“His mother’s maiden name was Anderson. They named him Anderson Gabriel Dunne. When he was eighteen, he had his name legally changed to Gabriel Anderson. He enlisted, and he never spoke to his father again.”
She stops and collapses onto the other end of the couch, dropping her head against the back and closing her eyes. “This is like some sick fucking joke.”
“I know, but, baby, I need you to understand how dangerous this is. Abello is not going to let the killing of his right-hand man and two of his lieutenants go unanswered, and by now, he knows not only that you are alive, but that you and I are involved.”
When she turns her head to face me, I see the tears shimmering in her eyes and hold my hand out to her, urging her to come over to me. She resists momentarily, but eventually grabs my hand and lets me pull her up against me.
She buries her face in my chest, and her warm tears splash against me, drenching my shirt.
“Don’t cry, baby. It’s going to be okay. We’re going to figure this out.”
“How?” she cries, sobbing so hard she practically chokes herself. “How the hell do we get a mobster to stop trying to fucking kill us?”
“Shh.” I try to comfort her, but, frankly, I don’t have a clue how I’m going to convince Abello to let this go. There’s no way he can let Danika live with a chance she might publish the story, and he will assume both Gabe and I are involved and helping her at this point. “Danika, was what you told Matteo true? Does no one else know about your story?”
She sniffles and looks up at me with her red-rimmed eyes. “Yes, I never told anyone what I was working on.”
My mind races and a plan begins to form. “What about your notes? Where are they?” If I can get my hands on them, maybe, just maybe, we have a chance at keeping ourselves alive.
“At my place, I keep them in notebook. It’s probably on my desk.”
I nod and kiss her head, holding her close to me as I run through the plan mentally.
I’m a lunatic. It’s the only explanation for why I think this might actually work, but, right now, I feel like there aren’t really a lot of options. The police can’t keep us safe from someone like Abello. He has so many men on his payroll; he has people in every precinct of the city. Even if we left town, where the hell would we go? Would we really be able to leave our families behind? He would find us anyway. With his connections, it wouldn’t even be hard.
“I need to go talk to Gabe. Are you going to be okay here alone for a little bit? I’ll be right across the hall.”
She nods weakly. “Yeah, I need to call Nora and my mom anyway. They will be freaking the fuck out by now.”
I kiss her again, taking my time to show her through actions what I can’t in words. I will fix this.
Savage heads to Gabe’s with a promise he’ll return as soon as he can, and an order not to leave the condo unless it’s to come to Gabe’s because I need something.
I agree, reluctantly. Even though I know it would be dangerous and stupid to leave the building, the thought of being cooped up here for God knows how long while Gabe and Savage try to figure this out is giving me cabin fever already.
Wandering back to the bedroom, I climb onto Savage’s bed and recline against the headboard, staring at my phone in my hand. I have multiple messages from Nora, Caroline, my mother, my editor, and pretty much everyone I have ever met asking if I am okay. I barely listen to them before I hit the “Delete” button. I don’t want to have to discuss what went down with everyone. If I did, I’m not sure I could maintain the level of calm and control I have managed so far today.
The only reason I’m not currently in a corner sobbing and generally becoming a mental patient is because of Savage. His strength and reassurances have grounded me, and the breakthrough we had concerning our relationship has cemented us in a way I didn’t think possible. All the magnificent hormones racing through my body from the multiple orgasms can’t hurt either.
Taking a deep breath, I mentally prepare myself for the call with my mom and Nora. I’m doing this three-way, no way in hell I am going to do it twice.
As soon as the phone starts ringing, I feel like I’m going to vomit. I need to tell them right off the bat I’m not getting into details with them. There’s no way I would survive discussing that, especially without Savage here.
“Danika? Oh, my God! Are you okay?” Nora screeches into the phone.
“Yes, I’m okay. Hold on, I’m going to get Mom on the line.”
“No, don’t call her. I’m at her house. I’ll put it on speaker.” I hear her scream for our mother, and can picture her running down the hallway in my mom’s tiny ranch house at breakneck speeds just like when we were kids. Rustling follows and then my mother is screaming when Nora tells her I am on the phone.
I groan and drop my head back against the headboard, clenching my eyes shut and enjoying my last second of peace and calm before my mother’s inquisition begins.