Page 60 of Rami

He hopped to his feet. “It’s fine. No bomb.” Waving at her, he held out his hand. “C’mon. We need to hurry.”

Her feet carried her to the passenger side as if she were floating through a dream.

“I need you to get low, okay? I’ll tell you when it’s safe to get up.” The edge to his voice was sharp enough to dice gravel.

Tears burned her eyes. His face softened, and he touched his forehead to hers. “You’re gonna be fine. Just move.” The air crackled between them. “Please,” he added on a whisper.

She climbed inside and shimmied low in the seat. He tossed her bag in the back and in seconds, he was in the driver’s seat, his fingers punching the garage door opener Gigi had left them.

The metal rattled open.

Her tears overflowed. As far as she was concerned, they’d just been birthed into hell.

CHAPTER 17

Rami wrapped his hand around the steering wheel and then unwrapped it, over and over, as Gigi and Todd’s house filled the rearview mirror.

The energy in the car was palpable. Ivy’s fear emanated off her like radiation, and Christ, he wished he could just take her back to that fucking pool and wash her clean of anxiety forever.

God help him he would.

When all this was said and done and he’d put a bullet in the head of every cartel member, he’d spend hours in the pool with her, days even.

As of right now, his plan wasn’t solid enough to get them out of a paper bag let alone protect her from some of the most dangerous men in North America. Men who wanted her head on a fucking spike.

Because of him.

“Where are we going?”

The question made him want to beat the dashboard with his fist.

She wouldn’t like his loose plan one bit. He sucked his bottom teeth as he steered out of the ritzy subdivision. He spotted Taschen, and Rami watched as his friend fell in behind them.

“Well?” Ivy prodded.

He sent her a weak smile. “This year we acquired two properties to use as safe houses. One is an apartment downtown—which is for urgent situations. And one is out in the country, about an hour and a half away. Both are stocked with food, clothing, shit like that to get us through a few days, two weeks tops. After that, one of the guys will get provisions in, but the less traffic, the better.”

“So we’re going to the country house?”

Keeping his focus on the road while he merged onto the interstate, he nodded. But the acknowledgment cut him, making him bleed guilt. It was too soon to tell her all the details. She’d probably resist, and he didn’t want to pull over and have a difficult conversation when the cartel was so close.

Ivy seemed satisfied with his answer. She folded her arms across her chest and closed her eyes. It was late, 1:00a.m. If they were lucky, they’d make it to the safe house without interruption.

Streetlamps flickered like strobe lights as they drove out of town toward the mountains. The night was now shrouded in rain clouds, and the scent of the incoming weather hung in the air, detectable even with the windows up. Or maybe he was just so used to the coastal weather that he was simply anticipating it.

Ivy made a noise in her sleep. “Mmm. No,” she hissed sharply.

Unease sliced Rami’s chest. He stretched his palm over her thigh then gently squeezed. “Hey, wake up.”

She started and rubbed her face. “I can’t believe I fell asleep—I passed right out.” She scooched higher in her seat as if to safeguard herself from drifting off again.

“Rest. We’ve still got a good hour.”

“No, I’m fine.”

Ring, ring, ring

Taschen’s number rolled across the screen on the dash. Rami hit answer and tipped back his head to confirm his friend’s location in the mirror—but Taschen’s silver truck wasn’t in view.

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