Page 30 of Kiss of Death
Sofia pressed her lips together and looked at Otto like she had heard his inner thoughts. She pulled the gun off of him and her gaze shifted to Smoke. “If you see him getting soft, put a bullet in her and him and bring their bodies back to me.”
Otto heard Gia’s gasp, and Smoke stiffened at the request. He slowly nodded, agreeing to Sofia’s command, but the way he grabbed onto Gia when she tried to step away from him let Otto know Smoke wasn’t going to do anything that would hurt Gia.
Otto might be able to save himself and Ivy after all.
Ivy’s hands shook as she tried to get her key in the damn lock. She dropped her keys on the floor and cursed under her breath. She bent down to pick them up when she heard a sound behind her. She jumped up expecting to see Sofia, Smoke—shit the boogeyman at this point—with a shovel and body bag ready for her. She fucked over not only Otto but also the Barbati organization by helping Bruno. It wouldn’t matter to them that she was trying to save her sister. She betrayed them and they would make her pay, whenever they caught her.
Ivy let out a breath, trying to calm her rattled nerves. Once her hands stopped shaking long enough for her to get the key in the lock, she opened the door on a softclick. She quickly shut the door behind her and leaned her head up against it. She didn’t have time to be sorry—she barely had time to catch her breath, but that didn’t stop her thoughts from shifting to the man she left tied to the stripper pole on the stage at Tres Bellas.
She’d kissed him with everything she had, and she could still feel the burn of his lips against hers. She had wanted to tell him everything and had been warring with it since Bruno’s last visit. She convinced herself that maybe Otto could help, but it had been too late already. Things were set in motion that she couldn’t stop.
Ivy closed her eyes, and she felt the tears trickle down her face. She was out of the club before the fire started, but she couldn’t escape the flames. They taunted her the entire ride to her apartment, her thoughts steady on the man she betrayed and might have helped kill. She wanted to turn on the television to see if there was any news on the club, but her phone buzzed in her hand.
She looked down and saw a text from a number she didn’t recognize. Her heart sank as she read the words.
Your sister is at 111-13 14th ave. She is waiting for your pick up.
I hope you’re satisfied with your freedom and understand that everything comes at a cost, my pet. If Sofia doesn’t find you first, know that I will. You’ll always belong to me.
Ivy’s body gave out, and she collapsed to the floor. Pain she never felt before ricocheted through her, making her cry out. Her head swam, and the tears she always kept at bay came streaming down her face in full force—she could no longer keep everything inside of her.
He promised her—promised her freedom was hers to have, hers and her sister’s.
And he delivered it in the form of death.
Ivy’s body continued to shake, knowing she had betrayed her little sister too. She promised Eve she’d get her out of this life and she hadn’t. Instead, she got her killed. That address Bruno texted her was the same address as Tres Bellas, and it was currently going up in flames with Otto and Eve trapped inside.
“What have I done?”
IVY WALKED BACK TO HERhotel. She used cash and a fake name to check in, not like it mattered much to her anyway. She hadn’t gotten very far in her quest for freedom. Her heart and feet refused to leave this god-awful city. She had nowhere to go. Her body was numb—only operating on autopilot. She didn’t understand how there was a world without her sister in it? How the hell could she go home to face her mom now?
Ivy wiped away the tears that hadn’t stopped coming. As soon as she got the text from Bruno, she ran back to Tres Bellas in time to see that Otto had made it out alive. She was momentarily grateful until they locked eyes and he stared at her with hatred.
Why he hadn’t alerted Sofia and Smoke that she was there didn’t make sense to her, but she didn’t have enough time to understand his motives. She watched as EMTs loaded a body bag into the back of their ambulance. Whatever self-preservation she still held on to kept her rooted by her car, instead of running over there demanding they unzip the bag, so she could see with her own eyes what she already knew was true.
As soon as the ambulance left, she followed them all the way to the hospital and had to beg to see the body. No one wanted to let her in to say goodbye to her baby sister without the proper ID, but someone showed mercy on her and led her down the cold and lifeless hallway that led to the morgue.
When they unzipped the bag, she gagged at the smell of burnt flesh and screamed at the sight of her lifeless little sister’s burnt body. She screamed her rage, her pain, and for all the mistakes she made. She screamed until the air left her lungs and she collapsed on the floor begging anyone who would listen to take her life instead of her sister’s.
Ivy woke up sometime later in a hospital bed with the sound of machines beeping around her. She let hope wash over her that the last few years had all been a crazy nightmare, but when the nurse came in to check on her, she knew she hadn’t woken up in a life that allowed her sister to still be alive.
She checked herself out of the hospital, left her car, and headed for the nearest hotel. Whatever plans she had for her life after she was granted her freedom went up in smoke, and her survival instincts were at an all-time low. She put zero effort into hiding. She knew it was only a matter of time before they found her, and she didn’t care anymore.
Ivy put her keycard in the door and opened it. As soon as she flicked the lights on in her hotel room, a figure wearing all black moved out in front of her, wrapping a hand around her throat. A mask covered her assailant’s face. She felt the press of a gun in her stomach and knew this was it, someone had found her and was here to kill her.
“Don’t scream,” her assailant commanded her. She knew that voice. It belonged to Smoke, and she wasn’t the least bit surprised he was the one who found her first. “I thought for sure you’d try a little harder than this to run.”
“Are you here to kill me?” she questioned, wondering what he was waiting for.
“He won’t, but I might. Though, I think death would be too easy for you. My poison Ivy.”
Her body relaxed at the sound of his voice. She hadn’t been sure if she would ever see him again, but when her gaze shifted past Smoke’s imposing form, she caught a glimpse of Otto leaning up against one of the walls in all black with gloves on and a gun in one of his hands. She could see the bruising on his face, and even in her current circumstances, she instinctively wanted to comfort him. That whirlwind attraction that had always been between them hadn’t lessened at all—at least not for her.
Every part of her body awakened at the sound of his voice, including her heartbeat, and he was here to silence it.
Otto put the safety on his gun and put it in his waistband, and Smoke took his ski mask off but still had the gun pressed into Ivy’s stomach. Otto knew he’d find her again; he just didn’t think it would be this easy. It was like she had been trying to get caught. He whistled for Smoke to let her go because he wanted to get a good look at her. He was pissed, but that pull they had between them still made him want her.
He was either the biggest sucker in the world or crazy because the second he took in her puffy, tired eyes, all he wanted to do was wrap her in his arms and tell her it was going to be okay, even if it wasn’t.
