Acquisition (3 page)

“It’s the truth. You’ve been sleeping with the mafia. The same hands that touch your body at night are covered with the blood of his victims.”

His words were both nauseating and horribly inappropriate for an FBI agent. She wrinkled her nose at him. “Don’t come near me again unless you have a warrant.”

“That can be easily arranged, Ms. Collins. I’d hate to arrest a sweet young college student like yourself, but I won’t hesitate if it helps me bring down the Rinaldi crime family.”

“Do your worst,” she shot back as she turned and rushed away from him, her focus solely on reaching the security gate so she could escape the odious FBI man and his even more disgusting words about Luka.

Only after the gate closed behind her did she turn to glance at him, finding the man already gone. She rushed through the complex to Luka’s apartment, her heart racing and her hands trembling. They shook so badly she couldn’t even let herself in, opting instead to ring the doorbell and let Gretchen, the housekeeper, open it for her.

She brushed past the other woman, unable to reply to inquiries about her health and state of mind. Abby knew she was alarming the housekeeper, who had never been anything but warm and friendly to her, but she suddenly felt watchful and suspicious of everyone.

Making her way to the master bedroom on the second floor, she closed the door and collapsed against it for a moment, heart racing in her ears. After a second, she fumbled her cell phone free from the backpack and dialed her sister’s number. She didn’t bother with pleasantries when Haley answered. “Why are you always suspicious of Luka and insinuating things?”

Haley hesitated. “I just don’t think he’s good for you.”

“Bullshit. Tell me the truth, and stop trying to protect me.”

Her sister let out a long sigh. “Why don’t you come here to the shop, and we’ll have some tea and talk?”

“Tell me now what your suspicions are, and why you’ve been so hard on him.” When her sister still didn’t speak, she barked, “Now.”

“Do you remember Mike Hanlon?”

Abby scrunched her brow, trying to think of the face that matched the name. She knew she’d met him a few times, but it took a moment to remember under what context. “Were you dating him for a while?”

Haley hesitated before answering. “Dating is a strong word. We were just seeing each other casually, but when he found out you were dating Luka, he warned me at the time that you were in danger. He kind of edged around without making a full confession, but he strongly hinted at the idea that not only was he in the mob, but he reported to the Rinaldi brothers.”

By itself, the words wouldn’t have held much weight with her, since her sister’s ex hadn’t even admitted he was a mobster, and there could have been any number of reasons for him to imply such a thing. However, when added to the FBI agent’s allegations, it gave the accusation more credence. She let out a small sob and bent forward, unconsciously cupping her stomach as she started to cry.

“Abby? Talk to me. I’m going to come over there if you don’t answer.”

“No, don’t do that. I just need time to think. Give me some time, Haley.” She disconnected the call before her sister could reply, hoping that for a change Haley would actually listen to her instead of running roughshod over her opinions and doing what her older sister thought was best. She just needed some time to gather her thoughts and figure out what she was going to do. She couldn’t do that with Abby around.

After taking some time to calm down and think rationally, she knew she had to speak to Luka. She couldn’t take anyone else’s word for such a serious allegation. He might avoid owning up to his feelings completely, but she didn’t think he’d ever lied to her. Abby hoped he wouldn’t start doing so now.

The idea of waiting for him to come home was too much torture, so she decided to go to his club instead. She had spent several hours locked in her private pity party, trying to sort out the truth, and it was now dusk as she left the apartment to walk to the cab she had called. After her brush with the FBI agent earlier, she didn’t want to risk hanging around outside the boundaries of the security fence while awaiting the bus. Nor did she want to travel conspicuously in one of the town cars driven by the company Luka kept on retainer. A cab was nondescript and felt safe.

A few moments later, the cab drew up outside of the club that Luka owned with his brothers, appropriately enough called Triple Threat, which usually made her smile, but she didn’t have that in her this evening. Her hand was on the door handle when she saw Luka step out of the club. She could have finished exiting and caught his attention, or waved him over, but something about the way he moved stilled the impulse. Instead, she told the driver, “Change of plans. Follow the man in the black jacket, but don’t get so close that he knows he’s being followed.”

The cabbie gave her a look in the mirror like she was nuts, but he didn’t argue as he put the car into gear. He’d likely assumed, based solely on where he had picked her up, that she had the money to fund an all-night drive around the city if she chose.

He would be wrong in that assumption, since she had never used, and refused to use, the credit card Luka had given her several weeks ago, and she didn’t think it was going to be an all-night trip anyway. She held herself stiffly in the seat as he got into his sports coupe and roared out of the club’s parking lot, driving confidently and at least five miles over the speed limit. The cab driver managed not to break the law, but he was clearly skilled and kept up with Luka.

