He had lost his mind.
‘How could you leave it so long to call me? How could you run like that? How could you do that to her?’ Why was I bothering? There was nothing he could say, no words to take back what he did.
‘I’ve been trying to get through to you all week.’ Jack was drawling and I realized he was probably high or drunk, or both. ‘There’s been too much heat in Cedar Hill, but it’s dying down. Listen,’ he said. ‘I’m your guardian. I’ve spoken to Donata; I’ve talked her around. You were scared that night, you didn’t know what you were doing, you’re just a kid still. We have a job for you. We’ll take care of you – you’ll have money and protection. And we need you, too. A young girl who no one would suspect, just like Sara was. You’re going to be our secret weap—’
‘Don’t you dare come near me,’ I cut in. ‘You’re poison, Jack.’ I choked on the rest of my sentence. How desperately I wanted to put my hands around his throat and watch him suffer. I thought of Nic’s promise to me, and something flared inside me. I wanted to make Jack pay.
‘We’ll talk about this,’ he said. ‘You don’t have to be by yourself any more.’
‘That’s how you made it!’ I hissed. My nails were digging grooves in my palm. I was shaking, every part of me livid with hatred so deep I thought I might be sick.
His voice rose. ‘I’m sorry about your mom. I was sure the fire would finish the Falcones but I miscalculated. I made a mistake, Sophie. There’s still time to make it right. Trust me, I’m trying to protect you. I want to make sure you’re safe. The future can’t be avoided. If you’re not with us, you’re against us, and Donata won’t stand for anything less than your full compliance. Not after your hesitance in the diner. Don’t make it harder than it has to be.’
I hung up and slammed my phone against the ground. Rage and fear ripped through me. He wasn’t going to stop. He was drugged up, profit-hungry and corrupt, and I was in his sights. Nic was right. Either I would join him or the Marinos would skin me alive.
How far away was New York? How long did I have? I remembered the cold stare of Donata Marino. What would she do to me if I refused to help her?
I locked the back door behind me and thundered upstairs. I would no longer be a sitting duck. I would not suffer the fate of my mother.
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
THE ESCAPE
I was in the upstairs bathroom squishing my moisturizer into an already full rucksack when I heard a car door slam outside. I burst into my mother’s room, ignoring the stale feeling of depression that clung to the lavender-scented drapes inside. I edged towards the window, peering over the doorstep, where the top of my uncle’s head was visible. He had already left New York when he called me. I never had a head start.
I was too late.
Crap. I slid back into my room and stuffed Luca’s switchblade in my pocket. The doorbell rang, followed almost immediately by several loud thumps. My phone was buzzing in my pocket.
By the time I was halfway downstairs, there was a key turning in the lock of the front door. I almost bit off my tongue as it swung open in front of me, swallowing a curse. Jack stomped inside and I froze with one hand on the banister, the other across my heart.
We stared at each other. Every bone in my body ached to hurl myself at him, wrap my hands around his throat and watch the light drain from his eyes. I hated him, and the heat of my rage felt like it might burst through my skin and rip me apart. Would he take me by force or could I run? I had to think, to focus. I couldn’t mess this up.
Slowly I came towards him, forcing one foot in front of the other, pulling the tendrils of raw fury back into my body and stifling them. I had to compose myself, to squash the hostility long enough to get away from him. And I would do it, even if it destroyed a part of me to do so. I would not let my emotions sell me to Donata Marino. I would not let them keep me from avenging my mother.
Jack’s frame seemed to press outwards against the narrow hallway. There was no space – no place that his shadow didn’t touch. ‘Sophie.’ One word: not quite angry, but stern.
‘Jack.’ Antony, I reminded myself. But no matter what the truth was, he would always be Jack to me. A liar. A coward. The word Antony tasted too bitter in my mouth. My fingers squeezed into my palms until their tips bent back on themselves.
He shut the door behind him. ‘You didn’t answer me.’
I felt my voice vibrating with fear, so I forced it higher, louder. ‘I was upstairs. Can’t you wait, like, two minutes?’
There. That teenage indignation. Jack huffed a sigh and I watched his shoulders dip. He thought this would be easy; he thought I would come around. Idiot. He stepped closer, and it took everything in my power not to attack him. ‘Are you ready to come with me?’
We both knew it wasn’t a request; he was just allowing me the illusion of free will, for old times’ sake.