I couldn’t fathom why she had thought Agostino was the better of those two options.
Rage rose in my throat and then abruptly cooled.
Because I thought about Mama.
She had the choice between Seamus and Tore, and she had made that decision based on fear. That fear had led her to choose the worse man who might have appeared artificially better, especially through the skewed eyes of terror. She had assumed Tore was the greater of two evils just as Bambi had and they’d both been proven wrong.
I sighed so long it hurt my chest.
“Okay, Bambi, please stop crying and listen to me. You are going to pick up what you and Rora need as quickly as you can and then we are going to leave her. I doubt you’ll come back so take the essentials. I’m going to take you home and put you both to bed, but in the morning, you’re going to have to answer for yourself. What you did…I can’t pretend it doesn’t make me see red. But I know you’ve been in an impossible situation and I can’t fathom how hard it’s been for you to live with this.”
“It’s driving me insane,” she whispered. “Lying to the sweetest people I know. To Dante, to Marco, to you.”
“I can’t promise there won’t be consequences,” I warned. “But no matter what, I promise we’ll find a way to make you safe.”
Bambi used the soggy tissue in her hand to blow her nose then smiled at me weakly. “Thank you, Elena. You really are a beautiful donna.”
I sighed again, standing up with Rora. “You pack quickly, okay?” I’m going to lie her down on the couch and come back to help.”
The blonde nodded eagerly, her eyes already a little clearer now that we had a plan.
I moved into the main room and went to put Rora on the couch when there was a click at the door.
Such that.
A click.
But it set the hairs on the back of my neck on end.
Slowly, quietly, I crept away from the living room and its front door back into the shadowed kitchen.
Bang.
Something pounded on the door.
My back pressed against the kitchen cabinets, Aurora a heavy weight in my arms.
Bambi appeared in the bedroom doorframe, her hair a haloed mess, red rimmed eyes wide as blue saucers.
“Is that him?” I mouthed.
She nodded hysterically.
“Where can we hide?” I asked as there was another bang at the door and a voice yelled Bambi’s name through the wood.
She jerked her chin at the long, narrow wooden door next to the fridge. I opened it to find it mostly empty, only a mop, dust pan, broom and vacuum inside. It was just big enough to fit us both if we squeezed.
“Go,” she whispered harshly moving to us.
I folded myself inside, ducking my head and pressing Aurora tight to my body. Bambi took a long look at us folded in the enclosure before she closed the door on us.
My breath was loud in the dark space.
Aurora didn’t make a sound, out like a light.
Carefully, I fished my phone out of my pocket and sent a group text to Dante and his crew.
Come to Bambi’s. Agostino di Carlo is here. We need help.
I prayed fervently that they were done whatever they’d been called to do and they’d get there soon.
Next, I typed in 9-1-1 and pressed send.
It was too late to speak, but I laid the phone on mute next to the crack in the door.
“Why the fuck didn’t you answer the door?” Agostino’s cold, cruel voice emanated across the room like dry ice.
“I was cleaning,” Bambi tried to explain in her sweet voice. “And I’m a mess. If I’d known you were coming I would have made myself presentable.”
His laugh was harsh. “You know I have no interest in you that way, Georgina. I’m in this for the intel. You didn’t show up at the shop yesterday. You know I get irritated when you miss our dates.”
Dates.
What a fucking psychopath.
“I’m sorry,” she said meekly. “Dante got out of jail yesterday so I spent the day cleaning his apartment. It’s my job.”
“I don’t give a fuck it’s your job. Your job is to keep me fed with intel about the Salvatore’s or I’ll take our daughter away somewhere you’ll never find her.” There was a pause and then, “Where is she?”
“At a friend’s house.”
The response was too quick. I could feel the suspicion in the air between them.
There was a clack of shoes against the wood floors and then his voice was closer.
“Aurora?” he yelled.
In my arms, his daughter jerked awake.
I clamped my hand gently over her mouth so she wouldn’t scream, but she only looked up at me, her eyes wide in the thin stream of light cutting in from the living room. She trembled slightly, so I held her even tighter.