Page 13 of Under His Embrace

Like what, though?Romeo was settling in to chat, and it was with a heavy stomach of discomfort that I realized he’d be asking me questions. Franco seemed to want nothing to do with me.

And how can I blame him, anyway?

“Chloe?”

I blinked, jarred from my musings. “Where’s Franco?”

Romeo shrugged. “Busy. So, tell me. How come we’re experiencing this blast from the past, reuniting like this?”

I heaved in a deep breath, almost grateful for the chance to talk about this. Ever since those men came into the deli, I’d been bottling it all up. “I reported to A&J’s for my shift, but ten minutes into it, two men burst in from the front door and started shooting the place up. I dropped in the back storage area and hid. I had no clue what was going on. I was so terrified, I froze and balled up, hoping I would stay out of sight.”

“Did you recognize them?”

I shook my head and described what I could. “They wore masks, too. From where I sat, I couldn’t see too much of the shop floor, but I saw Manny and Suzie on the—” My throat tightened at the flashback.

Romeo uncapped the water bottle and offered it to me. “Go at your own pace.”

I nodded, then sipped the offered water. “They were dead, lying in all that blood on the floor.”

“Did they say anything?”

I frowned. “Manny and Suzie? No, they didn’t have a chance to do more than scream.”

“I meant the shooters.”

“No. If they spoke to each other, I didn’t hear it over the gunfire. As soon as I heard them, I hid.”

He sighed. “Then what?”

“I slipped out the back, thinking I could just run. I walked to work—I mean, so far. I only moved to the city a couple of weeks ago and happened to buy a couple of things in the deli when Manny said they were looking to hire some help.” I shrugged. It was strange how that felt like ages ago but had only happened two weeks in the past.

“As soon as I got outside, another man appeared—another one in a mask—and he shot at me. I dove for the van and just focused on getting the hell out of there. The next thing I know, they were chasing me in that truck. I got lost in the city, which kind of helped to lose them, but they caught up to me on the highway. The van was about to lose gas near Beckson, so I swerved to get off the ramp there and hid in that nasty motel room. I didn’t know where else to go. I didn’t have my phone or money or anything.”I hate reliving this.“I was so exhausted that I passed out. But they came back. I don’t know why they waited all night, maybe the rain, but they searched the motel andI knew I was cornered. But then Liam and Franco were there and…”

“And they took care of those men.” He asked a few more questions about the shooting, but I didn’t have anything else to add. I didn’t know anything. It happened so suddenly, and I’d only been working there for so long.

“What about—” Romeo stopped speaking when Franco entered the room.

I sat up, taking note of his stern demeanor as he stalked in. “I can handle it from here.” He set his hand on Romeo’s back. The tall, tatted man nodded, then stood.

“You sure?” Romeo glanced back at me.

“Yeah. All recorded.” Franco sat and nodded at the phone recording the audio of this conversation.

“Okay. I’ll wait to speak with you afterward,” Romeo told him. “Drink that water,” he advised me as he headed for the door. “You look dehydrated.”

No, just tired. Of life. Of struggling. Of all of it.But I dutifully showed him the bottle then took a sip. It served as a prop, at any rate.

Franco wasn’t going to let anything stop him from asking me questions. He must have been listening to what I told Romeo because he didn’t start with the shooting. He went further back.

“Why were you working at that deli?” His tone was firm, mad, even, and I didn’t want to decipher why he’d be angry at me. I was the victim here.

“I didn’t know it was associated with your family.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

I narrowed my eyes, hating that he’d be this confrontational. Then again, with the way I left him, why wouldn’t he be? “I wanted a job that paid under the table.”

“Why?”

---