Run To Rome

Halli snatched up her purse, annoyed that he’d gone through her things. He sounded like Ben, making fun of her plans. Ironically, if they’d stuck to her plans, she wouldn’t be in this mess right now, dealing with the likes of him.

“So what if I like a little order in my life?” she muttered defensively.

“You call that order? Try obsessive. Or anal. Or—”

“Or shut up.”

He smiled, but his expression quickly sobered. “Listen, I understand it’s been one hell of a day for you. Despite what you may think, this is far from normal for me, too. But like it or not, you stepped into something very serious. After everything that’s happened today, these guys won’t care what you’ve actually got on that video anymore. They’ll kill first, and watch it later. I—”

“Thank you, because I needed that reminder. This Alrigo guy wants me dead and I don’t even know who he is!” She spun away from Trent, tears stinging her eyes from his dire prediction. “I can’t believe I came to Italy and got mixed up with the mafia.”

A moment later

his hands slid onto her shoulders, sending her into the air about three inches.

His fingers tightened before rubbing her tense muscles. “They’re not mafia.”

“Then who are they?” Tingles radiated along her shoulders from his gentle massage.

“The less you know, the better. It’s safer that way.”

She rolled her eyes even though her back was to him. “How do you know?”

Suddenly, she felt like she’d been smacked upside the head and twisted away from his hands to face him. She narrowed her gaze. “How do you know? About the video, what I filmed, who these guys are? What were you doing there?”

He didn’t want to tell her, she could see it in his face. She crossed her arms and waited, trying to ignore a growing dread turning her blood colder by the second. Why hadn’t she asked these questions earlier?

He ran a hand through his hair, down the back of his head to rub his neck.

She forced the next question into the silence. “Are you working with them?”

“No.” His gaze shifted toward the living room.

Suspicion mushroomed and Halli swallowed hard. “That was a quick denial.”

“It’s the truth.”

She watched an inner debate play out in his expression as he stared past her shoulder. Pain shadowed his eyes and drew the corners of his mouth down. Just when she thought he’d explain what was going on, he lifted his arm to look at his watch.

“I’ve got to get that battery before the shops close for the night.”

What was it he didn’t want her to know? Her mind raced. He had to be involved; how else would he know about everything?

Trent grabbed his keys and the camera from the counter and headed toward the door. “I’ll be back in a little while.”

Her stomach knotted, shoving aside suspicion. Despite what she’d just been thinking, the thought of being by herself was scarier than any conspiracy she could dream up right now.

She rushed after him. “You’re not leaving me here.”

Trent paused, his attention focused on the sudden death grip she had on his arm. “I can’t take you with me, what if we run into more cops? One of them might recognize you.”

“I’ll duck down in my seat.” She fought a lump of fear rising in her throat. “Please, Trent, don’t leave me alone.”

He rested both hands on her shoulders, his gaze locked with hers. “No one knows of my part in any of this. You’re safe here. Take a little nap, and I promise I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“Why can’t we just pick up a battery on the way to Milan?”

His thumbs rubbed up and down her neck in a light, comforting caress.