The Bounty Hunters: The Marino Bros.: Box Set (60 page)

Again she just nodded, and turned.

Blaze started from the bottom. He brushed out the tangles that reached just below her shoulders and worked his way up. He brushed small sections at a time, and then after a few minutes was able to run the brush through her whole head of hair from root to tip. Her hair, a rich mahogany, looked even darker when wet. It was drying and beginning to curl naturally. He loved her hair. He was reluctant to stop, but she made him when she turned around and thanked him.

He took it as a start. She seemed no longer as angry with him, just disappointed, defeated maybe, and he would make this up to her. “Would you like me to get something from room service before you go to sleep? We need to leave early,” he added, still sitting beside her on the bed.

“No, thank you.” She hesitated. “But why do we need to leave early?” She was terrified of the answer, but knowing was better than not knowing. She was prepared to face the truth, especially now that she knew who Blaze was.

He sighed. “I need to get a new vehicle in case the hit men Vincent Roman hired marked this one. In fact, when you were in the shower I went and moved it to a strip mall down the block. I texted my brother, and he agreed we should not head back to Tampa just now. A few more days in case these guys are covering all the traditional routes. That gives us a few more days to think of a way to clear you.”

This reprieve did not lighten Bella’s heart much. She felt the inevitable was going to happen eventually.

“Any idea on how to do that?” she asked.

“Not yet, but something will come to me.” He reached for her hand as she was twisting her mother’s ring around her finger over and over. She allowed him to hold it, but did not return the pressure.

“Did you tell your brother you were involved with me?” she asked, lifting her head and meeting his gaze.

Shit!
He hadn’t. And he knew telling her the truth would hurt her, but he didn’t want to lie to her again.

“No.” Before she could turn away, he tugged her hand to get her attention. “Because he would come here now. And we need to work this out before we throw other people into the mix. If I told my brother I had fallen in love, he’d be here in a few hours, and he’d have all my brothers here too.”

“And that isn’t good because. . .” Her eyebrows made it a question.

“Just wait until you meet them, you’ll see. And it will happen, Bella. And they will love you. Like I do.”

Bella’s eyebrows drew together, and he saw her eyes shine.

“Tomorrow, after we get a new car, and get booked into another place, we will talk about the robbery, everything, and we will think of a way to get your freedom back. Something may have been overlooked. Or, we’ll think of a way to get a confession out of Anthony or Vito.”

“You’ll never get them to confess.” Bella was shaking her head. Blaze was saying all the right words, but he hadn’t told his brother about their involvement and it bothered her even though she kind of understood why.

“I have my ways,” he breathed heavily. Bella was so confused. Blaze was acting just like a man in love with a woman, which he claimed to be. “Try to get some sleep,” he whispered and made to get up. When he bent to kiss her cheek, she didn’t pull back as he feared. He walked to the other side of the room, to see if he had any other notifications from Andreas, and he saw her touch her cheek where he kissed her. It moved him, and he knew with time he’d convince her his feelings were real. He had to. But the important thing right now was clearing her name. Only when she was truly free, would she be able to make a decision about them. He planned to work on a plan tonight while she slept, and he’d be up the whole night if needed. He had to think of a way. That was his plan until he heard Bella’s soft voice from behind him.

“Will you hold me?”
Hell yes.
That was something he could do.
Anything
. She was lying with her back to him on the edge of her side of the bed. She looked so small, so alone lying there under the spread.

“Absolutely.” He knew this was about comfort more than anything else. And he’d hold her all night long, every night, if she wanted him too. He never wanted her to feel lonely and afraid again.

Bella didn’t move from the moment he pulled her into his arms in the center the bed. She curled up into his side, and within an hour she had fallen asleep, and he could hear her even breathing. He’d soothed her, and stroked her back, and hair to help her relax, but he’d said nothing as she drifted to sleep in his arms. She needed her rest. He stayed with her in his arms for a little longer enjoying just holding her, but then he needed to move. He had work to do, and he needed a plan, one he could tell Bella about in the morning—one that would give her some hope. One that would regain her trust.

