Page 6 of Kings & Carnage

Shouting sounded from the hallway and we all turned to look at the door to Rock’s room. Together, we were the eye of a never-ending fucking storm, carnage following us wherever we went.

If there was trouble, it was safest to assume it had something to do with us.

My suspicions were confirmed a few seconds later when Celeste Russo Alinari burst through the door in head-to-toe Gucci, her garishly made-up face contorted in outrage.

Chapter3

Willa

Ishouldn’t have been happy to see her. She’d told Roberto — intentionally or otherwise — where to find us. Neo and Oscar were obviously injured (I didn’t buy their macho bullshit, I wanted to see under those hospital gowns) and Rock was in real trouble.

We could have been killed.

But what can I say? I’d just been through something traumatic. I’d woken up in ahospital.

And she was still my mom.

“Where is my— ” Her gaze landed on me and she heaved a sigh of relief. “There you are! Thank god!”

She clicked toward me on a pair of gold stilettos and yanked me into her embrace.

I winced, my body still sore from the car crash, and allowed myself a few seconds to sink against her silk cheetah-print blouse.

But it wasn’t right. Her favorite perfume had been replaced with something new and probably a lot more expensive and her once-curvaceous body had been punished into a whiplike version of herself that felt completely unfamiliar.

She pulled back to look at me. “I can’tbelieveit took them so long to notify me. I’ll be filing a complaint with the police department in this hodunk town.”

“I’m not a minor anymore,” I said weakly. “They wouldn’t call you unless I asked and I was unconscious until about an hour ago.”

I didn’t know why I bothered defending the police department in thishodunk town, wherever that was. I had no idea where they’d brought us after the accident, but my mom thought any small town was hodunk if it was shabby. If it was cute she called it quaint.

“Absurd!” she declared before looking me over. “You look all right. Are you all right? What happened?”

I looked from her to Neo and Oscar, standing next to Rock’s bed like a couple of bodyguards. Neo had a vicious scowl on his face, and I couldn’t say I blamed him. After what had happened — what Roberto’s men had done to us — it was obvious we were at war.

I didn’t believe my mom had known what would happen if she told Roberto where we were — she was oblivious, not pathological — but once I told her the truth, she would have to pick a side.

“Let’s talk somewhere else,” I said. I didn’t know if Rock could hear us, but I didn’t want the stressful energy in his room.

“I’ll come with you,” Neo and Oscar said in unison.

I stared them both down. “No, you won’t. We’re in a hospital. I’ll be fine.”

It was time to have the conversation I’d been on the way to having when Roberto’s men had started shooting at Rock and me. It wasn’t going to be easy, and my mom deserved privacy when she heard the truth about her new husband.

I led her out into the hall and headed for a group of chairs set up near a bank of windows.

I had to blink against the bright December light streaming in through the wall of glass. Just yesterday we’d left the island and parted ways with Neo and Oscar in the marina parking lot, but it felt like a lifetime ago.

“I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner,” my mom said, taking a seat in one of the chairs and dropping her giant designer bag in the one next to her. “I waited at the restaurant and then tried to call when you didn’t show.”

“It’s not your fault.” I lowered myself carefully into the chair across from her and winced as pain tore through my upper body. Whatever painkillers they had me on were wearing off fast. “But this — all of this — is why I was coming to meet you.”

She frowned. “What do you mean?”

“There’s no easy way to say this, so I’m just going to say it.” I drew in a breath, wishing we’d been able to have this conversation yesterday, minus the whole shot-at-and-run-off-the-road thing. “Roberto is involved in Emma’s disappearance. And not just Emma’s disappearance — the disappearance of other girls from Bellepoint too.”

I didn’t know what I’d expected, but it wasn’t the utterly blank expression on her face. “I honestly can’t imagine what you’re talking about, Willa.”

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