Ricky waited to get on the freeway for about twelve miles. Then he took the exit for north I-75. “I think we lost them.”

“Don’t be too sure. They’ll find us eventually.”

“Think you could handle driving around the clock? We can switch off driving.”

“Sure. How much longer do we have until we arrive?”

Ricky turned his phone toward her and pointed. “Twenty-two hours if we drive non-stop.”

“We need snacks.”

He reached behind the seat and pulled out a bag. “Already planned for that.” Ricky noticed how she was hesitant. “Listen, I made a promise to get you to Miles safely, and that’s what I plan to do.”

“Why do you trust me right now?” Ella asked. “I mean, I could easily drive the SUV back to Dego’s place.”

“But you won’t.”

Ricky was facing the road because it had started to rain. He noticed Ella rest her head back and close her eyes. This whole situation was fucked up. He knew she wouldn’t go back to Dego. She had this look on her face when she saw the picture in the middle of the table earlier. There was more to her story.

“What kind of music do you like?” Ella said, reaching forward to turn on the radio.

At that moment, everything happened all at once.

Ella’s head hit the dashboard.

Ricky lost control of the SUV.

And everything went black.

* * *

“Mr. Jackson, can you hear me?”

Ricky wanted to push the light shining on his eyes away, but he couldn’t move his arms. He didn’t know where he was or why every part of his body was in shear pain.

“Sir, can you hear me?”

“Huh,” Ricky mumbled.

“There he is. He’s conscious.”

He still had no clue who was talking and why they were yelling next to his ear.

“Can you feel this, sir?”

There was sharp pain at the bottom of his foot, so he pulled it away quickly. “What the?”

“He has feeling in his extremities.”

“What’s going on?” Ricky whispered, unable to get the words out quickly.

“Sir, you were in an accident. Do you remember?”

“Accident? Where’s Ella?”

The loud noises stopped suddenly. “Ella? Was someone with you, sir?”

Ricky wanted to push everyone out of the way. He needed to find Ella. Dego had her; he knew it. The assholes had to be the ones who hit them. He needed to call Miles.

“My phone,” Ricky said, moving his hand around.

“Here, sir.” The woman placed his phone in his hand. “Let me help you?”

“Can you find Miles in the contacts?”

He could hear the woman pressing a few buttons by the beeping sound. Then she placed the device by his ear. On the third ring, he heard Miles.

“Hey.”

“Ricky? Are you okay?”

“I was in”—he coughed—“in an accident.”

“Where are you located?”

Ricky glanced up at the woman. “Can you tell my friend where I’m at?”

The woman must have been a paramedic with the clothes and surgical gloves she had on.

He could hear her hit End on his phone. “He said he’ll be here soon.”

Ricky let out a heavy sigh. “Thanks.” Then everything started to go black.

* * *

“There he is.”

Ricky heard Miles and smiled. “I may be here, but I would rather be on an island far away.”

“With me?”

His eyes shot open at the familiar sound. It was Vikki. “You’re here?”

“I am. You think I would let Miles leave me back at the house wondering how you were doing?”

Ricky coughed. “I understand that feeling.”

All through the night, he had dreams about Ella picking out the perfect song on the radio right before the SUV was blindsided. He tried to play the moment over and over in his mind, but everything came back empty. He never saw what hit them.

“Where’s Ella?” he asked and tried to move up higher in the bed.

“She’s gone,” Miles said, moving a chair over. “Like no sign she was ever in your vehicle.”

“What now?” Ricky asked and tried to reach for the cup of water on the little table in front of him.

“Here,” Vikki said, placing the straw on his bottom lip.

Ricky glanced up at Vikki; she took his breath away. “Thanks.”

“Ella really was okay traveling with you?” Miles asked.

“She was. It was weird. She came to my motel trying to be all tough and hit on me.” Ricky gave a sideways glance in Vikki’s direction. “Of course nothing happened.”

“Of course.” Vikki chuckled.

“Then she noticed the photo of her with Johnny on the table. She left quickly and came back a few hours later. She had been roughed up and insisted we leave quickly.”

“Ricky, do you think they will hurt her?”

“Oh, fuck yeah. She told me Dego and Giano don’t think, they just shoot to kill.”

They sat there talking for a while. Miles shared with him that Giano had finally surfaced and was on a plane back to Canada. They speculate the asshole was hiding out in Italy the whole time. He probably had a house somewhere in a small village.

“So now what?” Ricky asked.

Miles cleared his throat and sat up. “Well, Finley and I have an idea. Which is why Vikki is really here.”

“I’m listening.”

“Finley has already left with Letizia. I will head back to grab Preslie and the kids.” Miles stood and walked over to the window. “I plan to take them back to Toronto to hideout. You, Vikki, Finley, and Letizia need to hideout somewhere else completely. We all will have burner phones and dump them every week.”

“I’m fine with that, but how does that find Ella and Johnny?”

Miles turned to face Ricky. “It doesn’t, but right now your safety is more important.”

“Well, right now I’m a sitting duck in this hospital bed.”

“We put a different room on your chart.”

Ricky scowled. “So, someone else can get killed instead of me?”

“No, it’s an empty room, but we staged it to look like you are staying in there.”

Miles pulled his phone from his back pocket. “Shit. Listen, I have to get back to Preslie and the kids.”

“Go. Vikki and I will be fine.”