Page 36 of Gin & Trouble

“You think they’re watching this building? Is it safe for me to walk out of here?”

“I don’t know.” She sighed. “But you can’t stay there forever. Come home.”

“I’m scared, Soph.”

“Keep your head down and stick with crowds as much as possible. Remember, they don’t know we’re here. They’re probably looking for an opportunity to take a shot at Marco or Enzo.”

Oh God. Losing another brother will kill Dante.

“I should warn Dante.” The words fell out before I could stop them.

“No. You should come the fuck home, so we can get out of town.”

Over the previous year, I’d convinced myself I was a badass. I mean, I’d infiltrated the enemy’s organization, hacked into super-secret databases, and evaded my psychopath brother. Hell, I’d stabbed a man and stolen his blood. However, the second I was in real danger, I panicked like a wet Chihuahua.

“What if one of his men recognizes me? I could lead him to our house. Then what? He kidnaps us? Or worse?”

Someone touched my shoulder and my body went into panic-induced autopilot. Years of self-defense and martial arts training kicked in on a subconscious level. Before I realized what was happening, I shot to my feet and throat-punched my assailant. Grabbing his arm, I plowed my shoulder into his gut and rode him to the ground.

“Fucking hell, Julia, it’s me.” Dante coughed between each word.

Oh shit. Shit. Shit.

I jumped off him and scrambled to close the windows on my computer.

Rubbing his throat, Dante sat upright. “Are you okay?”

“Why wouldn’t I be okay? I mean, besides you scaring the daylights out of me.” I glanced around for my phone. I’d dropped it at some point in the melee and was pretty sure Sophia was still on the line. She didnotneed to hear this.

“I heard your half of the conversation.” He coughed again and rolled his shoulder.

“Were you eavesdropping on me?” Part of me was angry, part was terrified, and a bigger part was so glad to see him I could hardly breathe.

He held up his hand as if to ward off another attack. “No, you were shouting when I came in.”

“Oh.” I stepped around him and scoured the area for my phone. “I’m fine really.”

Dante stood, grabbed my upper arms, and turned me to face him. “You’re not fine. Is someone stalking you? Do we need to call the police?”

Stalking me?

It took me a second to catch on. He’d heard enough to jump to the wrong conclusions, but I wasn’t sure how to respond. The last thing I needed was for him to call the authorities.

Dante pulled my phone out from under my chair and handed it to me.

I put the cell to my ear and swore under my breath. Just my luck, Sophia was still on the line. “Hey sis, sorry about that. I dropped the phone.”

“Is that Chewbacca?” She kept her voice low, likely so he couldn’t overhear her side of the conversation.

“Yes, one of my coworkers is here with me.”

“He lives in the building, right?”

I didn’t like the change in her tone or where I assumed she was going with the line of questioning. “Yes.”

“Get him to invite you to stay with him.”

Is she serious?

---