A Plan

I
t wasn’t too
late, and Blaze hoped he could think of something so he could crawl back into bed with Bella. He went to the desk, pulled out the file he had on Bella and read it over again from cover to cover twice. He’d already read it twice before. Nothing came to him. He turned to his phone, and pulled up all the news stories about the shooting, the investigation, statements made by the police. Nothing. It was nearly one o’clock, three hours later, and still nothing. His notification went off on his phone and it was a text from Andreas.

Andreas:
I’m sure you’re sleeping, but FYI Anthony Roman’s attorney was on eleven o’clock news. Making a storm about his clients again not being the masterminds. Trial is next week. We need to have her here by the 11th.

Blaze:
Not sleeping. Bella is. I’m working.

Andreas:
?

Blaze:
This girl is innocent Andy.

Andreas:
You guys only call me Andy when something is eating at you. Give.

Blaze:
You’re going to want to kill me.

Andreas:
Call me!

Blaze:
I can’t. She’s sleeping.

Andreas:
Go in the bathroom, in the hall, and call me the fuck now. You have ten minutes, or I’ll call your hotel room.

Shit!
Blaze did not want to deal with this now. He needed to figure out a way to clear Bella, but his brother never made idle threats. He got up and went to the bathroom. He turned the faucet on as well to mute the sound of his voice.

He hit dial.

He didn’t even hear it ring, and Andreas was already barking into the receiver. “What did you do?”

“Why did I have to do something?” he sighed into the receiver.

“You said, and I quote, ‘You’re going to want to kill me?’ So, I repeat, what did you do?”

“Fuck . . .” He had to fess up now. “I got involved . . .”

“God dammit, not another Ronnie.”

“No, she’s not another Ronnie. Plus, Ronnie is pretty great. She’s perfect for Nikko.”

“And, I suppose this Bella is perfect for you,” he replied scathingly.

“I don’t know if she’s perfect for me, but I do know I care for her. A lot,” he added trying to keep his voice down. “She’s just sweet, vulnerable; she has this quiet strength and integrity about her. She’s smart and resourceful, she’s beautiful, and you’ll pick up on it the minute, the second you meet her. This girl is not a criminal.”

“And you got involved with her because she’s sweet.” Andreas’s tone was indifferent although Blaze knew he was anything but.

“Listen, Andreas, I’m not going to make excuses. Yes, she was a skip, a client, and I shouldn’t have gotten involved with her. But I did. Why? Hell, if I know. I couldn’t resist her. She’s beautiful, she cared for me when I was unconscious, and had a concussion, she. . .”

“You had a concussion?” Andreas interrupted.

“I didn’t mention that?” He tried to evade. “I’ll explain later.”

“The hell you will. You’ll explain now. No wonder you’re acting crazy. You got hit over the head . . .”

“Actually the hood of the car fell on my head, and you know I’m not the crazy one. I have only once in my lifetime, ever misjudged someone, but I’m not wrong about Bella. Dammit, yell as much as you want Andy, but I love Bella. I do. It’s crazy, but she is the one. I just know it. I’ve got to help her. I’ll try to do it before that court date, but I can’t make any promises.”

Andreas raised his voice. “Oh, you’ll get her here before her court date, or. . .”

“Or what?” Blaze snapped, losing his own patience.

“I’ll come down there myself.” This time Andreas’ voice dropped which meant trouble.

“Calm down, Andy, there is no need. Not yet.”

The explosion came. “Don’t fucking tell me what to do. This is my business . . . and there is every need. You have blinders on if you think differently. You have thugs searching for you and Bella, and you are ‘in love’ which means you are not thinking clearly.”

“Our business,” Blaze reminded him, but knew Andreas was right. He was in love and he might not be able to be as careful as he usually was with his worry for her.

“Yes, our business.”

“Stop Andy. It’s getting late. How about instead of arguing with me on this, you help me to think of a way to clear her, instead of sending her to jail where she will rot, or worse be killed because the Romans are so worried she’ll talk. Andy, I can’t lose her.”

