Page 2 of Chasing Danger

Traffic finally thinned out when we left the borders of the city and we flew down the highway at a much faster speed. It was only then, as I watched the familiar landscape pass by, that I realized I had no idea where we were going.

“Baltimore,” Eva said when I asked.

“Baltimore?” I would never be so unsophisticated as to openly gape at her, but it was close. “Why are we going there? I have no business in Baltimore.”

“You have a meeting there tonight, and it’ll take over three hours to travel by car, so we need to leave now.”

“Tell them to reschedule. I haven’t slept in nearly forty hours. I’m not going to Baltimore tonight.”

She turned in the front seat just enough to look into the back of the car. Her blue eyes, even paler than my own, laughed at me.

“The head of the Mariano family requested this meeting.”

I sat up straighter in my seat. “Never mind. Keep driving.”

Alex Mariano?

What did the newly christened leader of the whole Italian Mafia want to talk about?

There’d been some drama when Alex first took over for his father, which I had helped with, but surely that was all over now. Last I heard, Alex had been settling in well as he took over his father’s affairs.

So, what was he doing in Baltimore?

The Mariano family had their finger in nearly every pie possible, but as far as I knew, nothing important was happening in Baltimore right now.

Fuck, I was tired.

Whatever Alex needed to talk about was likely not going to be resolved quickly.

It was days like this that I was glad I’d paid extra for a car with reclining back seats. Leaning my seat back as far as it would go, I pulled off my jacket and draped it over my face to block out the sunlight.

“Wake me when we get there.”

CHAPTER 2

Oliver

My day started,like most days, with the smell of smoke in my nose and the flickering light of flames in my eyes. I’d once again dreamed about the day our family house burned down, and the heat still seemed trapped within the scar tissue on my face, despite being nearly fifteen years in the past.

Shaking off the nightmare, I rose for the day and started getting ready. My shift at the coffee shop started early, and the house was blissfully silent at six in the morning. Sitting at the kitchen table by myself, I idly drew a few ideas in my sketchbook with one hand while feeding myself toast with the other. Breakfast was the only time I had to myself, and while I hated waking up so early, I appreciated the silence.

It never lasted for long.

“Shouldn’t you be leaving?” my grandmother said when she eventually emerged from her own bedroom. Technically, the whole house belonged to her. My mother, brother, and I justlived there. However, her old legs could no longer manage the stairs, so we lived upstairs while she stayed on the main floor.

If I didn’t need to use the kitchen, I could have avoided her entirely.

As soon as the thought entered my mind, I chased it away. I should be grateful. She let us live in her house rent free. Without that generosity, there was no telling where we would have ended up.

“I’m leaving soon, Nana,” I said as I packed my bag for the day. My sketchbook joined my barista uniform in the vain hope that I’d be able to draw more on my break.

It never happened, but I continued to remain optimistic.

As I was heading out the door, a car pulled up in front of the house. The woman who stepped out waved cheerfully at me before opening the back seat to collect her supplies.

I waved back, keeping a neutral expression on my face even as my grandmother stepped up beside me.

“Waste of money.”

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