Page 51 of Relentless Oath

“Okay,” I called into the rushing wind. I hoped he was right.

We managed to reach the little dock and Dario artfully pulled the boat up to it and tied it off. He held his hand out to me, and helped me clamber up onto the wooden planks.

We hurried up the wooden steps that led up to the small local road nearby. Dario hustled me over to a small clump of trees near the road and pulled out his phone.

“Ivan? Yeah, we got out. We’re at the edge of town. Yes, by the old wharf,” he said into the phone. He turned back to look atthe road as he spoke. “Yeah, send the guys over. We need to get out of here as soon as?—”

There was a sudden screeching sound and two cars came tearing around the corner right at us.

I froze in terror, leaning up against the trees behind us, my fingers scrabbling for purchase.

Dario gave me a hard shove, launching himself into me as he threw us out of the way of the racing cars coming in our direction. He turned back over his shoulder and fired into the car.

I hit the ground with a loud thud, instantly fearing for the baby.

As I rolled over and attempted to stand up, confused by the ringing in my ears from the report of Dario’s gun, a terrible crashing sound echoed in the quiet as the car drove into the trees where we had been standing.

“Stay here,” Dario said to me, scrambling onto his feet and running after the other car. I heard more shots and the sound of another thud.

“Mya!” Dario shouted. “Come on!”

Mindlessly, I got to my feet, racing toward the sound of Dario’s voice.

I arrived just as he was pulling the driver from the second car, dumping him on the ground.

I ignored the hole in the man’s head as Dario climbed into the driver’s seat.

“Get in,” he told me.

I slid into the passenger seat. He was already accelerating away before I could even close the door. “Are you okay?”

I nodded. “Fine, just a little…” I didn’t get the words out as I suddenly felt sick. I rolled down the window to get some air, hoping that the queasiness in my stomach would disappear. The cold wind hit my face, making me gasp.

What had just happened?

Thinking of how much danger we had just been in, and how I had just fallen down so hard scared me. I closed my eyes, but it was no use. I threw up out the window, gagging and choking, not sure if I was sick or just terrified.

“Mya?” Dario called to me as he navigated a corner roughly. “Mya I’m sorry.”

“Just get us somewhere safe,” I said to him, before throwing up again.

“Why did Nico kill Jason?” I heard myself ask as I spit bile out of my mouth. “Does it have something to do with why people are trying to kill us right now?”

It was hard for me to think that Jason could have been involved in anything questionable. I wanted to call Luis and get more information about Jason’s death, but I knew I would regret involving him.

When Jason had died, I’d gotten only an overview of the circumstances surrounding his death because, at the time, it had been an ongoing investigation.

Even after the investigation was closed, I’d been pretty much kept in the dark. My knowledge of the events leading up to Jason’s death was limited. I just knew that Nico had shot him. I assumed it had been because Jason had caught him doing something illegal and had attempted to bring him in.

Jason had been a beat cop. He liked the adrenaline rush he got from doing something different every day and never knowing what his day would hold. He also liked to serve the public. That’s who he was.

Part of me was terrified that Dario would paint a different picture of Jason. We’d had money problems, but nothing more than your average middle-class American couple. I couldn’t picture Jason taking a bribe or being on the take.

And frankly, there was no way in hell Luis would do that either, but isn’t that what Dario had said? That someone close to Jason could be implicated. Besides Luis, as far as I knew, Jason had had no other close friends.

I had convinced myself that Dario was telling me lies to control me. He was hard to read; sometimes he was thoughtful, even considerate. Other times, he was distant, aloof and untouchable.

“He had a good reason,” Dario said, his voice tight. He was looking in the side mirror intensely.

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