EVERYTHING WAS SPINNING. Nic was here. Dante was coming after me. I needed to get to the next safe house.
I turned to look at Charity. She was my best friend. Like a sister to me and I had to leave her. If I didn’t, I’d be putting her and her unborn child in danger.
“Why didn’t you just testify against Dante, put his ass in jail?”
I swallowed hard. Shaking my head, I knew I shouldn’t even be still here, let alone talking to Charity about this.
“The first person I told was Antonio. He was working undercover to take the family down. By the time Antonio had gotten to where it happened, everything had been cleaned up, the body moved. He had no proof Dante had killed his father. It was my word against his.”
Wrapping my arms around my body, I glanced out onto the balcony. “Dante threatened me and said if I told anyone, he was going to kill me and my family.”
“That had to have been terrible.”
Nodding, I whispered, “It was. The FBI promised protection, but Antonio decided it would be safer if he faked my death and only my father and he were in on it. They didn’t tell my mother right away because they needed her to act like her only daughter had just died.”
Charity gasped.
“The last six years my brother has been waiting for Dante to screw up. And Lucas would be there to get it all.”
“Whose Lucas?”
I was telling Charity way too much information, but God it felt good to get it all out.
“Lucas was the inside guy Antonio had planted with Dante. Not FBI, an old friend of his that pretty much buried himself into the family as a payback for my brother saving his life. He was there waiting for Dante to slip up.”
“Holy shit. This feels like a damn movie.”
With a soft laugh, I stood. “Yeah. A horror movie.”
Nic and Cole were both looking down at something going on.
“What are they doing out there?”
“Nic mentioned something about a car sitting out there.” She took me by the arms and faced me to her.
“Let me make you something to drink or eat.”
Frantically shaking my head, I replied, “I have to go, Charity. If I don’t leave soon . . . something . . . something terrible could happen.” My voice cracked.
Strong arms wrapped around my body.
“Nothing is going to happen,” Nic whispered in my ear.
My head dropped back to his chest. Oh, how I wanted to believe him.
“I’ll make something to eat for us all,” Charity said as she glanced over to Cole.
“You don’t understand, I have to leave before . . .”
The knock on the door had us all frozen in place. Nic placed his finger on my chin. “Baby, breathe. I think it’s just going to be your brother.”
My brows furrowed. “What?”
Nic motioned for Cole to come stand next to me. Cole grabbed Charity’s hand and pulled her with him as he stood in front of both of us. My head peeked around his body as I watched Nic head toward the door. My breath caught in my throat.
He looked out first, then reached for the door handle.
The pounding of my heart in my chest was almost unbearable. “Nic! Don’t!” I cried out.
My knees almost buckled when I saw my brother standing in the doorway.
“Antonio?” I gasped.
His eyes found mine.
“Gabi, are you okay?”
Rushing around Cole, I ran to my brother. “What’s going on? Why are you here? What’s happening?”
Antonio laughed then wrapped his arm around me. “Christ, Gabi. Catch your breath and invite your brother into your house.”
I stared at him like he had grown two heads. “Not more than an hour ago you were telling me to leave. Now you want me to show you the place?”
He nodded. “Yes. But first, I think you need to introduce me to someone.”
All I could do was stand there and look at him. He finally took me by my arms and said, “Gabi, it’s over. Dante will never hurt you.”
The air left my lungs and I had to reach for his arms to steady myself. “What do you mean it’s over?”
His eyes swung over to Nic, then back to me.
“Let’s sit down. I’ll explain everything.”
I sat with my hand in Nic’s as Antonio explained everything to me. How Lucas had alerted him to Dante finding my picture in the Denver paper and how Dante had been having someone follow me since he found out where I was. He even knew I went to Italy. Lucas had secretly recorded Dante’s plan to kidnap me.
My entire body shuddered.
“Is that why you had so much security in Italy? You thought he’d show up?”
He nodded. “I knew I was risking things, but it was the only way to get Dante to come to you.”
My stomach churned as a wave of nausea hit me. “Come to me? You wanted him to find me?”
“Once I found out Dante had found you and was crafting a plan, I went to the FBI and got them involved.”
My mouth dropped open. “You said you couldn’t trust anyone in the FBI. That’s why you came up with this whole plan to keep me away.”
“The plans changed. I needed them. Needless to say, they weren’t very happy with me not bringing you to them immediately, but I pleaded my case. Brother worried about his sister . . . I played that card.”
Numb. My entire body was numb as I sat there and listened to my brother. I drew in a shaky breath and waited for him to keep talking.
Pushing his hand through his hair, he closed his eyes then looked back at me. “The FBI had been watching you since your picture went into the paper.”
“What?” The pounding in my head was getting louder. The ache growing stronger. “You’ve had the FBI watching me? And you said nothing!”
I’d never been so angry with my brother in my entire life.
“I know, Gabi. I know you’re angry with me. I needed you to believe that you were safe. That everything was good. If for any reason I would have thought your life was in danger, I’d have gotten you out. But Lucas gained Dante’s trust a few years back and has been his number two guy. Dante just started talking more and more, I needed to make sure everything we got down was done legally. I needed him to confess about his father’s murder and the only way to do that was with him finding you. That picture was actually a good thing. Once Dante saw it, he started spewing out everything about his father’s murder.”
I dropped Nic’s hand. My fingers came up to my temples were I massaged them gently. “So you knew Dante had found me weeks ago, and you said nothing. How could you do that to me?”
“I knew Nic was around and he was a cop. I really felt like you were safe. Plus the FBI has been watching you.”
Standing, I pointed to Antonio. My entire body shook with anger. “You used me as a damn pawn, Antonio! Again! And to make matters worse, you put the lives of people I love in danger.”
His eyes turned sad.
“I did what I thought was right, and in the end it all worked out.”
“How do you figure?” I shouted.
Antonio looked over to Nic. “Does she know about Jim?”
Swinging my head over to Nic, I asked, “Jim? Who is Jim?”
Nic groaned. “Jesus, this is starting to get overwhelming, Antonio.”
“Angelo, sit down.”
“NO! I’m not sitting down. Jim, Lucas, FBI agents. Was I the only one who didn’t know what was going on?” I spun around and looked at Nic. “And when did you find all of this out?”
“About thirty minutes ago.”
My body relaxed. “Oh.”
Nic stood and took my hands in his. “Let’s let Antonio finish and then you and I will talk.”
When my eyes caught Charity’s I smiled weakly. “I’ll take that drink now.”