Chapter Twenty-Four The Intruders

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR THE INTRUDERS

I started home, pulling out my phone and dialling my uncle’s number. It rang and rang and went to voicemail. Come on . I could have smashed my phone in frustration. I called four more times in a row and still, nothing. I left two voicemails and finally I sent a text:

I know what the honey meant. We need to talk about the Falcones. Call me ASAP.

I was almost home when my phone started ringing.

‘Jack,’ I answered. ‘I think I’m in danger.’

‘Sophie, I just read your text. Is everything OK?’ His voice was edged with panic, and it was taking hold of mine too.

‘Where the hell have you been? I’ve been calling you!’ I exploded.

‘Focus, Sophie,’ he snapped. ‘I’ll explain all that later. Where are they now?’

‘I don’t know,’ I said. There were so many of them they could be anywhere, doing anything. I told him about Luca’s threats, about the blood debt and the honey, my words catching between breathless gasps as I spoke.

‘Where are you now?’ he asked once I had finished.

I skidded up my driveway. ‘I’m home,’ I said.

‘Go inside, lock all the doors. I’m sending someone for you.’

‘Uncle Jack?’ I was struggling with my keys. I only had three on the chain, but they kept escaping from my shaky grasp. ‘Are they going to hurt me?’

‘No,’ he answered too quickly. ‘Of course not,’ he added after a beat.

‘What’s going on?’ The million-dollar question, and I still hadn’t put all the pieces together.

‘There really isn’t enough time to explain, Sophie.’ I could hear him barking orders at someone in the background.

I slotted the right key into the lock. The click inside flooded me with relief. ‘If you knew I’d be in danger, why would you take off like that?’

Now that my fear was ebbing away, I was getting angry. Jack had been avoiding Cedar Hill like the plague for his own safety, and he hadn’t bothered to tell my mother and me to do the same. So much for that promise he had made to my father. I made a mental note to call my mom after I was done with Jack. She was in the city at a series of bridal fittings until tomorrow evening, but I knew she’d freak out at being left out of the loop. Especially this one.

‘Sophie,’ Jack was saying, his words edged with one big, constant sigh, ‘they’re not going to hurt you. I wouldn’t have left you behind if I thought that. Those boys are just shooting their mouths off. That family love the sound of their own voices.’

‘They want revenge, Jack.’ I slammed the door behind me and fixed the chain in place. ‘They want a blood debt for what Dad did. Luca told me himself!’ I skirted into the kitchen and climbed on to the countertop. I clamped the phone between my shoulder and my ear so I could lock the windows shut.

The phone line buzzed with Jack’s defiance. ‘Ignore what Luca said. He’s just trying to frighten you.’

I slid off the counter. ‘But why?’

‘Listen. The Falcones’ problem is with me. Just me. Not you.’

‘What do you mean, with you?’ I jiggled the back door handle to make sure it was locked.

‘I can’t go into it now. I’ve sent Eric Cain for you. He’ll keep you safe. You’ve met him before, at my birthday a few years ago.’

‘I remember,’ I said, vaguely recalling a small, effeminate man with enviable dark-red hair. How exactly was he supposed to keep me safe?

‘I’ll meet you somewhere outside of Cedar Hill and we’ll talk about it.’

‘What about Mom?’ I asked.

My uncle had the audacity to laugh. I balled my fist until my nails dug into my palm.

‘They wouldn’t go near Celine,’ he said dismissively. ‘She’s got nothing to do with me. It’s common knowledge your mother loathes the ground I walk on. And they’re not interested in punishing your dad, Sophie. Have you locked the doors?’

‘Yes.’ I was in the hall again. I took the stairs two at a time, deciding to lock all the second-floor windows just in case. ‘Why are you taking me away if I’m not in danger? At least tell me something so I can be prepared.’

‘It’s a precaution, Sophie.’ He laboured over the word ‘precaution’ like it would make me feel better. It didn’t. ‘They would never go after you for what your dad did. The very idea is ridiculous. And even if they did , which they wouldn’t , the Falcone Mafia doesn’t hurt innocents. It’s one of their almighty, crap-loaded, self-righteous rules. And they just love being self-righteous.’

I could practically taste the venom. So Jack knew everything I did, and he had decided to be coy about it. And did that mean he wasn’t innocent? What exactly had he done to make it on to the Deserves-to-Die list? ‘Sounds like you know a lot about them. Thanks for the heads-up.’ You could have saved me a whole lot of time and swooning.

‘I did give you a heads-up.’

