Ciana and I locked gazes, realization hitting us hard. “Oh no,” we whispered at the same time.
No wonder Cali wasn’t accepting Garret’s apologies. Not only had she felt like he’d abandoned her, but their baby too. He hadn’t mentioned her pregnancy when he’d been on his drunken rant, which made me wonder if he’d even heard her say she was pregnant. Sometimes my brother tended to shut down when his emotions got the better of him. He turned everything off. In the past, he’d missed full conversations while looking the person who was speaking straight in the eye. It was a petty yet self-preservation mechanism he’d perfected over the years.
But it would seem this time it was going to bite him in the ass in a big way.
Straightening her shoulders, Cali put on a forced smile. “Enough with the heavy shit. I don’t want to think about my asshole ex. Let’s just have a good time and unwind.”
Promising myself I would kick Garret’s ass later, I returned her smile. “I thought we would do something simple for dinner, but now I’m thinking we need something more extravagant.”
“I want tacos!” Ciana licked her lips hungrily. “I’ve been thinking about them all day.”
“Yes, please,” Cali agreed. “I’ll take five with beans and rice. And I need chips and queso, ASAFP.”
Laughing, I lowered the divider between us and the front of the limo. I’d thought a five-star restaurant would be a great way to celebrate, but obviously, the pregnant woman had other ideas. “Pietro,” I called when he turned inquiringly. “Find out where the best taco truck is parked tonight. We want that instead.”
“On it!”
37
Nova
After gorging on the best tacos this side of the border, I talked the others into going to a club. Ciana seemed more energetic after eating six tacos and most of my beans and rice, along with her own. She’d never been one to shy away from eating her fill, but I couldn’t remember her ever being quite so ravenous before.
We wanted to dance, not get drunk since Cali couldn’t have alcohol and I’d promised Ryan I wouldn’t drink anything harder than water, so we went to one of the many clubs the Vitucci family owned. The limo pulled up outside of a side entrance, and Pietro stepped out to wait for the door to open so the manager could let us in without us having to deal with the craziness of the rest of the club—as well as not getting mobbed by the paps who were like vultures waiting for their prey outside the front entrance.
Pietro and one of Ciana’s guards flanked us as the manager personally escorted us to the VIP, where a section was already roped off for us to sit. But we hadn’t come to sit around and people-watch. The other guard started grumbling as soon as I grabbed the two girls’ hands and pulled them toward the VIP dance floor that was already crowded. I stuck out my tongue at him, earning myself a grin from Pietro, who used his massive body to keep a good three-feet distance between us and the others dancing.
The fun only lasted about an hour before Ciana started yawning again, however. I could see the energy fading from her little by little until she was barely standing under her own steam. She slung an arm over my shoulders, and I took most of her slight weight.
I stumbled, and if Pietro hadn’t had such quick reflexes, we both would have fallen to the floor.
“Ciana, you’re sick,” I muttered, my concern for her only mounting as I saw how pale she’d suddenly become. Sweat was beaded on her brow, but she didn’t even have the energy to lift her hand to wipe it away.
“Time to go,” Pietro said, lifting Ciana into his arms like she was a small toddler and not a grown woman.
She rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes, already asleep before we reached the door we’d come in through. The limo was waiting for us, with the SUV right behind it.
Cali and I quickly got into the back, and Pietro carefully placed Ciana beside me, laying her head in my lap.
“Should we take her to the hospital?” her second guard asked as he came over to look in at her.
“Don’t need a hospital,” she slurred sleepily. “Just my bed. I’m just tired. Geesh.”
“You basically passed out on the dance floor.” There was tiredness, and then there was whatever was going on with Ciana. I didn’t buy that it was just because she was heartbroken over some idiot guy. “You need to see a doctor, C.”
“Just need a bed,” she argued. “Trust me, I’m a medical professional.”
I looked to Cali for guidance, but she just shrugged. “She would know if something was wrong with her.”
“Fine,” I muttered, then turned to Pietro. “Let’s drop Cali off at home and then get back to the compound.” He nodded, and I glared down at my cousin. “But I’m telling Zia about this, and if she insists you need to see a doctor, you are going.”
“Whatever you say, Mom,” Ciana snarked without opening her eyes. Pietro shut the door, and she snuggled against me, getting comfortable. I’d barely blinked, and she was sound asleep. I was glad the driver wasn’t wasting time getting us out into traffic, because I needed to talk to Zia about what was going on with her youngest daughter. Something just didn’t feel right.
“Who the fuck is this…?” Cali muttered to herself as she looked down at her phone several minutes into the drive to her apartment.
Curious, I glanced over at her, and she turned her phone to show me the screen.
Unknown: You can’t hide from me now, bitch.
I had only enough time to read the message before, suddenly, we were being rammed from the left. Cali screamed, and I wrapped my arms around my cousin, scared she would fall to the floor and get hurt. The limo lurched then fishtailed, causing the world to spin around me. I was glad I’d put on my seat belt. Otherwise, I would have been thrown against the door and taken Ciana with me.
Outside the limo, horns honked angrily around us, tires squealing in protest. I heard shouts and more crunching metal as other vehicles collided with one another while our driver kept going.
The partition between us and the front of the limo was lowered. “Stay down. They might have armor-piercing bullets. They took out the SUV!” Pietro yelled. His voice was steady, but from the glimpse I caught of his face, he was full of rage.
It was with his command that I realized I’d somehow missed the deadliest sound mixed into the symphony of everything else. Gunfire.
I unsnapped my seat belt and carefully rolled Ciana onto the floor, which caused her to finally startle awake. “What’s going on?” she demanded when I fell on top of her.
I didn’t have time to answer, though. Cali was still sitting upright, her eyes wide in fear. She looked like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming eighteen-wheeler. I grasped her wrist and jerked her down beside us, pulling her as close to Ciana as I could so I could cover them both with my small body. The limo gained speed just as I reached for my phone.
Refusing to let my fear overtake me, I hit Ryan’s number and counted the rings before he answered.
“Hey—”
“Someone is trying to wreck the limo!” I cut him off.
I heard his sharp intake of air, but his voice was notably calm when he spoke. “Where are you?”