Bound by Hatred (Born in Blood Mafia Chronicles #3)(21)

“And you are engaged to the man who cuts those dangerous guys up,” she said. “But the Russians are worse than our men. They don’t have any honor.”

I wasn’t sure if that was possible, but I wasn’t in the mood for that argument. “Okay, so no loan sharks, but what about a forged passport? I’ll have to get that from somewhere. Is there anyone we could bribe?”

Another gust of wind tore at us, raising goose-bumps all over my body. Aria moved closer to me until we huddled together. “No one will go against Luca.”

“Except for us,” I said with a snort. “Tell me this isn’t crazy.”

“It’s crazy, but we’ll figure something out.” She paused, scrutinizing me.

I raised my eyebrows. “What?”

She smiled. “I have an idea. You know how people always say we look alike?”

“Not if you look closely. I’m a couple of inches taller than you and then there’s this.” I lifted a strand of my hair.

“Yeah, but if we dye your hair blond, nobody will doubt that you are me. Luca has a few forged passports with different names in the same place where he stashes the money, if we ever need to leave the country fast. You could use one of them.”

“Luca will be able to track them.”

“Yes, but you’ll already have landed in Europe by then. You can throw away the passport once you’re there and travel around without a passport until you figure out a way to get a new one. They don’t have border control in the EU, so you should be fine to cross over to other countries within Europe.”

Hope kindled in my body. “That could actually work.”

“It will.”

We stared at each other. “So I’m really running away,” I whispered.

“Yes,” Aria said quietly.

“When?”

“Next time you visit, so we have time to really think every detail of our plan through.”

I couldn’t believe I was really going to do this, but now I wouldn’t back out, even if part of me wondered if this was really what I wanted.

***

I was allowed to visit Aria again in May; pretending that I had finally come to terms with my marriage to Matteo had made my father more lenient with me.

Lying had once been hard for me but I was getting better at it.

I hugged Lily and Fabi before I left Chicago, knowing it might very well be the last time I saw them, but I didn’t allow myself to linger on that thought. It would make things only more difficult. If I started to cry, someone might get suspicious.

When I arrived in New York, Aria picked me up from the airport with a new bodyguard. There was something bittersweet about our reunion. The new guy gave me a quick nod after Aria and I had pulled apart. “Who is he?” I whispered.

“That’s Sandro. He’s one of Matteo’s men.” So Matteo had already chosen a bodyguard for me, for a future life as his wife, someone who would cage me in whenever Matteo wasn’t around to do it.

Once we were in the penthouse, my new bodyguard retreated to the kitchen under the pretense of giving us privacy. As if there was ever such a thing under his constant surveillance. Aria and I lingered near the sofa, out of earshot. “Does Luca still have Romero guard you all day?”

Aria shrugged. “I don’t mind having Romero around, especially when Luca is busy. Sandro has taken Cesare’s place mostly, but he’s never watched me before. ”

“You need to ask Luca to let you go to college or do something else before you go crazy over here. I want you to be happy too, Aria. I want to know that you’ll be okay once I’m gone.”

“Don’t worry. And the last few weeks I’ve been pretty busy planning your escape,” Aria said with a teasing smile but there was a hint of wistfulness in her voice.

We both glanced at Sandro who was making coffee. “Why is that Sandro guy really here?”

“Because of you.”

“Because I’m the troublemaker?”

“No,” Aria said with a laugh. “Because Matteo wants you to get to know the guy who’ll be your bodyguard once you move to New York.”

“Oh great, how thoughtful of him.” Again a decision about my life that no one had bothered to discuss with me. With a nod toward Sandro, I asked, “How are we going to get rid of him?”

“I have a plan.” Aria opened her bag and pointed at a small syringe. At my confused look, she explained, “I remembered how you’d told me that Luca found the tranquilizer he used on Lily in a drawer in the basement. Last time I was in the mansion, I sneaked down there and took what we needed.”

My eyes widened. “You are a genius, Aria.”

“Not really.”

Our eyes darted toward our bodyguard once more. He was busy with his phone. “How are we going to inject him the tranquilizer?” I asked. “He’s tall and strong, and probably a skilled fighter.”

Aria bit her lip. “We have to distract him. Maybe I can talk to him and you ram the needle into his thigh?”

“What if I break the needle by accident or if he smashes it?”

“I have a second syringe, but that’s it, so we should try to get it right the first time.”

Aria could be so badass if she tried. “Are you sure the dosage is right?”