‘Yeah. A crap one.’

I sprinted back downstairs, my feet hammering against the steps like thunder.

‘Sophie, I really can’t get into this now.’ His voice was weary. ‘Just sit tight. I’ve sent someone.’

‘I’m trying.’ I slid through the open door into the living room and snapped the window shut. I was in the middle of pulling the curtains closed when I heard a voice behind me.

‘Hello, Sophie.’

I dropped the phone. Gino and Dom Falcone stood up from the couch at the same time, moving towards me with matching gaits.

‘How did you get into my house?’ I tried to find where my phone had fallen, but the room was almost pitch black. They both shrugged, their faces disguised by the darkness. Had they rehearsed this?

‘You should go.’ I folded my arms in what I hoped was an act of defiance. I raised my voice too, hoping Jack was still listening. ‘I’m expecting visitors.’

Gino’s laugh was a rasping bark. Dom stopped two feet away from me, and his brother hovered behind him, his ponytail adding two solid inches to his height. They smirked the same menacing smile.

‘What do you want, Dom?’

‘Ideally, Jack,’ he said. Behind him, Gino nodded animatedly in agreement. ‘But we can’t waste any more time trying to find him. We’re done chasing.’

‘And following you has gotten us nowhere,’ added Gino, his unibrow furrowed above fathomless eyes. ‘It’s been so boring .’

I stumbled backwards, hitting the backs of my knees against the window ledge. ‘You’ve been following me?’

I prayed Jack was still listening from wherever my phone had landed.

‘Yes,’ said Dom matter-of-factly. ‘When we found out who you were, it was a stroke of luck. We thought you’d eventually lead us to your uncle…’ The way he said it made it sound like he was disappointed in me for failing at a task I had no idea I was doing. ‘But you didn’t.’

Gino started sniggering through his nose.

‘You’ve been following me,’ I said again. My voice sounded far away; it was buckling with incredulity. ‘For how long?’

‘Too long,’ they said together.

‘Nic was against it, if that makes it any easier to stomach. He’s been fighting to leave you out of this,’ Dom said with mock sympathy. ‘But it is what it is.’

‘Out of what?’

‘Fighting and losing ,’ Gino sneered, ignoring my question.

‘But,’ added Dom, ‘if we hadn’t been following you, things would have gone from bad to worse for you that night after the world’s most boring party.’

‘Oh my God.’ Horror curled in my stomach. ‘That’s how Luca found me.’

‘He wasn’t supposed to intervene,’ said Dom, his voice suddenly disapproving. ‘We weren’t allowed to do anything that would disrupt your day unless your uncle made an appearance, but Luca broke the rules, like he always does. We didn’t even know about it until you came around shouting in our driveway.’

I blanched. Gino seemed to disengage from the conversation, and his attention started to wander around the darkened room. At a sound from outside, Dom glanced past me through a crack in the curtains. I seized the brothers’ momentary distraction and slid around the wall until I was nearer to the door.

They drifted with me like tracking drones.

‘I wouldn’t if I were you,’ warned Gino. ‘I don’t want to hit a girl. Even if it is you.’

‘You’re going to have to come with us.’ Dom sounded almost apologetic, but it did little to soothe my slow-burning hatred for him. Not only had he broken into my house, and was trying to take me somewhere against my will, but he had obviously used Millie and then dumped her, and that made him a total, unredeemable asshole . I slid into the open doorway, but Gino blocked me in an instant. He shot his arm out, covering the sliver of space.

Dom curled around the other side of me, closing in. He glanced at his brother and gave him a controlled nod. Gino dropped to his hands and knees and slithered across the floor like a reptile, swiping his hand around as he crawled. It was completely, unnecessarily dramatic.

I tried to run, but Dom grabbed my arm and pulled me back. ‘Don’t.’

Finally, Gino fished out my phone from underneath the armchair and sprang to his feet, dangling it in the air between us. ‘Gotcha,’ he said triumphantly to Dom.

Dom took the phone and held it to his ear. ‘Jackie boy?’ he sneered. The distant sound of shouting filled my ears. ‘I think it’s time we finished this.’

Laughing to himself, Gino shuffled to my side. ‘Time for Sophie to say bye-bye.’ His smile revealed his two chipped teeth, and his tongue poked out beneath them. I was still straining to hear what Jack was saying when Gino’s hands disappeared from my view.

Dom covered the mouthpiece and redirected to his brother. ‘Hurry up,’ he said.

The damp rag came out of nowhere.