“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 blonde, 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, in case 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 with 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?”
“I don’t want him to get hurt so I reduced the dosage they listed on the packaging.”
“Okay. It still should be enough to knock him out for a while, right?”
Aria nodded. “We should probably tie him up. I found duct tape in the gun cupboard.”
She knew where her husband kept his guns? “Luca must really trust you.”
Aria didn’t say anything and I felt bad for bringing him up. Did I have to remind her how she was risking her marriage for me?
“Come on,” she said after a moment. “Let’s do this. Matteo and Luca will be back in a few hours. We should be gone by then.”
After another look toward Sandro who was still reading something on his phone, she quickly handed me the syringe. I hid it behind my back as we strolled toward Sandro who finally looked up from his phone and set it down on the counter.
“Would you like some coffee?” he asked with a nod toward his own cup. He was polite and his brown eyes were friendly. He didn’t look very threatening, but I didn’t let that fool me.
Aria leaned next to him against the counter and pressed a palm to her stomach.
Sandro frowned. “Are you okay?”
“I’m not feeling so good,” she said, then her legs buckled. It was a bit over the top if you asked me, but Sandro must have acted without thinking because he reached for her. My chance.
My arm shot out and I rammed the syringe into the back of his thigh and injected the tranquilizer. Sandro hissed, let go of Aria and lashed out instinctively. He caught my arm and I was thrown against the kitchen island, my back colliding painfully. I swallowed a cry.
“What the fuck?” he gasped, eyes furious as they darted between Aria and me. He reached for his phone but Aria shoved it away. It flew off the counter, crashed to the ground and skidded over the marble. Sandro staggered toward it, his movements already less coordinated than usual. I quickly rushed toward the phone and kicked it away. “Where’s the stupid tape?”