“I don’t know. Walker has eyes on him.”
Adrian kneels in front of us. “He’s chasing Sofia. I let him go. We have men following him and right now, we need you two out of here.”
“Aria!”
At Gio’s voice, my heart thunders in my chest and my mind replays Sofia’s words. Grab her. This is what we wanted. He loves her. He’ll give us what we need to get her back.
“Is she all right?” Gio demands and Adrian is on his feet pointing at him.
“Stay back, compadre,” Adrian warns, “or you will not like the results.”
“What the fuck,” Gio growls. “She’s my sister.”
“Where’s Sofia?” Adrian demands.
“She got away.”
She got away. Those words play in my head and not in a good way. Gio kneels in front of me. “Aria—”
“You told me there were no stairs by the bathroom, Gio. You convinced me to drink that drink.”
“I didn’t know there were stairs.”
“Liar. I don’t trust you, Gio. I love you, but I don’t trust you. Go away.”
Savage yanks at his shirt. “Get up and out of the way. We’re leaving. Now.” He motions to Kace. “Let’s go.”
Kace strokes my hair. “Here we go, baby.” He scoops me up and stands, my hero, who I have never needed more than right this minute. He’s the reason everyone protecting me is protecting me. He’s the reason I’m alive right now.
Gio is on his feet now in front of us. “Aria. Please. I didn’t do this. I love you.”
“Go away, Gio. Go find Sofia.” Tears stream down my cheeks again, the pain of his betrayal too much.
His lashes lower and when Savage yanks him out of the way, Gio growls. “What hospital is she going to?”
“Fuck you all the way to hell,” Savage snaps, and Adrian motions Kace forward.
“Hang on, Aria. We’re getting out of here right now,” Kace warns and then he starts moving. I turn into his body and hold on, shutting my eyes, and my head spins, dizziness overwhelming me before the world spins and I go blank.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
I blink awake to a dimly lit room—correction: a chilly, dark room—and fatigue in my body. I shift slightly and then Kace is leaning over me, smelling like man and miracles. “Hey,” he says, his voice a rough raspy tone, that I feel in my belly. “You’re finally awake.”
“Hey,” I say and lift my hand, stroking the thick dark stubble on his jaw, and noting the fatigue in his face as well. “How long have I been sleeping?”
“About four hours.” He leans in and nuzzles my neck, inhaling deeply, his hair tickling my cheek, his big body a welcome press against mine. “God, woman,” he murmurs, his hand is on my face, as he inches back and fixes me in a stare that is no less potent for the darkness of the room. “You scared the hell out of me.”
“I did?” I ask.
“You did,” he assures me. “How do you feel?”
“Groggy.” Memories pierce my mind and I’m back in the bar, in that hallway, living the moment when I’d fallen to my knees. And then Kace was there, catching me, holding me up. He is always there right before I fall, always my rock, my hero. “Thank you for catching me before I face-planted. I was drugged, right?”
“Yes. You were drugged, and while we believe they just meant to knock you out, they gave you too much. Your lungs shut down. Thank God for Savage, who actually carries a reversal agent with him.”
My brows dip. “Because people frequently get drugged when he’s around?”
“Seems that way.”
“Savage,” I murmur, my mind chasing memories. “Did I dream that he’s a doctor? Because he’s not a doctor, right? That just doesn’t compute.”
His lips curve. “Not a dream. He’s a surgeon who apparently has done open-heart surgery in the middle of enemy fire. Do you feel like you can sit up?”
“Yes. Please.” He shifts and straightens, flipping on an overhead light, while I scoot up the mattress. “I’m still trying to get my head around Savage being a surgeon.” I scan the ceiling and the area around me and my lips part in shock. “Am I in a bed on a plane?”
“You are, in fact, in bed on a plane. There was a general consensus that Sofia and her people have become a little too desperate to get to both of us for comfort. We made the call that we needed to be in the air and out of the city.”
A million thoughts charge at me, questions with them, but for now I just need to get my bearings. “Are we going to Germany?”
“Italy. We’re going to stay in Kayden Wilkens’ castle.”
“The man from The Underground operation,” I say.
“Yes, exactly. Blake assures me that we’ll be safe there until we make the announcement and seal the formula in the museum.”
“Safe? Are we sure? Rome is just four hours from Cremona. And yes, I’ve had a lot of time on my hands these past seventeen years. I know everything there is to know about Italy. We’re going to be very close to where this all started.”
“It’s the last place they’ll expect you to go is Italy and my understanding is that The Underground is a worldwide operation and Kayden is one of its most respected leaders. The Blue Owls do not want to screw around with him.”
“Sara did say we can trust Kayden and Ella, and you trust her and Chris.”
He arches a brow. “You don’t?”
“I do,” I say. “I really do. My instincts have been trusting them from the beginning, but I just haven’t known them long. And really, truly, I knew we were doing this, I knew I was going back to Italy, but waking up on a plane is a shock, necessary, I know, but I didn’t have time to steel myself for this. How long have we been in the air?”
“Only a couple of hours. A good five more to go. Savage wanted to be sure you were stable before we lifted off.”
I’m back to the battle of memories beating at my mind, things I resist, things I don’t think I want to remember, and so, I just keep working on my feet finding some semblance of solid ground. “Who’s traveling with us?”
“Adrian and Savage for now. Once we get to Italy, Savage is headed to Paris to meet his wife and prepare for our Louvre reveal. Adam will join us once we get to Italy and replace Savage.”
“What about our clothes?”
“Blake and his wife grabbed everything they possibly could for us, but we’ll have to go shopping in Italy.”
I sit up a little straighter. “What about your violins? You were able to bring them to practice, right?”
“Yeah, baby,” he says, his expression softening. “And I don’t know how you’re worrying about my violins right now.”
“Because they’re a part of you. Because you need to practice.”