Page 78 of Point Blank

He turned, and his cold brown eyes blazed at her before returning to the road. “C’mon, Serena, you’ve always been smart. You haven’t pieced it together by now?” The gentle cadence of his voice struck a chord in her memory. She let her gaze wander over his bulky body. His hands, free of gloves, curled around the steering wheel.

Wrinkled hands. Aged. She snapped forward and studied the familiar outline of his body. A body very similar to . . . Milo’s.

She sucked in her breath and widened her eyes. “Angelo?”

No. It couldn’t be. Milo’s father was in prison.

His deep baritone laugh beat through the tight space. He pulled off his mask and tossed it on the seat next to him. His hair was much longer than she remembered. The shaggy strands, still jet black, jutted out in every direction. From this angle, she could see his profile, and her stomach lurched at his likeness to Milo. The hard angle of the profile, the perfectly sculpted nose, and the eyebrows matched Milo’s to a T. But Milo had been blessed with his mother’s green eyes, and from what Serena knew, he had her heart—not Angelo’s.

Her mind worked a mile a minute. She closed her eyes and laughed without humor. “I don’t understand. What’s this about? Why did you need me for this?”

“I just got out of prison thanks to that bastard uncle of yours. I have nothing. My wife and son want nothing to do with me. Did you know Milo didn’t visit me for months? What kind of man does that to his father?”

Fury burned her ears and she bolted forward. “He?—”

“Shut up,” Angelo barked. “He’s a mistake is what he is. I knew he wouldn’t help me get on my feet after I got out, so I didn’t tell him. The ungrateful shit. I had nothing, not a dime. You’re the only one I knew who could pull off the heist. The fact that you went running to Milo for help made the whole thing fucking hilarious. Milo ended up helping me get rich in the end, and he never even figured it out.”

Serena forced his insults away. She had to reason with him. “What’s your plan now? You have what you want. Why didn’t you let us go?”

“For starters, your nosy sister saw my face.” Angelo nodded at the rearview. “But to be honest, I planned to kill you two anyway. Sebastian deserves to suffer for what he did. Killing him would be too easy. Now he’ll have to live with your deaths on his and Mae’s conscience.”

Serena’s blood pressure plummeted, and she gripped Dani’s hand tighter. She wouldn’t let him kill them.

“It’s a shame though. You two are valuable. Hell, I thought about getting you guys to work one more heist for me, but the risk is too great.” He turned in his seat and smiled at her. “You understand.”

“If you think Sebastian will care if we’re dead, you’re even stupider than I thought.” Dani scoffed. “You know Aunt Mae is dead, right? So you can forget her guilting him about our demise.”

“I promise, he’ll care. No one wants to see their family burned alive.”

Terror pierced Serena’s skin, and she took shallow breaths to slow her rapid heartbeat. No. He couldn’t do that . . . wouldn’t. The captor in the seat next to Dani moved forward. “You killed Axel. For that, you’re going first.”

Serena frowned. “I killed who?”

His face turned to slate. “My brother. You stabbed him in the neck. I’d do the same to you, but I want you to suffer first.”

Panic bubbled inside her, and her hold on Dani’s hand loosened slightly. She wouldn’t die like that and she sure as hell wouldn’t allow him to hurt Dani any more than he had. She had to keep him talking. From where she sat on the floor, she couldn’t see the road behind them. If Milo had survived, he’d be after them . . . and if he hadn’t, Brock or Peyton would have called for help. Pain spread through her chest wider than an eagle’s wingspan and fresh tears tickled her sinuses.

Please god, don’t let Milo be dead . . .

She wet her lips. She had to stay strong and distract Angelo. She couldn’t rely on someone else to rescue them. Her only chance was to keep him talking and convince Angelo to keep them alive. “I don’t understand. The police couldn’t find his body.”

Angelo’s gaze landed on hers in the rearview mirror before shifting back to the road. “We took his body. We couldn’t have the cops find him and tie anything back to me. You had something to do with Bart’s death, too, didn’t you?”

The image of the sandy blond-haired man Milo had shot in Dani’s kitchen clicked through her mind. She shook her head. “I have no idea who you’re talking about.”

“She’s lying,” the man next to her growled.

“’Course she is. Don’t worry, Ian. I’m very effective at getting people to tell the truth.” His words rang on a sing-song note.

Serena forced air into her lungs. “You’re going to regret this. All of it.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. This time tomorrow, I’ll be on a beach in the Cayman Islands. You three will be the furthest thing from my mind.”

Ian’s laugh fell into harmony with Angelo’s. Sweat from Dani’s palm moistened her fingers. She took a steady breath and summoned whatever calm she could. Her laugh started out light, and then she let her shoulders shake.

Dani stiffened and Ian snarled. “What the hell are you laughing at?”

She laughed harder, until tears mingled with her lashes. Angelo swiveled in his seat. Curiosity furrowed his brow. “Tell us what’s so funny.”