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“Yes, married.”
“Which one?” Lucy’s voice was careful. I could hear in her tone that she feared my answer.
I simply held her gaze, and she started to shake her head.
“No. You’re kidding?”
My face was pretty easy to read.
“I’ll be married, and we’ll both be alive. That’s all there is to say about that, unless you have a time machine. Help me clean up.”
13
CHARLIE
Lucy calmed down as we tidied the room and fell into a restless, sullen silence. I was worried about her, but there wasn’t much I could do but be by her side. We hung out in the room for most of the day, watching TV and reading. I chewed on my nails, a bad habit, and worried about everything my desperate mind could get its mitts on.
When would I have to see Renato again? What the hell would the hospital think about my sudden absence? What about Detectives Whitely and Vane? They would suspect that something weird was going on. Maybe they’d just think me and Lucy were dead. That would certainly be more in keeping with the De Sanctis code of business. How was I going to keep my head on straight when Renato touched me?
I took a shower and was just drying off when a knock sounded at the door.
Elio stood outside. “Come with me, Renato needs you.” He turned away.
“Wait!” I gestured to my towel. “I have to get dressed.”
“Be quick,” Elio said.
I closed the door and grabbed my clothes, changing quickly.
Despite taking only a few minutes, Elio looked impatiently at his watch when I emerged again.
We set off at a brisk pace. I had to nearly jog to stay at his side. He took me down to the lowest level. I balked at the top of the stairs.
“I don’t want to move down here,” I called to Elio’s departing back.Crap. Here I was, pushing Renato and talking back to him like I had any power in our relationship, blithely forgetting what he could do to me if I pissed him off too much.
“Just come,” Elio called back.
I had no choice, really. He’d just come back and get me. I ventured down into the darkness.
Below, the air was dank and muggy, I followed the De Sanctis enforcer through the gloom toward the room at the end, where lights blazed. It was the same one I’d been in before. The makeshift medical room. I should have been relieved to step into the bright lights after the gloom of the corridor, but the sight that met my eyes didn’t allow for that. Men filled the room. Dangerous, tattooed men sporting suits and grim expressions. I’d never seen so many De Sanctis men in one place. It was overwhelming.
Even more attention-grabbing was the sight of blood. Crimson all over the floor, like an overenthusiastic art student had gone to town on a concrete canvas. A man sat in the middle, partially covered with a blanket. Every single pair of eyes landed on me as I entered after Elio, but they all fell away when Renato’s eyes met mine.
He was right there, a king amongst his merry band of hardened criminals, and he stared right at me.
The touch of his dark, magnetic eyes was like a caress. His gaze gripped me and locked me in place as effectively as a large hand wrapped around my throat.
“Charlotte, we’ve been waiting for you,” Renato said, his deep voice doing something to loosen my sudden paralysis.
It was like becoming absorbed in watching a savagely beautiful panther sitting behind safety glass. His voice, low and intimate, felt like that glass had suddenly shattered all around you, or worse, you were in the cage with the predator. There was an edge to him now. He shot a look at Elio, and I read it easily. We’d taken too long to come. He was tense, worried about his wounded solider, maybe. Odd that there would be a side to Renato, the merciless kingpin, who cared about the health of a random henchman. Maybe I didn’t know him as well as I feared.
I stepped forward, moving like a windup doll, jerking back to life.
“What happened here?”
“My man is hurt,” Renato replied smoothly, rising to his intimidating height and stalking toward me. “I need you to help him.”
“How did he get hurt?” I asked.
