Page 21 of Dangerous Secrets

“We’re here,” Leo announces, putting the car in park. The sudden jolt from movement to a stopped position makes me lurch forward and the seatbelt holds me in place. I don’t even remember buckling it, which means Leo did that for me too. This drug is so powerful it’s making me forget things. So maybe I would remember her and the entire attack if I hadn’t been shot with her dart.

It's another struggle once Leo gets me out of the car. I’m bigger than him. It’s impossible for him to carry me, but I do my best to use my legs and propel myself up Dominic’s stairs and inside his house. There’s a woman here with towels and a wheelchair, waiting at the door. I don’t recognize her, maybe one of Brewster’s nurses. He’s a vet, not a doctor, but he’s got staff to help.

So slumping into the wheelchair, I’m relieved I don’t have to walk. She pushes the chair quickly through the house as Leo walks beside me taking the bloody towel and replacing it with a clean one. They chat quietly, but I can’t make out what they’re saying. My breathing is shallow now. It feels like I’m barely getting enough air, and there’s a pressure on my chest that tells me things aren’t good. I can hear how fast my heart is beating as the blood thrums past my eardrums.

“Well what do we have here?” Brewster is ready, hands held in front of himself as if he’s cradling a baby, but they’re clean and gloved. His hair is covered with a blue paper cap, and there’s a mask on his face, but I know it’s him.

“Stab wound. He needs to be stitched up so the bleeding stops.” Leo helps the nurse position the chair next to the dining table of all places. With Dad now occupying one of Dominic’s rooms and Matty taking up the room designated for medical needs, I suppose there isn’t really another place for this. I get my feet under me and start to rise, and Leo is there to guide my fall as I crash down onto the table. He lifts my legs and rolls me to the side then tears my shirt away.

It's cold, and Brewster’s fingers feel like ice. He gives me a few jabs with a needle and then another in the bicep, I’m assuming antibiotics. I try to keep my eyes open and watch him as he works but I’m tired. I do notice when Dominic comes in though. He smells like cigars and whiskey. I feel like he never sleeps. He always looks fresh even at three-thirty a.m.

“He got the best of you?” Dominic stands by the table leaning over me next to Brewster. I can’t feel the stitches going in but I feel his hands pressing on my side. I know in just a few minutes he’ll have me sewn shut and clean and I can collapse on Dominic’s couch and rest.

“She…” I mutter, wincing as Brewster pushes down hard on my rib cage.

“Mmmm, she…” Dominic sounds curious. “A woman took you out?”

I reach for the dart in my pocket to realize it’s not there. Leo tore my shirt off. My brain fog is getting worse. I know it’s from the drug. “In my shirt pocket, there’s a dart.” Talking makes me cough again, and I can’t help but wonder if it’s from the kick to the face, maybe she clipped my neck too. Or maybe the toxin didn’t just make me sleepy. Maybe I am dying.

“Here, Dom.” Leo reaches over me, passing the bloody dart with red feathers to my oldest brother. Dominic studies it, then brings it to his nose and smells it. He looks down at me.

“Perfume… Saffron and…” He smells it again and says, “Sage.” Then he hands it back to Leo. “We’ll run some tests on it, find out what she shot you with.”

“We’ve had it all wrong, Dom. We’ve been searching for a man. That’s why we haven’t tracked her down.” I cough a bit and close my eyes. “We can draw her out, set a time to meet, put Leo and Sven on the rooftops. We’ll get her. She’ll go down once for all.”

Someone pats my shoulder and Dominic says, “I’ll leave that to you and Sven. I have my hands full with Dad right now… Brewster, get him sewn up and look into that dart. We need to know what she dosed him with and we need to know tonight.”

I listen to his footsteps retreat and try to stay awake, but it’s impossible. Even before Brewster is finished I’m dozing again and dreaming of how I’m going to take L’ombra out. Whatever happens, my revenge has to be swift. This is personal now, and I intend to work fast.

As soon as my body allows me…

14

BIANCA

My sites are trained on the head of one of the Gusev brothers who stands in the front window of the bookstore across the street. I lay stretched over the gravel roof peering through the scope of my rifle watching what’s happening. I’ve given Roman his warning, though I hated doing it. But it was necessary. Still, I hope to speak with him tonight. I know his family is hunting me, though they don’t know who I am yet, but I need to get through to him. Our baby’s life depends on it.

I didn’t have to bring my rifle, either, but if I had left without it, Tony would have followed me. I told him I was hunting, and I am. I’m just not planning to kill. I can’t. Roman is the father of my child. How could I kill my child’s father? What would I tell her when she grows up? How would I raise her without his support? And what would that say about me as a person. Yes, I’m a trained killer, but I can’t fathom this. Not at all.

I watch and wait until one by one they leave. I haven’t seen the oldest, Dominic. His leadership over the family probably has him busy elsewhere, but the others were here, all three of them and Rome. They had some sort of meeting, maybe about Alexsi and his impending death, or maybe about the hunt for L’ombra. But they’re all driving away now, and I need to see him. It’s been almost a week and I can’t keep putting this conversation off. Not with the way my body is changing.

I pack up the gun and carry it down to the ground floor, stashing it near the dumpster before crossing the street. The light inside the bookstore is still on, illuminating the windows in front. I can see Rome standing in the center of the store leaning on a bookshelf. I’ve never been in the building, though I’ve lain on that rooftop a few times to spy on them. If Tony knew they were almost all in one place tonight, he’d have had me blow the entire thing up, take them all out, but I didn’t tell him I was coming. And I didn’t know they’d all be here.

The bell jingles as I open the door and walk in. The scent of musty books greets me, making my stomach churn a little. I’m dressed in leggings and a baggy sweater, not my typical show attire that Rome normally sees me in. So when he turns to look at me and seems surprised and confused, I smile and wiggle my fingers at him. Recognition dawns on him and his face relaxes as another man, larger and darker than him, rounds the corner of the shelf.

Dominic.

I swallow hard, not realizing he was even here. He has to have been in the building before the others even arrived. I watched them all come in and leave. They entered and exited alone.

“Can we help you?” he asks, tucking his suit coat behind his weapon and no doubt it’s loaded and he will use it on me. It’s late, past ten p.m., and the shop closes at six. I have no business here, except to see Rome, but even those words seem to elude me.

“It’s okay, Dom. She’s with me.” Rome waves off his brother's very real concern and turns to take my hand. Dominic, however, gives me a once over. He’s curious and suspicious and he fucking should be. I’m the one he is hunting. I’m the dangerous criminal who may take his life very soon. And the way he looks at me says maybe he knows that.

“Hey,” I mumble, letting Rome stand between me and his brother. If he knew who I am, would they kill me now?

“Who’s your friend?” Dominic lets his coat cover his piece, but he stares at me with a hard glare.

“This, dear brother, is Bianca Moretti.” Rome hooks his arm around my waist and pulls me against his side. I’m sore still, the gash on my skin still healing. I have bruises too, but those are all carefully covered with very good makeup that I’ve proven will not rub off this time. It’s stage makeup, not my normal stuff. I can’t afford a slip up, not now that I know they’re hunting me.

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