Page 88 of Under My Skin

“I love you, Dani.” My voice was thick with all the emotion that was drowning me as I tried like hell to push my anxiety to the back of my mind. “More than anything in the whole world, except maybe Isaac. I need you to know that. And I need you to know that no matter what happens, you and our little boy are the best thing that’s ever happened to me. You’ve changed me. Made me a better man.”

“I love you too,” she murmured. “But I’m gonna need you to stop sounding like you’re saying goodbye.”

I chuckled weakly and brushed my lips over her forehead. “I don’t want to. But if?—”

She cut me off by standing on her toes and kissing me again. “Nope. No ifs, mi amor. Nothing’s going to happen. No one’s going anywhere except back home. You hear me?”

Blowing out a long breath, I nodded, but before I could say anything in response, a knock sounded on the door.

As I headed to look out the peephole, I swallowed down the bile rising in my throat. My heart started to pound so hard that I thought I might pass out while terror and adrenaline coursed through my veins like white-hot lava. Even when I found Leo and our second guard, Henry, on the other side rather than the woman who haunted my nightmares, my anxiety didn’t lessen.

“Leo. Henry,” I mumbled as I opened the door and let them into the suite.

“Hey. You two ready to go?” Leo asked as we walked down the short hallway and into the bedroom, where Dani was now sitting on the couch.

“Yep, all set,” Dani said with a tense smile.

“You’ll be happy to know we got Lina and Isaac safely into their car and on their way. They’ll be waiting to meet up with us in Naples. We’re zig-zagging a little to try to get Vicki off our tail if she decides to follow us,” he announced.

The knot in my stomach loosened just a fraction at the knowledge that at least my son was safe. We were far from out of the woods – hell, Dani and I hadn’t even set foot outside this room yet – but at least Isaac was on his way to safety.

“Thank God,” Dani breathed as she stood up and walked over to me, burrowing herself into my side.

“And we did a sweep of the path from here to the parking garage, but we still need to keep a sharp eye out until we get to the car,” Henry added. “She could easily still be here.”

I nodded and grabbed the two duffels off the couch, slinging them across my back, then laid the garment bags containing my tux and Dani’s dress over my arm. Throwing our second diaper bag – the one we hadn’t left with Lina – over her shoulder and grabbing her purse, Dani pulled up the app for the hotel up on her phone and checked us out.

“Okay, let’s do this,” I said, blowing out a long breath.

We were maybe twenty yards away from the Hummer when the door to a small, run-down coupe opened not even ten feet in front of us and a woman I barely even recognized stepped out. Tripping over her own two feet, she slapped a hand on the roof of her car to steady herself before turning toward us.

Gone were the slimy, calculated smile, perfectly straightened bottle-blonde hair, and name-brand dresses that were a size too small. Now, Vicki was disheveled, frizzy hair sticking out all over the place like she hadn’t brushed it in a day or two, and the red dress she was wearing hung loosely off her stick-thin frame. She’d easily lost twenty pounds in the past few weeks, and her eyes were glassy and bloodshot like she was drunk or high…or both.

“Braden!” she slurred as she started to stumble in my direction.

“Stay the hell away from me, Vicki,” I warned, moving in front of Dani and guiding her to stand behind me while I used every last bit of energy I had not to completely lose it.

My heart was pounding in my ears, so fast that my head was spinning and I felt like I was going to pass out. Nausea churned in my gut, threatening to expel last night’s dinner, and my entire body was trembling in terror.

“Don’t do this, baby,” she whined like a small child as she kept walking toward me. “Don’t throw us away like this! I love you! I’vealwaysloved you!”

“Don’t come any closer,” I choked out, barely audible.

I was trying like hell to keep the terror out of my voice, but damn it, I just couldn’t do it. A fucking hippopotamus had taken up residence on my chest and was slowly crushing me, depriving me of oxygen.

“But we’re supposed to be together!” she wailed. “Why the fuck couldn’t you just see me?! Don’t you know how much itkilledme to see you fuck all those other girls? To watch you play happy fucking family with this bitch and her little brat? It was supposed to beme, damn it!”

My knees buckled as I registered the flash of metal before she was waving a snub-nose revolver that looked like it had been bought on the street in the air. Within less than two seconds, Leoand Henry had their guns trained on her while she pointed hers at me with quivering hands.

“Put down the gun, Vicki,” Leo warned. “Don’t make me shoot you.”

“Shoot me, and I’m taking him with me,” she growled. “He was supposed to loveme! He wasn’t supposed to ruin my fucking life! I’ve losteverythingbecause of him!”

“Vicki, I know how much you’re hurting,” came Dani’s wobbly voice as she stepped out from behind me.

“Shut up, you fucking cunt!” she screamed, firing a shot into the air.

I heard the shattering of glass nearby and then the blaring of a car alarm, so loud I could barely hear myself think.

---