Page 51 of Harbor

“What are you doing?”

“John is coming. Don’t run again.”

Renzo grabbed the phone from Lucia’s hand. When he put it to his ear and went to speak, the hardness in his gaze and the cuss that left his lips told her the call had been disconnected. He threw the phone to the table hard enough to crack the screen, but Lucia couldn’t do anything except stare at it.

He pointed at the phone, and shook his head wildly. “Fucking Tuck. Fucking liar.”

Lucia still felt like she couldn’t move. “What?”

“Tuck.” His words came out in a pained growl. His hands fisted into his hair like he was at his last rope. She waited for him to explain what he was trying to say, but he went back to packing. Lucia followed behind him to help, and it was only then that he started talking again. “Tuck’s the only one with that number, Lucia. No one else was called with that phone. No one that they could hack like they did my sister’s phone. We called a pizza place once or twice with it, but they don’t know that. The only person who knows it is fucking Tucker.”

It took Lucia entirely too long to realize what he was saying to her. To understand what he was trying to explain to her.

“Tuck sold us out? Is that what you’re saying?”

Her heart raced.

Her lungs ached.

How long did they have now?

Not long, she bet. There was no way her father would give her a warning like that about her brother coming unless John was practically already there.

“Is that what you’re telling me?” Lucia demanded. “It was Tuck that told them where we are?”

Renzo’s movements slowed to a stop altogether, and his eyes darted to hers. “It had to be. No one else knows.”

“But he told us to leave. He gave us the car. He—”

“The least he could do for us, remember?” Renzo spat out a bitter laugh. “It was the least he could fucking do because he already fucked us over, Lucia.”

TEN

“Here.”

Renzo didn’t miss the confusion that lit up Lucia’s eyes as he shoved the keys to the car into her hand, but he didn’t really have time to deal with it in that moment. He had other things to focus on like getting her and Diego in the vehicle, and on the road. He needed her to put some miles between the trouble coming their way as fast as she possibly could. He’d figure out the rest later.

Story of his fucking life lately.

“Wait, what—”

“You’re driving,” he said simply.

Opening the trunk of the car, he dropped the duffle bags inside. He was sure they didn’t grab everything from the hotel room. They’d only took a few minutes to pack, and it wasn’t nearly enough. They hadn’t even touched the shit in the bathroom except for the couple of toy cars that Diego had ran in to grab. Nothing that belonged to him and Lucia, though.

Slamming the trunk down, he jogged around the car. Lucia was still standing frozen in the same place, but he figured she would get with the program soon enough. The girl was smart and quick like that—she didn’t always know or like the entire plan, but she wouldn’t fight him on it if she knew it was right.

You haven’t even explained the plan to her yet.

He ignored his inner voice.

It just pissed him off.

“There you go, Diego,” Renzo grunted, picking his brother up with one arm. Diego wrapped his arms tightly around Renzo’s neck, and for a brief second after he opened the back door of the car, he had to wonder if his brother was going to fight him to get inside. He was holding on so tightly that Renzo didn’t know if he was going to let go at all. Thankfully, he did as Renzo bent down, and sat Diego on the backseat. His little brother said nothing as he was buckled in. “I’ll see you soon, okay? Be good for Lucia.”

Water lined Diego’s eyes.

How did the kid understand before Lucia?