Chapter 21

Lucky

What the fuck has just happened? I am laying on the ground with Nico’s body over mine. I can hear screaming; people are moving in all directions as I see shoes passing my line of sight. “Stay still, Princess.” Nico’s breath is warm against my cheek, I’m way too scared to feel anything other than terror gripping me like a vice.

“What’s going on? What just happened?”

“Gun shot.”

“Sir let’s go. Up, we need to get you and Ms Gianluca out of here. Stat.” Oh, thank God for that because laying face down on the sidewalk in Manhattan is not my favorite pass-time, that and whoever was shooting must want one of us dead. But who? Nico Santangelo, I mean he has enough enemies to last a lifetime and it wouldn’t surprise me if someone did want to take a shot at him. Or me? But why would anyone want to harm me? Unless of course they think the whole thing between Nico and myself actually means something, you know like love and passion. Then yeah, they might want to take me out to get to Nico. Am I having heart palpitations? I think I am.

Nico’s body moves from mine, suddenly I miss the feel of his weight on me. A huge arm picks me up, it’s not Nico, it must be one of his protections, the guy has some dark ink on his forearms, muscles wearing muscles. He places a hand on my head to lower it as he shoves me unceremoniously into a large black vehicle. The windows are tinted out. “You’ll be safe in here, it’s bullet proof.” Nico does his best to assure me.

“Who would do this? Are they gunning for you or for me?” I’m conscious I look like a started rabbit caught in the headlights; my mouth is dry.

“Here, have this.” He reaches into the partition between us, that sits in between the vehicle’s seats and hands me a black flask with a silver top. He unscrews the top and hands it to me. I take it, the liquid burns like fire as the brandy shoots down my throat, I wipe my mouth and take another drink from it.

The large Hummer is moving away from his store. “Nico, why would somebody do this? And what about your store opening? This is fucked up. Royally fucked up.”

His jaw ticks, I can see the tenseness, it looks as if he is gnashing his molars together. His brilliant blue eyes are dark and thunderous, his mouth in a thin, tight-lipped line. “I don’t know but we will find out. Nico Santangelo always finds out. I have ears on the ground, Princess do not worry your beautiful head about this.”

“Not worry, are you fucking insane? I could have been killed, shot.”

“But you’re not. You are safe, we are going to fly out of the State.”

“Fly, where?”

“Somewhere safe, somewhere nobody will find us. Trust me, Lucky I am not keeping you anywhere near here where it is unsafe.”

“This is all to protect yourself, right? So you can still have the alliance with my family. This is nothing to do with wanting to protect me is it, Nico. Admit it.”

He glares at me, his dark eyes penetrate mine, I shift in my seat and move hair out of my face. I take another drink from the hip flask, the leather-bound case cool in my hand. “Twenty minutes, Sir.” I hear a deep voice from the front of the vehicle.

“Twenty minutes to where, Nico? I want some answers now have at it.” I hand him the hip flask back; he does the top up and places it where he retrieved it from. It doesn’t go unnoticed that he does not participate in drinking any of the brandy.

“You do not need to know all the answers, Lucky now be quiet. I need to think.”

“I will not be quiet. Somebody has just taken a shot at us, you’re flying me out of New York to somewhere, God only knows where and you want me to be quiet and controlled. You’re clearly demented, Nico.”

He moves so quickly it makes me throw myself further into the seat as he grabs my chin between his thumb and his forefinger, running his finger along my jaw line. Perversely, it feels good. “You will stop asking me questions. We will find who did this and they will pay, we will keep you safe, Princess because I do not want your blood on my fucking conscience. Now is that clear?” I hiss at him, he strokes my jaw and lowers his lips to kiss me, softly, with tenderness. What the hell is that all about? I shudder and push him away.

“Don’t mistake my fear for surrender, Santangelo. Just because you threw your body at mine and shielded me, does not make me feel suddenly I owe you anything. I still hate you with all my being.”

“Good, we are equal then. The feeling Princess is mutual.” He angrily punches into his mobile, I see it is a Falcon Supernova, platinum finish. Disgusting, he could feed the homeless in all of America for the princely sum of just that one item he possesses.

“Tony, you okay? Are our parents safe?” He nods. “Good, good. Now I want round the clock protection doubled up on all of you and find Dario, he can’t go wandering around on his own from hell hole to hell hole. I want him found and I want him taken to the safehouse. And tell our parents they need to go too, better still, organize for Dimitri to take everyone there now. Round everyone up, nobody stays at my residence or their own. And Tony, I want whoever took a shot at Lucky and I found. I will deal with the cunt personally.” He shuts the call off abruptly and begins to scroll through his emails, I try to take a peek, he turns his face to me.

“Are you snooping on my private mail?”

“Not of interest to me.”

“Are you sure, Princess?” I turn away, God, he irritates me. The car comes to a stop, we’re at an airfield. His two protection get out from the front of the Hummer and open the door for me. They stand either side of me and take one of my arms each and begin to walk me to the steps of what I assume is Nico’s private jet.

Nico, I see as I twist my head is following in long strides, fuck, at this moment of all moments, having just been shot at; I notice that he even strides sexily. Jeez-us, I need a reality check. They walk one in front, one behind as I go up the steps. A stewardess greets me. “Miss Gianluca, welcome aboard. I am Nahlia, and I’ll be looking after you today. Please take a seat.” I smile at her and make my way to one of the plush, cream leather seats in the mid-section, each seat is trimmed with black piping, Nico’s family crest is sewn into the headrests. I see narrow double doors as I head to the seat I intend to take. “That’s a bedroom, you may want to lay down once we’ve taken off. My doctor is coming on board to check you out.”

“For heaven’s sake, Nico. I don’t need checking out. You fell over me and I hit the ground. No harm done. Tell him not to bother.” I throw myself in the seat and place my seatbelt on. What I need is a bottle of strong liquor.

“Don’t back chat, Princess. Do as you’re told.” He sits opposite me, terrific, I wanted to have some space from him. He’s crowding my head, I’m not able to think straight when he’s this close to me, looking provocative and menacing at the same time. He certainly doesn’t look like a man whose just had an assassination attempt on him. No, Nico Santangelo looks as if he’s stepped out of a GQ centrefold and is on his way to some business meeting. Nothing is out of place, not even his almost jet-black hair. The only signs of stress are the lines around his eyes, the blackness of his eyes.

An elderly man comes aboard, he wears spectacles. “You must be Lucky.” He says and extends his hand. I shake his hand. “Dr Carson, I would like to check you over before we fly.” He opens his bag and I glare first at Nico who ignores me, his face buried in his forty-five million dollar mobile and then I glare at the doctor.

“No point resisting my dear. You have had a nasty shock, and you need to be checked out.” His British accent is so quintessential. If I weren’t so mad, I’d actually find it kind of cute. His smile and the tiniest of pricks to my arm are the last things I notice before I see only black.