“You must be thinking with your dick instead of your head,” Even though the words indicated otherwise, Andreas comment wasn’t as harsh as earlier. From his tone, Blaze knew he was coming around. It was said with resignation instead of anger. Then he heard the sigh come through the receiver. “You love her? Really love her?”

“Yes, Andy. I do.”

“She love you?”

“She won’t say it, but she’s pissed at me for lying to her about who I was. But yes, I know she loves me.

“Fuck.”

“It’s . . . it’s not like that, not like Ronnie and Nikko. This is me. You know I don’t trust easily, and you know I don’t say those words. . .”

“I know.” Blaze heard Andreas sigh before he continued. “So you need my help then.”

“Yes, but how in hell do I prove her innocence, Andy. I’m stuck here. It’s not like we can get these guys to talk. They are born and raised on the code of
omerta
.” The code of silence was the strongest code in the mafia, if you talked it meant death.

“Okay, now I’m saying this because you must really be thinking with your dick and not your head because that is the easy part.”

“What do you mean?” Blaze ground out, beyond frustrated now. He’d been racking his brains out for hours and hadn’t been able to think of a single way to get Bella out of this mess.

“She’s got hit men after her, right? They want to off her, to get the boys a lighter sentence, right?”

“Yeah, and what does that mean?”

“Well, we go after them then. We get them, then we got proof of the Roman’s involvement. It gives them motive. You want to get the boys to change their story, which they won’t, so you go after the hit men. That’s premeditated murder. The small fish won’t talk, go for the bigger guy then they all come tumbling down. The Romans will go down a lot longer for premeditated murder than for bank robbery or even manslaughter. You just got to connect the dots. Vincent Roman won’t want his boys going down for life, and he won’t want to go down either, and he’ll tell his boys to set your bird free to reduce the charges. He’ll try to bargain with us if he we can catch the hit men in the act and have the information that leads a trail right to his door. If not then we go after him too.”

“This is serious shit, Andreas. This is something we are gonna need a lot of help on.”

“It’s going to be dangerous too, Blaze. Is she worth it?” Andreas couldn’t believe the shit his brother had gotten them into. But his answer to this question would seal their fates. If he loved her, and she would make him happy, then he knew he had no choice. His brother deserved that. All of his brother’s did. Since his parents death it had become his mission to see his brothers safe and happy. He’d thought getting out of New York, getting out of the police work would have made life easier for them all, but now he was getting ready to tangle with the mob.

“Yes, Andy. Yes she is.”

“Okay, then. That’s it. And yeah, you are right. We can’t do this alone. These are professional gangsters. And you are going to need back up. Gio is coming back from New York in a day or two, and Nikko should be good to go. Ronnie will have a shit fit if she knows what we are doing, but you are going to need us all. I am also thinking because of who we are dealing with, we will need to bring in some others as well. Don’t even think about trying this on your own, Blaze. Wait for us. Can you keep a lid on her, make nice for a day, two days? And like I said in my earlier text, move and get a new vehicle.”

“Yeah, I’ll be on it first thing in the morning, early. But Andreas, this is brilliant. I can’t believe I didn’t think of this.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Andreas reminded him one more time. “But do nothing without me, without us.”

“I promise. There is too much at stake here.” Bella was at stake, and he wanted nothing more than her safety and freedom, even if she never forgave him.

Finding Refuge

B
laze was up
early and reluctantly got out of bed. He wanted to order some breakfast for him and Bella before she woke, but having to move her arm that was draped across his chest was heart wrenching. But today would be a better day.

He’d tell Bella about his talk with Andreas. Tell her more about his brothers, warn her ahead of time what they were like. Maybe they could even come up with a few scenarios to get these hit men that wouldn’t put her in danger. He just wasn’t willing to risk that.

Breakfast had been ordered, and he went to the bathroom for a quick shower. It was a relief to have an actual shower after days at Bella’s place. Although the waterfall had been quite remarkable, there was nothing like a hot shower to really invigorate you and make you feel clean. He needed to make it quick though, so he wasted no time.