Page 36 of Ruthless Vow

And then he’s gone. And Charlie is gone.

My heart breaks even though I know I did the right thing. He’ll be safe with Luca.

Numb, I cross to the TV and turn it on, then settle in the armchair, scrolling mindlessly through the channels. I watch a sitcom. Then another. As soon as they’re over, I’ve already forgotten what they were about. I click through channels, finally stopping at the local news.

“Good evening,” a female voice says. “Tonight we begin with breaking updates on the explosion that destroyed a local motel and left the community shaken. Four days ago, a powerful blast tore through the Desert Mirage Motel, reducing much of the building to rubble and leaving investigators scrambling for answers.”

“What?” I surge to my feet, a shiver chasing along my spine.

I was staying at the Desert Mirage.

“Local authorities have confirmed that the blast was caused by an improvised explosive device planted in one of the rooms. Eight people sustained injuries, ranging from minor cuts to broken bones and serious burns. There were no fatalities. The surrounding area remains cordoned off as investigators search for clues.”

The image on screen cuts to the smoking remains of the motel.

The majority of the damage is at the south end of the single-story building. The walls are blown out, chunks of debris scattered across the ground, extending into the parking lot. Blackened scorch marks stain the ground. The roof in that section is caved in, with beams and insulation hanging loose.

I feel like I’ve been dropped in an ice bath, a chill sinking through my bones.

The image cuts to a police spokesperson.

“We are looking at surveillance footage from the area and asking witnesses to come forward. Any detail could be crucial to the investigation.”

I watch as the image cuts to an on-scene reporter and then back to the anchorwoman.

“Authorities have yet to determine the motive behind the bombing, though they believe it was targeted.”

She doesn’t identify the target. I don’t need her to.

The target was me.

If Leo hadn’t kidnapped me from the cemetery, I would have been in that room. I would be dead.

I stumble back and fall into the armchair, my whole body shaking.

Who tried to kill me? No one knew I was staying at that motel, in that room, except…

I remember the note I left for my aunt at my father’s grave. On it were the motel’s coordinates and a single word:please.The only ones who would have seen that note are my aunt’s people.

And now the motel at those coordinates is a pile of ash and rubble and debris.

Two bombs targeting two Morettis: my father and now, me.

Leo was holding me here—wherever here is—when that bomb went off. He had no reason to blow up the Desert Mirage Motel.

Whoever planted that bomb expected me to be at the motel.

Fear chokes me.

Someone in my aunt’s organization is planting bombs, and the Morettis are the target.

I need to reach Bianca, warn her before it’s too late. I need to protect my sister. What if Sofia is next?

12

Leo

Nicole triggersa reaction in me that I can’t explain. Hot lust and violence. A hint of tenderness. It’s the tenderness that’s unfamiliar, the tenderness that’s undoing me.

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