That didn’t mean Luka didn’t see the driver following him, but she had to hope he didn’t. She felt sneaky following him without his knowledge or permission, but she was desperate to know what Luka was doing. She couldn’t even explain why she was positive he was up to something, but she was listening to her gut, which told her to follow behind quietly.

They drove for twenty minutes before pulling up outside a crumbling building in the industrial district. It wasn’t quite large enough to be a warehouse, but might have once been an office for one of the warehouse storage places around the area. Now, it appeared to be nothing more than a mess.

She waited until Luka had parked his car and entered through a side entrance before reaching for the door handle again. She bit her lip as she considered whether she really wanted to go inside and discover what was happening. She didn’t really have the luxury of burying her head in the sand and pretending like everything was just fine. For the baby’s sake, if not her own, she had to know if Luka did the terrible things the FBI agent and her sister claimed.

“You’re not really going in there, are you, lady?” asked the cab driver, his incredulity clear in his tone.

She wanted to shake her head, but nodded instead and grasped the handle firmly. “Wait for me.”

He looked indecisive for a moment. “This is a bad neighborhood, and I bet you there’re bad things going on in there. I’ll give you five minutes, and then I’m gone.”

She glared at him. “I haven’t even paid the fare yet, and I’m not going to until I get back.”

He shrugged. “My life is worth more than a hundred bucks, lady, and yours should be too. We should get the fuck outta here.”

She shook her head. “Just wait for me. If you’re in danger, then drive away; otherwise, please just wait for me.”

He let out a harsh sigh. “Ten minutes, and not a minute more. If I hear gunshots or something beforehand, I’m driving away before I call the cops. Just so we’re clear.”

She nodded her understanding and slid out of the cab, cautiously approaching the building as she looked around her. There were two other cars parked nearby, but she didn’t recognize either of them. She half-expected to find a guard posted at the door, but there wasn’t one.

Abby turned the knob and pushed against the door, wincing when it squeaked slightly. She froze for a moment, holding her breath as she waited to see if she had been discovered. When no one came running, she slipped inside and eased the door shut so it wouldn’t make more noise to alert someone to her presence.

She didn’t have to figure out which way to go, because the sounds of grunts reached her. She moved across the cracked cement floor cautiously, not wanting to fall, especially in her condition.

When she made her way down the hallway, she held her breath each time she had to cross a doorway, but found all three rooms empty as she walked past them. The fourth room was where the sounds she could hear all the way at the entrance originated from, and she paused, leaning with her back against the wall as she tried to listen before peering in.

“I told you to stay away from me and my family. That sure as fuck goes for my girlfriend, Armstrong.”

“I’m just doing my job,” rasped a voice she recognized, the one from earlier in the afternoon. She shuddered as the sound of flesh striking flesh reverberated from the room.

“Guess what? Your job is over.”

Her heart stuttered when she heard a small click, and she didn’t want to believe it, but it sounded like a gun cocking, or perhaps the safety being removed. Deciding she couldn’t live with not knowing, she took a deep breath and peeked around the edge of the doorway, almost gasping at the sight before her.

The FBI agent was on his knees with two men she didn’t recognize standing beside him on either side, pinning him to the ground by his shoulders. Two more men in dark suits stood behind him, and Luka was directly in front of him with a gun held out in his direction. She clapped a hand over her mouth to hold in her shocked cry when Luka fired the pistol a moment later, and blood sprayed from the agent’s head as he collapsed to the ground.

She didn’t have to wait around to see if he was dead. There was no way he had survived that bullet to the forehead. It didn’t matter if he was still somehow miraculously alive at that moment, because she was certain he wouldn’t be allowed to leave the warehouse in that state if he’d survived the first shot anyway. Luka would take care of that.

Luka would kill him.

Luka had already killed him.

The thought made her shudder, and tears blurred her eyes. A second later, her foot caught in one of the cracks in the cement floor, sending her flying forward. Fortunately, her hands and forearms absorbed most of the impact. It hurt, but she would prefer the sting in her arms and palms to pain in her abdomen. She didn’t let the discomfort get to her as she scrambled to her feet and kept running.

She held the sobs in check until she had left the building and returned to the cab, which she was thankful to find still waiting for her. She was certain she hadn’t been gone anywhere near ten minutes, but she’d been afraid the cabdriver would drive off as soon as she disappeared into the building. She was doubly thankful now that he hadn’t done so, since she would have no other way to flee.

