3. A Mother’s Worry

CHAPTER 3

A Mother’s Worry

TORI HARLAND: AKA MARINA CARLINI BOTTESTA

I attempted a smile for my daughter, while inside I cringed, as she exited the bathroom stall. She met me at the sink, her eyes red from shedding more tears. She never asked to be born into a crime family. Heartbroken for her and the hand we’d been dealt in life, I hated putting her through this.

Then again, I never asked my father to hand me over to the Bottestas to pay off his gambling debt.

Had I known at sixteen who they were, I’d have run then. So young and na?ve, I thought marrying a crime boss’s son was stupidly romantic, that I’d leave the poverty of my family behind and have the best of everything and be set for life. The romance turned out short-lived before reality crashed down hard.

“We’ll be okay, all right? We’ve come this far, Anna. No stopping now.” I grabbed her and hugged her. “I’m going to make a better life for us, baby.”

“I know, Mom.” She squeezed me tight, the same as she always did growing up. My sweet little girl. God, how’d she grow up so fast? She’s the same age as I was when Dad married me off to Ricardo Bottesta. I was a virgin on our honeymoon night, and lucky me, I ended up immediately pregnant with her. But she was the one thing I’d never regret.

Knowing what I knew now, if an older man approached my daughter at sixteen, he’d have to deal with me first, and I’d put him in hell before he touched her. Hopefully, hell was exactly where Dad and Ricardo were now. I only hoped Antonio would soon join them.

All my horrible mistakes, all the things I regretted, led us to this point. But Anna was the best thing that ever happened to me.

Had everything proceeded according to Cap’s original plan, we’d be halfway around the world by now. I’d be his wife, only for convenience, and we’d pose as a family until he could be assured Antonio Bottesta was behind bars or six feet under.

What Cap did for us, sacrificed for us—Oh, God. If anything horrible happened to him…

“Don’t worry. Cap told me he thought of everything. He said if all else fails, Nate would help us.”

She nodded. “He seems nice.”

I had my doubts, but he was our only hope and help at the moment. “We just have to stick with the plan and we’ll get through this.”

“Does that mean I can finally use my new name?” A glimmer returned to her eyes, and I chuckled in relief. I’d allowed her to pick her new fake name a year ago when Cap and I worked out the plans.

“Yes. Although I hope I don’t regret letting you name yourself after a car.”

“But Porsche is such a great name. And I love yours, too. Tori. ” She giggled.

I rolled my eyes, and hip bumped her, turning to root through my backpack. “Just Mom will do. But yes, we use our new names from now on. New lives. Maybe even…new hair.” I wiggled my brows and pulled out the semi-permanent hair color. One box in magenta, the other in a deep purple. With our dark hair, these should look stunning, while also throwing off anyone who might recognize us. Although traveling through these dinky towns and back roads, I doubted anyone would.

“Yes! You know I’ve been dying for you to let me color it. Please, can I have purple?”

“Of course, love.” I nodded. I’d give her the world right now if it meant we could run far, far away and never be found.

Some time later, our hair freshly colored, I only gave myself a passing glance in the mirror. The fade of my hair from dark to magenta ends would take some getting used to. Porsche looked darling, her deep tone of brown fading perfectly to dark purple. We wiped the bathroom clean from the mess we made, then finally approached the booth where Nate waited for us, drumming his fingers on the tabletop.

“About time. I said we’d eat quickly. We should have been back on the road by now.” He eyed our hair with no sign of whether he liked the changes or not. But it didn’t matter what he thought.

When Cap showed me photos of them from their combat days, I saw nothing but war-torn men, circles under their eyes, dusty uniforms, and dirty faces from the desert. I didn’t think much of Nate then. I hardly expected him to look as handsome as he did in person. But his brown shaggy hair was far from a military cut, unlike Cap, who had still kept his high and tight.

Could I trust this man with shaggy hair to protect me? What choice did I have right now? To think Anna—Porsche and I could be out there alone trying to run from Bottesta was laughable.

Then Nate lifted his eyes, landing on mine with a pair of chocolate orbs, sweet like a golden puppy, staring hard at me with a slight twitch of his lips. Okay, so he was a loyal, shaggy dog. Whatever. Cap believed Nate would protect us and I believed in Cap. Still, I hardly knew Nate enough to trust him yet.

We sat across from him, and, while I struggled with what to say, leave it to my outgoing, all-too-trusting daughter to make the first move.

“Hi. I’m Porsche,” she said, smiling widely.

The corners of his mouth turned up. Not a full one, just enough to be reassuring to a young person like her. “Nice name. Great car.”

