Page 32 of Run

Ten

Vincent

As we walked awayfrom the bar, I grabbed the cell phone that Gage hadn’t been smart enough to take and made another quick call.

“I need cleanup.”

After I gave the address, we stood and waited, milling at the corner, hoping not to draw too much attention.

Gage’s father had some measure of power in this area, and when he found out his son was dead, there would be questions to answer. I was only mildly worried. The Syndicate’s reach was long enough to smooth over any troubles, but I couldn’t be sure that he wouldn’t strike out immediately. I wouldn’t feel good until I had her safely out of the line of fire.

Of course, that was only a fraction of my worries.

I’d intentionally kept myself from looking at Giovanna too closely, but even a cursory glance showed how her expression had changed. She hadn’t looked at me either, seemed to be going out of her way not to, but I saw the differences nonetheless.

She’d always stood strong and proud, but now her shoulders drooped ever so slightly, and there was a pensiveness around her now, a malaise that didn’t fit her. I knew exactly what it meant.

I’d tried so very hard to keep violence away from her, had always done so, but she wasn’t a fool. She knew what I did, and in times like these, I was reminded of what she thought of it. Even without looking at her, I could see the direction of her thoughts, saw as she considered what I did, found it unacceptable.

In that moment, it was so difficult to believe that all these years had passed because instantly I was taken back. I could remember so many conversations I’d had with her, fights, really, ones where we’d screamed at each other about her desire to leave. But the way she stood now was worse than anything she’d ever said to me.

Because when Gia was like this, it meant she had given up. The last time I’d seen her like this had been three days before she’d left me. Seeing it now made my blood go cold, my soul turn dark with despair as my heart filled with equal measures of hurt and rage.

I latched onto the rage.

This was her fault. If she’d just found somewhere normal, not with people like these. If she’d just stayed put…

But that wasn’t Giovanna. She never did the easy thing, the thoughtful thing, and now she was punishing me for protecting her.

Less than a day and she had already torn my emotions asunder, and as I watched her, thought about all her absence had put me through, thought about the nagging guilt that only came when she was like she was now, I felt that rage intensify.

When the car slowly approached, I looked at it, put myself between Giovanna and the vehicle on instinct, though the anger still roiled. The car came to a stop and I saw the person inside, I felt some semblance of relief.

I hadn’t met him personally, but Sergei had vouched for him.

“You can take the car. The rest will be taken care of,” he said as he got out.

I nodded quickly, and then led Gia into the car.

“We need to make another stop,” I said, not looking at her directly.

If she responded, I didn’t hear it, and I wouldn’t look at her, so instead I drove the short distance to our next destination.

“I assume this is business,” she whispered.

When I looked at her, her face was turned away as she looked out of the window, her body language saying she wanted to look anywhere but at me.

“Yes,” I replied. “I need you to come with me.”

That got her attention, and she looked over at me, her brows dropped low, the question clear on her face.

“I don’t want to leave you alone, and there’s nothing in this conversation that you shouldn’t hear,” I said, feeling compelled to give her some explanation.

She took it, but her face gave me no reaction at all. I waited for a second longer than I should have, wondering if she might say something, give me some other hint as to what she was thinking, but got nothing.

The anger, which had only just begun to fade, crackled back to life. I pushed it down, though, waited as Gia got out of the car. Then together, the grim silence between us separating us much like the miles and years had, we began to walk.

Giovanna

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