Page 52 of Primo DeLuca

I drove around the back, going way too fast in a parking lot, so I slowed enough to turn the bend around the back of the building. The sharp turn jerked us sideways. My tail, lured by the idea of ending my life, followed.

I kept going, passing the small parking area behind the church before cutting through the narrow passage cut between the burial plots in the vast graveyard.

We headed for the mortuary manager’s little brick building sitting like a monumental beacon in the center of the graveyard. Another sharp turn took us close to the back of the building.

When my car was perfectly aligned with the right area behind the smaller building, I clicked the remote in my pocket. All I needed the man behind me to do was keep driving.

When the shriek of black chasing me made a sharp turn, determined to chase me down, the two tons of metal just dropped. And the grassy ground above the area rolled back into place, trapping the man inside a vehicle sized grave.

I kept driving, ignoring Leandra's wild-eyed gaze. I couldn’t help wondering what the man thought of driving himself into a grave large enough to swallow his vehicle. If we didn’t have a need for information, we could just leave him down there to suffocate. The man was literally stuck inside a car sized casket.

“Primo,” Leandra’s breathless voice called. “What the hell was that? We. Just…They…”

“A trap,” I replied to her stammering words. “You’ve had a tail on you since the night you were attacked. Umberto and Lenni have been watching like I told you they would. But, they have also been watching the men who were watching you to make sure they didn’t hurt you.”

She cocked a squinting gaze in my direction, but her eyes were pinned on the ceiling above my head. I could almost see the vast number of questions and scenarios running through her mind.

“I suspected they were watching you to get to me. Brizio confirmed it. We set a plan in motion. I had no intention of getting you stuck in this today, but here we are.”

“What are you going to do?” she questioned. “To them?” she was breathing like she’d been running, hopped up on adrenaline from the situation.

I never let everyone know all the secrets I harbored where it concerned catching, trapping, and killing prey. Leandra was never supposed to see what she just saw.

I rolled to a stop and turned the vehicle off once we were back in the large front parking lot of the church. A few cars were scattered throughout the lot, but not enough to be concerned about.

I handed Leandra the keys and finally answered her question.

“You don’t want to know what I’m about to do to them. But I can promise you this. I’ll find out once and for all who put a contract out on me.”

She swallowed hard and took the keys.

“Are there more of them watching me? Is it okay for me to go back home?”

I nodded and glanced up in time to see Lenni and Umberto pulling into the church’s parking lot and heading around the back.

“You should be okay, but…” I handed her a piece of torn paper I pulled from my pocket. “Go to that address and stay there until I call you.”

She caught my arm, stopping me when I reached to push the door open. Her face was pinched in frustration.

“Were you just using me to get to who wants you dead? Did we ever have a chance? Are you still with…her?”

“I wasn’t just using you,” I told her, purposely making a vague statement to spare her feelings. However, I knew she knew the truth based on the defeated glint in her gaze. I hopped out.

Leandra sat with the car running. I sensed her heated stare on me until she decided to drive away.

She didn’t need to know anything about Nevah. She already knew too much about the church grounds. She was supposed to be inside the salon right now, not wondering about the plans I had set into motion.

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