She gave me the side eye. “Thanks. Mom doesn’t like it.”

“I never said that.”

“I’m sure your mother is only looking out for your best interests.” Okay, one point for him for sticking up for me. And more points for having a slightly Southern twang. I found it sexy—no, irritating. I found him irritating. “I’m Nate. I gather you and your mom are in some trouble. This must be terrifying for you.”

“Yeah.” My daughter donned a brave face, anyway. How’d I raise such a strong girl?

“I read Cap’s detailed letter. How much does she know?” He nodded toward my daughter, asking me point blank.

I put a reassuring arm around her shoulders. “She knows everything about how we’re supposed to act as a family. I’ve never kept a single secret from her.”

“Okay, then. This entire plan—” he pushed the envelope into the center of the table. “It’s crazy.”

I balked at him, but couldn’t say more because just then the server arrived with a mug of black coffee for me and a stack of flapjacks for Porsche. With gooey butter and maple syrup dripping over the entire plate, it looked unappetizing, but smelled divine. The thousand calories would lodge straight on my hips, but my daughter, with her young metabolism, wouldn’t even gain an ounce.

I’d always watched my figure. I tried to impress healthy eating upon my daughter as well. But right now, in this tiny dot of a town on the map, on the run, I didn’t think I could be too picky about avoiding sugar. The only thing I knew at this very second was I’d be stealing at least a forkful or two from her plate.

Meanwhile, the server set eggs over sausage, biscuits, and gravy in front of him, and a Denver omelet in front of me. I pushed it away, wrinkling my nose.

“Eat up,” he demanded, then stuffed a forkful of his food into his mouth, yellow yolk escaping one corner dribbling down his chin.

“I don’t like eggs. Anything but eggs.”

His eyebrows shot up, and at least he swallowed his food before speaking. “Don’t like—? I’ve never heard of someone not eating eggs.” I half expected him to wipe his mouth with the back of his hand, but he actually used the paper napkin and wiped across his full bottom lip and chin. He put his fork down and leaned back, crossing his arms.

I only then realized he’d taken off his coat and rolled his sleeves up to his elbows. Beautiful tanned forearms poked out at me like hard coiled muscles, veins and all. Nate definitely had a body on him. Not that I should give it more than a passing glance.

I shrugged, my stomach growling as Porsche devoured her first bite. She moaned and closed her eyes, obviously enjoying our first day on the run. She got the name she wanted, the purple hair, and the pancakes, making out like a bandit.

I took a long draw from my coffee mug, then gagged and spat it back out, making a face. “And I definitely don’t like diner coffee.”

“Sorry, princess, but there’s not going to be another coffee shop that sells a vente fancy-cuppa-chino for miles.”

Setting it aside, I ignored his snarky reply and got down to business, pointing at the envelope between us. “So, what do we do now?”

“I just want to log my opinion here that Cap must have been out of his mind to think I’d go along with this fake marriage idea.” He resumed eating, shoving another mouthful in, practically finishing his meal in two bites.

My opinion of him solidified. Cocky, way too self-assured, and bossy. And handsome. But this was our lives here, not his. Fine, if he didn’t like Cap’s plan for a fake marriage, I needed him only to get us from this point to somewhere my daughter and I could hide and be safe. After that, he could leave us be.

Suddenly, his eyes widened at something behind me. I twisted my head to see and on the TV screen playing across the diner, the news showed scenes from the safe house building on fire in St. Louis last night. Arson suspected, no leads yet, the text on the screen displayed. An uneasy feeling swept through me, and I shuddered.

“Hurry and eat, Porsche. We need to put more distance between us and trouble. Meet me out at the truck,” he commanded.

As he walked off to square up the bill at the register, my mouth gaped after him. “What an asshole?” I was married off to one asshole before, and I wasn’t about to tolerate another, fake or not.

“Mom, don’t call him that. He seems like a nice man to me,” Porsche defended him.

“Don’t be so quick to fall for a guy, honey. They’ll disappoint you every time.” I warned my daughter—and warned myself. “Listen, the first chance we get, we’re leaving him behind. We don’t need him. You just leave it all to me.”

The gravity of my situation suddenly weighed down on me. Our new fake identifications were in the papers Nate held. Even if I wanted to run, I didn’t have money. I had left my purse and phone behind, and where the fuck would I take my daughter that would remotely feel safe? For the time being, we’re stuck with Nate, at his mercy, hoping he’d step into Cap’s shoes. At least for now. My jaw set, determined not to rely on another man again, but starting at zero, building a new life, wouldn’t be easy.