spite had been so much more potent than I’d have predicted, after all this time. Things weren’t going well for the De Sanctis family in New York, and not even deals with my brother could help them. Kirill did what was needed but nothing more. No relationships had formed, and without a beautiful virgin daughter to sell off for an alliance, Antonio was no doubt watching his empire crumble. He should have stepped down and handed it over to his son, but he suffered the same hubris as my own father, Viktor. He had underestimated his sons until the bitter end.

“Good, keep an eye on him. Don’t worry about Sofia, I’m sure I’ll see her before you do.”

I hung up on Andrei and looked to Angelo. The gentle giant’s hands were so tight on the steering wheel, he was in serious danger of bending it.

“Keep calm. We’ll get her back.”

“In one piece?”

“In one piece. Don’t forget, she grew up with De Sanctis men. Her father is still alive, I believe?”

Angelo nodded.

“Good.” I checked the tracker app on my phone. The little blinking dot had made it to New Jersey. Leo was about to meet his grandfather for the first time. Putting a tracker inside his favorite stuffed toy, the dinosaur with the missing foot, was one of the first things I’d done. He and Sofia were my family, and I’d stop at nothing to keep them safe.

You shouldn’t have snuck out to fuck Sofia in the studio last night. It would all have gone differently if you’d been home.I dismissed the thoughts. They were useless to me now. This confrontation was always going to come, and I had waited for it for a long time. I wanted it over. I needed Antonio dead so we could finally live free of his shadow.

“Looking forward to going home, Angelo?”

He grunted. “That’s not my home, neither is Maine. Chiara is my home. If she’s hurt…”

“If she’s hurt, I’ll help you burn the place down myself. You have my word.”

---