After she’d scrambled into the back and quietly shut the door, he turned partially in his seat to look at her. “You okay, honey?”

She shook her head. “No. I’m pretty far from okay, actually.”

“What can I do?”

“Just drive,” she said in a voice thick with tears.

The cabdriver complied, and they were soon back on the road and navigating the city. When he asked for her destination, she mumbled, “The bus station,” before returning to silence.

It was only when she put a hand on her wrist to fiddle with the Cartier watch Luka had given her the previous evening that she realized she no longer wore it. She knew she’d had it on in the cab, because she had worried at it with her fingers then the way she was attempting to now. She must have lost it when she had fallen on the cement floor
.

She had put on the watch herself this morning and hadn’t been entirely certain she’d had the antitheft clasp properly fastened. It seemed clear now that she hadn’t, but even worse than losing the watch was leaving behind proof that she had been there. She could only hope Luka completely overlooked it and that none of his goons found the watch. With any luck, it had flown far away from where she had fallen, perhaps landing in shadows, and wouldn’t be discovered for months or years, if ever.

If Luka knew she’d witnessed him murdering an FBI agent, there was no telling what he would do. Abby wanted to think he would just let her go, but she was trying to be pragmatic. She’d witnessed a serious crime committed by her lover, and he’d surely want to silence her. It was a terrifying thought, and she trembled, interspersed with sobs, as the driver took her to the station.

She had nothing but the backpack she had unconsciously grabbed from the condo, having slung it over her shoulder as habit as she had left to meet the cab. At least it contained her cards and cash, along with the card Luka had given her.

Even as she pulled out his credit card at the ATM machine, she felt guilty for using it. That was something she had promised herself she would never do, but now seemed like a good time to break it in. She should let him help fund her getaway plan, because it was his fault she was going to have to start over and go as far away as possible. It was also her fault for having trusted so blindly, though she had never expected to see—or even looked for—signs that her lover was in the mafia.

Feeling sick, she withdrew the maximum the ATM allowed before going through the process again with her own card. After that, she made her way to the ticket counter, where she bought five bus tickets heading in five different directions with Luka’s card. Then, she purchased one with her own small stash of cash.

She’d like to think he wouldn’t follow her, but she was trying to be sensible and plan for the worst. Just because he enjoyed having her in his bed, and might even feel something for her, didn’t mean he was going to leave her as a loose end. She could send him to prison if she testified against him, which seemed like plenty of incentive for the average mafia man to hunt her down and eliminate the problem.

As she waited for her bus, having chosen one that left quickly, she slipped into the ladies’ room and cut up Luka’s card with a pair of manicure scissors she found at the bottom of her backpack. She did the same with her own debit card, which wasn’t too painful, considering she had nearly emptied the balance with her ATM withdrawal. Then she took out the cell phone he’d gifted her a few months before and called her sister. Haley answered on the second ring. “What’s going on? I’ve been trying to get hold of you.”

Yes, the fourteen missed calls told her that much, she thought with a slight quirk of her lips. “I love you, Haley. I just wanted you to know that. I’m not sure when I’ll be in contact again. I don’t know when it will be safe. Can you tell Mom I love her too? I’d love to call and tell her that myself, but I don’t have time to explain everything to her, and you can sort of guess why I’m leaving.”

“Are you in danger? Is he what I said he was?”

“I have to go.”

Before Haley could continue protesting, she hung up the phone and turned it off before leaving it on the counter. Her hope was someone else would pick it up, and then if Luka used it to track her, that would send him on a wild goose chase. She felt a flutter of guilt at the thought that someone else might get injured because of her, but quickly dismissed the idea.

If Luka tracked the phone to wherever it was taken and discovered it wasn’t in her possession, she couldn’t imagine he’d have any reason to hurt the person who had taken the phone as soon as he ascertained they weren’t involved in her disappearance. He would just move on, frustrated and angry that route hadn’t panned out.

After that, she slipped from the bathroom and made her way to the bus, which would soon depart. She settled into a middle seat with a heavy heart, looking out at the terminal and the city lights beyond it with a sinking sensation in her stomach.

She was leaving the only home she’d ever known, leaving behind her family, and turning away from the man she loved. There was no other choice but to leave, though she wasn’t leaving alone. The thought brought her some comfort as she placed a hand on her lower abdomen when the bus engine fired to life. They pulled away several minutes later, and she left her old life behind her with a new one in front of her—terrified rather than excited by what was ahead.