Frankie’s eyes are on me the moment I pull open the driver’s-side door and slip into the car.“You good?” he asks, his voice tense.“I’m fine,” I assure him, lifting my purse into the back seat of the car.“Were you followed?” he asks, still anxious.I sit up and look out the windshield toward Lupa’
“Frankie, I don’t have any money to pay for the food!”He groans. “Iris,” he grumbles. “That so doesn’t matter right now –““Yes it does!” I hiss, putting the car in park. “Don’t you have any money!?”Frankie curses fluently and then digs in his pocket, fishing out a bill and throwing it at me. I gr
I blink with surprise when I see that I’ve missed everything – that Frankie and Nico are already dragging two dazed, cuffed men away to the little sedan as Christian punches a third, the fourth laid out unconscious at his feet. God, but they work fast. When Christian steps into the Arby’s about th
“You’re seriously going to be okay?” I ask, my voice shaking. “I promise, Bambs,” he murmurs, putting on his seatbelt. “I’m not dying today – none of us are. I’ve suffered worse than this – way worse. Honestly, I don’t even need a doctor. So?” he gestures out the windshield. “Can we go?” I groan
The warehouse is just as creepy and as bleak as I thought it would be, with low lighting and mysterious damp patches on the floors. There isn’t even anything here being stored – it’s just a strange, dank place that Christian apparently keeps for nefarious meetings. “I don’t know,” I say, my voice
I clear my throat, and concentrate on threading the needle, and then get to work following Frankie’s instructions as he walks me through the suture process. “Nicely done,” Frankie says with approval when I’m about halfway through. “Very nice and neat. I’ll hardly even have a scar to remember this
I look around in a daze and see a car pull up in front of me. I flinch away from it at first until I see Christian in the driver’s seat. He jumps out of it fast, leaving it running, coming around the car to where I stand with Frankie. “I’ll take it from here,” Christian says, tilting his head to t
Sensing my silent critique, Christian sighs and refocuses on the road. “We have a very short time to claim and consolidate power,” he explains, his voice a bit more clipped now. “I’m sorry, I know this is…difficult. That you’d probably rather not go there just now. But it has to be done.” “Could y
A small smile creeps on Leo’s lips. “Yeah, okay,” he says, relaxing back against our chair. “Our secret.” I grin at my baby, leaning in to give him a kiss on the cheek, because my boy can’t resist a secret.“What’s all this?”I turn to see Christian standing at the open door, peering into the dining
The danger. It’s…it’s far too poignant.My heart breaking, I open a private browsing tab on the web browser and quickly search for Craigslist in both this city and Athens, Greece. As I do my memory goes back to a conversation I had with Frankie, when he told me that this is the best way he knows for
I stand frozen, staring down at the letter as it sits on the little hall desk, my breath coming in fluttery little gasps.The words are very simple.There are vineyards in Greece as well. I’ll take you there.I read it again and again as my heart pounds in my chest, each beat echoing with a mix of h
“You don’t know anything about my life,” I whisper, my voice barely audible, turning my eyes back down to the dishes. “I had no choice.”“You think you’re the only one who suffered?” Lucy whispers. “You think I wanted to be in this position? We were friends once, Iris. We were good to each other. Bu
“Mommyyyy,” Leo says, looking anxiously towards the kitchen door, shifting from foot to floor. “Hurry up! Aunt Bianca says we have to go!”I laugh, glancing down at my little boy, who looks so adorable in the private school uniform he wears to Kindergarten – crisp white shirt, navy blazer, his dark
But…was it? Was it me, missing Chris? Wanting to have yet another piece of him, even if I long denied wanting any ties to my past life?I look down, my heart heavy, not truly understanding what I think or what I feel.“I mean it, Iris,” Chris says, his voice steady and cool. “I’ll be a father to her
My heart sinks as I look Christian in the eyes – because beyond all hope, I had been praying that he hadn’t noticed that Leo is his son. But how could I have been so naïve? Leo looks just like him - dark hair, striking grey-blue eyes. The resemblance is unmistakable. I feel a wave of guilt crashing
“Yes,” he answers, a growl in his voice. “That should suit just fine.”I laugh at the irony in this and shake my head, looking away. “So now you want me to come back, to pretend as if nothing ever happened? You expect me to just accept this, the way things are now?”Christian opens his mouth to resp
Disappointment floods my chest, a sense of disbelief washing over me. “You think I would trust you again after everything? After how you treated me? You expect me to just come back and forget?”His eyes narrow, disappointment etched into his features. “You were faithless. I thought you’d be loyal. I