Page 174 of Unorthodox
I run to the car, start it up and with shaking hands, open up the maps on the phone.
There’s one address already entered in. South Carolina.
Danik would have no trouble getting here from Alexandria, and if Mamie says he’s here, at this address, then he’s here.
She told me she’d been in contact with him since my first week here.
Since she saw what Max let Ben do to me.
She didn’t approach me until the night before the party.
And last night, with Luca’s men, she promised me she had nothing to do with that. That she never spoke to Luca alone, never told him anything about Max, or me, or the house.
It could’ve been anyone else.
It could’ve been anyone, except I remember seeing Dante escort a man to the door, one evening back when I thought I might still escape.
I’d tiptoed to my door, found it unlocked. Slowly, I had pulled it open, peered into the hall.
I’d made it as far as the front door, but Dante had stopped me.
Dante, after he let a man with dark hair and dark skin step outside. After he bid him goodnight.
Dante’s eyes had found mine, and he’d seemed more startled than angry. More surprised than upset. He had nodded toward my room, hand on his gun, but he hadn’t said a word.
Mamie could be lying to me about Luca, but she had nothing to gain from that.
Whatever Luca wanted me for, it wasn’t Mamie that told him about the security in Max’s house. About the alarm, the staff, the best chances for breaking in.
Where my room was.
That wasn’t Mamie at all.
That was Dante.And maybe he was trying to save me too. Maybe Luca betrayed him just as much as he betrayed Max.
Maybe I was right all along, that someone would come for me.
Maybe good people do exist, and I found them in Dante and Mamie.
If only Dante had lived. If only Mamie would too.
“Get in the fucking car, Mamie.”She stares at me with wide eyes, her hand over her mouth as I tighten the shirt around my arm with my teeth. I feel faint, my pulse sluggish in my ears, but I can’t afford to see a doctor.
Not yet.
I can’t waste anymore words on Mamie either as I head down the stairs, the fingers of my good arm curled tight around the bannister. Every step makes my head spin, and spots explode in front of my eyes.
She fucking shot me.
I hear Mamie come down the stairs after me when I’m almost to the first floor, the door unlocked, my doorman gone.
Mamie’s doing.
When this is all over, I’m going to shoot her in the face, but for now, I need her to fucking drive.
“Max, you need to—”
I spin around to face her, the pain in my shoulder and my bicep nearly sending me to my knees. I grit my teeth, close my eyes, and try to stay standing. “We aregoing after her.” The words take effort to grind out, but I can’t let her go.
