Page 16 of Code Name: Dante

“Don’t lie. There was something more.”

“I don’t want to say it out loud.”

“Unless something happens to the shop? Was that it?”

He hung his head and nodded. “I did this. If I’d stayed away, they wouldn’t know…”

“You don’t think they know about Alice? Or Pershing? Or any of the other guys? I know you warned Alice. I know you showed up. They know it too.”

“But there, you can be protected, and when the trial is over, I’ll take you anywhere you want to go. You and your grandmother.Anywhere.”

I shook my head. “I don’t want to be anywhere but here. Not as long as Gram…” Now, it was me who didn’t want to say it out loud, but as long as she was alive, Gloversville, this house, would be my home. “We should go,” I said before he could.

“What can I do to help?”

“I need to pack my things and Gram’s. She’ll need her medications from the bathroom cabinet.” There were so many other things she’d need that I didn’t know where to start. I brought my hand to my head and turned my back to Alessandro, not wanting him to see my tears, to know I was feeling sorry for myself.

When he stepped behind me, I wanted to lean against him and have him put his arms around me just for a few seconds. I wanted to experience the same feeling I had when he and I danced at the wedding.

Before I could give in to the temptation, my phone rang with a call from the florist whose business was next door to the coffee shop. I walked over to the window, as far from Alessandro as I could get in this room, and answered.

“Hey, Karen.”

“Lark! Where are you? Oh my God, your basement is flooding, and I’m afraid it’ll spill into ours.”

“What?” I gasped.

“We have everything up high, but?—”

“Okay, I’ll be right there.”

“The basement is flooding,” I said as I raced past him.

He stayed on my heels as I ran down the stairs.

“Stay with Mrs. Gregory,” I heard him say to Tank. “The guys are coming with me.”

I was already out the door, on my way to the driveway to get in my car, by the time he finished his sentence.

“Lark, get in!” he yelled, motioning to the SUV parked in front of our house.

Rather than waste time arguing, I climbed in the open back passenger door. After telling the guy waiting with the other SUV where we were going, he got in behind me.

As the vehicletore through the quiet streets of Gloversville, my heart pounded, not just from the flooding crisis but from the growing certainty that this wasn’t a coincidence. Not after the threatening letters and the suspicious car.

“How old is the plumbing in that building?” Alessandro asked, eyes scrunched and brow furrowed.

“Original to when it was converted from the factory showroom.” I gripped the door handle as we took a corner. “But Gram had everything checked last spring. It was fine.”

He exchanged a look with the driver that made my stomach clench.

“What aren’t you telling me?” I snapped.

“Flooding’s a classic intimidation tactic,” he said quietly. “Damage the merchandise, make the insurance claims skyrocket, and force business owners to sell at a loss.”

“My family’s already been through that once,” I spat, though my anger wasn’t really directed at him. “We’re not going through it again.”

We pulled up to the shop just as Karen emerged from her flower store, wringing her hands. “It’s getting worse,” she called out. “I looked in the alley window. The water’s rising fast.”

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