Page 35 of Vows of Blood

Someone was shot. It’s my civic duty to tell the police everything I saw and let them get justice for Kate, and what she’s going through. Not help Luca in his quest for vigilante revenge.

When I fling open the door, Tony straightens from where he's leaning against the opposite wall, eyebrows rising in question as I reappear sooner than expected. Or maybe, it’s because the walls here are paper-thin, and he heard every word I shrieked at his boss.

"Can you take me to the police station, please? My car is still at the restaurant."

Tony doesn't ask questions. He glares at me, then nods once and escorts me to a black car parked around the corner. It's not flashy, not like Bruno's, but it's clean and solid, and the windows are tinted dark enough that nobody can see inside.

He opens the rear door, and I slide in, suddenly feeling tired and emotional after my exchange with Luca.

My reflection stares back at me from the partition glass, flushed and furious, gym hair escaping its pony tail. I look like a woman on the verge of a very public meltdown.

Maybe I am. Maybe that’s where this is headed. It would be well overdue.

We're three blocks away when I spot the maroon car again. Same one from earlier, or close enough. It’s two cars back, keeping pace, but when it slows down, indicator on, I let out a sigh of relief. Luca’s making me paranoid.

"Tony?"

His eyes flick to the rearview mirror. "Yes?”

I give him the most charming smile I can manage. "Can we make a stop first?"

He glances at me in the mirror, waiting for more details.

"The hospital. I want to drop flowers off for Kate."

If he thinks it's a bad idea, he doesn't say so, just looks ahead and signals the next turn. As we pass a liquor store on the corner, I ask him to pull over, digging through my purse for the last twenty I know is in there and some loose change.

Inside the store, I pick the least wilted bunch I can find from the sad bucket of flowers by the register and hand over the twenty without letting myself think about it.

The woman behind the counter gives me my change. Three dollars and forty cents. Fuck.

Back in the car, I cradle the flowers in my lap, grateful for Tony’s lack of conversational skills. I'm reaching for the door handle when he speaks. "She’s in the ICU, with a guard outside, you won’t get near her."

“I know. I won’t be long.”

The reception desk is bright and sterile. The woman behind it, with one phone held in the crook of her neck and another ringing, looks up with a huge smile that dims immediately when I ask about Ms. O'Sullivan. "Family only, I'm afraid."

"I just wanted to leave these for her." I hesitate then hold out the flowers, aware of how pathetic they look compared to the elaborate arrangements in the window of the gift shop. "Can you make sure she gets them?"

She takes them with a warmer smile than they deserve. "Of course. And the name?"

Another pause. "Sienna. Just Sienna."

She jots it down, eyeing me with curiosity, then sets them down gently on the desk beside her. “I’ll drop them off on my break.”

Smiling my thanks, I turn and leave in a hurry, grateful I didn’t cross paths with any of the Calvano’s. I only thought about that possibility after I was already inside.

Fuck, Luca’s probably here visiting, and he’s the last person I want to see.

Walking back through the parking lot, I scan for him, keeping my head low to avoid being seen.

I'm almost at Tony's car when I see it, the maroon car parked three rows over. The engine is off, but the driver's window is cracked open, and a thin ribbon of cigarette smoke is curling out into the cold air.

My feet slow, but my heart doesn't.

Luca's warning echoes in my head, the part I've been trying to ignore since I hung up on him.

He'll know who you are and where you live.