Page 24 of Courting Danger

“Alex?” I e tried to keep my expression neutral as I waited until I had the other man’s attention. “We were just attacked. Aren’t you going to call the police?”

Black eyes regarded me solemnly. I could almost see the wheels turning in their depths. Asking that question while trapped in Alex’s car was probably a bad idea. It could even get me killed, but I refused to play the fool one moment longer.

Finally, after too much silence, Alex spoke.

“I think you already know the answer to that question.”

Closing my eyes, I swallowed the knot that formed in my throat.

“No, you’re not. Your… family will take care of it.”

If I was smart, I would have bailed from the car right that moment. We weren’t driving that fast. The fall wouldn’t kill me.

However, I wanted answers.

Why had Alex even hired me in the first place?

Was this just a twisted game to keep the other man entertained?

Before I could ask any of these questions, Alex’s phone rang.

Never breaking eye contact with me, Alex answered the phone with an angry swipe of his hand.

“What?”

A few words were spoken on the other side of the phone, too soft for me to hear.

Alex suddenly sat up straight. “You can’t be… No.”

The person on the line kept speaking, but Alex let the hand holding the phone drop to his lap.

As overwhelmed as I felt, Alex’s reaction was too worrisome for me to ignore.

“What is it? What happened?”

Dark eyes looked at me again, their glittering depths now dull as obsidian.

Alex opened his mouth, closed it, then went back to staring at his phone.

Another silent moment passed, interrupted only by the rumble of the car’s engine as it traveled through the city. I considered taking the phone and demanding answers from the person on the line when Alex finally spoke.

“My father is dead.”

CHAPTER 9

Alex

I didn’t remember telling my driver to change course, but an hour later the car approached the Mantoloking bridge. Appropriate to its name, the bridge led to Mantoloking township, where the Mariano family’s other New Jersey house resided.

My mother would be waiting there. We had so many things to talk about, now that my father was dead.

Like, how the fuck did the man die in the first place?

Casualty of a prison riot?

That was a bold lie.

No, the man had been assassinated, just like someone was trying to do to me.

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