Page 93 of Runaway Queen

“Gone. Angelo took him and Chiara out through the tunnel.” Renato sounded somber and as expressionless as ever.

I knew what it was to see your own father lying in a pool of blood. I knew how it turned the world dark and thinned the veil between this world and the next.

Unfortunately for Renato, he didn’t have time to worry about it.

“Are you ready?” I asked him.

He nodded.

I turned toward the doors and whatever lay beyond. “The king is dead. Long live the king.”

31

SOFIA

Idrove like a woman possessed. I barely noticed the cars passing or the horns blaring at me. I had to have run a hundred speed cameras. I didn’t care. Nothing mattered more than getting to Casa Nera. Home. No, it wasn’t home, it had never been a home to me. It had only ever been a house I’d lived in for a while.

The sun was up by the time I reached an all-too-familiar road. Just down it, to the right, lay the gates of Casa Nera and Leo.

I was more than ready to drive the car right through those gates if I had to.

Then I saw it.

A collection of black cars parked by the side of the road.

I knew this place. It was one of Renato’s secret entrances. When we were kids, he’d always been obsessed with finding ways in and out of the compound that no one else knew about. Casa Nera was old enough to have plenty of those. He’d kept his findings a secret from everyone, including me. I’d once spent several days poking around looking for possible entrances on the street and never finding anything.

I slowed as I drew level with the cars. A tall figure stood there, his head bent over, his face locked with concentration.

Angelo.

I slammed on the brakes. The car had barely stopped before I was out of it.

He was hurt. His arm was streaked with blood. I ran toward him, terror making it hard to breathe.

“Angelo!”

He looked up at my sudden cry. I slid to a stop on the road as I took in the person standing just behind him, a bandage in her hand.

Chiara.

They both tensed at my cry, clearly still on edge from whatever had gone down. I looked madly to the side. They were alone.

“Where is he? Where is Leo?”

I stood frozen to the spot, I couldn’t move. I was too scared. I’d never been so terrified.

The silence felt deafening. There was a roaring in my ears that I couldn’t hear them over.

One voice cut through the sound.

“Mom?”

I jerked my head from Chiara and Angelo and looked to one of the SUVs. A small, tousled head poked out of the back window.

“Leo?”

I stumbled as I went for him. It felt like someone had swept my legs out from under me. Nothing seemed to work right. Despite my uncooperative body, I was moving. I wrenched the car door open and fell on Leo. He laughed, falling backward in the seat as I pulled him close to me, pressing my face against his head, breathing him in, feeling the hot, wiggly strength of his little body.

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