Page 86 of Inferno
‘They’ll find us, Mom. There’s no way out of this life. Don’t you get it? Jack’s got all that money in the diner. He’s got all the resources in the world.’ I picked up the key and bran-dished it between us. ‘He’s got his damn safe inour diner. Donata’s watching us. I don’t know what the Falcones are going to do any more than you do, but I know we don’t have enough to get away from them. We won’t be able to hide. I was supposed to choose, and I chose wrong.’
Nic’s words rang in my head.She’s a fucking Marino.
The look on Luca’s face.
My mother took the key from my hand. ‘Well, then, let’s get the resources,’ she said, her voice spiking. ‘If they’re going to treat us like Marinos then let’s act like them.’
I eyed the key. ‘No way.’
‘Yes way,’ she said. ‘It’s the only way.’
‘We can’t take their money!’ I hissed. ‘Are you crazy?’
‘Yes! I’m crazy with worry and this is the only way out. Let’s take it and get the head start we need.’
I shook my head. ‘Dad would never—’
‘Your father isn’t here!’
We huddled around that key, scrolling through all the ways tonight could blow up in our faces. The underworld was moving around us. We had to go. Eat or be eaten.
‘It’s too dangerous,’ I whispered. ‘The Falcones are watching the diner. They’ll kill us.’
‘No, they won’t. They won’t suspect us. They’re looking for Jack, remember?’
‘You didn’t see them.’ I thought of the horror in Nic’s eyes. The moment he had looked at me like I had betrayed him. ‘You don’t know what they’re capable of.’
She stuffed it in her pocket. ‘I know the stakes, Sophie. We’ve got a little time. Donata thinks you’re on side, remember? She said she’d come here first to brief you. And she hasn’t yet. “Soon” is not tonight.’
‘I’ll go, then. You keep watch and I’ll go in.’
She shook her head. ‘You’re not a thief, Sophie.’
‘Neither are you!’
‘This is my job. I’m supposed to protect you. I’m supposed to keep you safe.’
I had a sudden flash of Sara Marino trying to claw the blood out of her arms at Eden.
There’s this blood in us.
‘No. I’m the Marino, remember?’
She shut her eyes tight. ‘You’re not going in there, Sophie.’
‘Fine,’ I huffed. ‘Then neither are you.’
‘Sweetheart…’
‘It’s way too dangerous. Let’s just get in the car and go. Leave the money where it is. We’ll find another way.’
There was a heavy silence. She chewed her lip, thinking. And then, at last, her shoulders dipped and she said, ‘Pack a bag. We’ll discuss it when we’re in the car.’
I left the pieces of my father’s past, the broken secret he had kept from me, and went into my bedroom and threw my whole life into a suitcase.
I was fishing a pair of shorts out from underneath my bed when the front door slammed. My heart slammed too.
My mother had reversed out of the driveway by the time I got downstairs. She sped away from me, leaving me screaming at the back of her car as the first drops of rain began to fall, heralding the storm.
