Page 93 of Forever Fake

“That's impossible,” I tell her.

“Well, you’re the all-powerful Blake Baron, if you break a few traffic laws and the speed limit, you might be able to make it. Though I’d personally love to see it incinerated.” She hangs up and I have the sudden urge to pay off her cellmate to murder her. Actually, that’s not a bad idea.

But first, I have to make it to that warehouse in Long Beach by nine forty-five. Wasting no time, I sprint to the garage and grab the keys to my cherry red Ducati. I’m out on the street in seconds, racing to my destination.

Running several lights, I weave around vehicles in the 495 tunnel, where traffic is a clusterfuck, before emerging onto the freeway. I’m halfway to the 678 exit when my phone rings, another unknown number, and I answer it through my helmet’s speaker system.

“What?” I bark, out of patience with Yve’s fucking game playing. I wouldn’t be driving like a maniac, risking my life and the lives of others, if I didn’t want the few things of my mother’s that I saved after my father tossed everything he could, right before her funeral. They’re my last connection to her after her death—besides Liam. I’ve never told him this, but he looks so much like her it’s gut-wrenching at times.

“Baron, why the rude greeting?” Oz’s smug voice comes through my helmet’s headset.

I keep my eyes on the road. “What the fuck do you want? Prison not to your liking?”

“It was fun while it lasted. Kind of a short stay though. You see, you’re not the only one with resources and powerful friends. Now I’m breathing the fresh air of freedom.” He deeply inhales. “It’s so good.”

Motherfucker!He broke out of prison. How did I not know about this?

“What do you want, Oz?”

“I assume you’re on your way to a warehouse in Long Beach, probably racing to get there in time. But you didn’t think we’d make it that easy for you, did you?”

“What the fuck do you want?” I yell at him.

“I’ve got something precious to you. Ginny’s out cold at the moment, but she’ll come round soon enough. Stupid bitch keeps putting up a fight when she should know better by now.”

Son of a bitch.

“So, Baron, I’m going to give you a choice. You can either get to that warehouse in time, or you can come save your little slut. We’ve just pulled up to her parents’ house. The decision is all yours.”

The call ends and I shout in frustration. My chest clenches at the loss of my mother’s last remaining worldly possessions, because it already knows the choice I’ve made.

No one touches my wife and lives. Not anymore.

Cutting across traffic, I get off at the next exit, turn my motorcycle around, and head back the way I came. The sooner I get to the Pontrelli house the better. Who knows what that psycho has done to my wife. I can’t wait to kill the fucker.

CHAPTER 44

Ginevra

“He won’t come for me,” I explain to Oliver after overhearing his conversation with Blake. “We’re getting a divorce. He doesn’t love me, so there’s no way he’s going to come here, which is obviously a trap. He’s not that stupid.”

Oliver backhands me and I cower in the passenger seat. We’re right outside my parents’ home, and I’m not sure why.

“He’ll come.” Oliver gets out of the car, unlocks my side and drags me out by my hair. His other hand holds a gun. “Let’s go see Mommy and Daddy.”

“Why? Why are we here? You don’t need to involve them in any of this.”

Oliver glances down at me like I said something stupid. “How else am I going to get your father’s approval? I need to show your parents how good I am for you, how much I love you, so that they’ll accept me into the family.”

I stare at him, speechless. He’s fucking insane.

The side of my face throbs, and the cool September air brushes against my clammy skin. Panic keeps pushing at the corners of my mind, but I hold it back, I can have a meltdown once this is all over—assuming that I’ll still be alive.

A foreign sense of calm settles over me at that thought.

Our housekeeper answers the door and Oliver barges inside, firing two shots into her head. I scream, unprepared for the violence.

At the sound, the two guards on duty run into the foyer, where Oliver holds me in front of him like a shield and guns them down. Papa rounds the corner, weapon in hand, and for a second I think that he’ll take the shot right through me to kill Oliver.

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