“Fuck,” I say under my breath, no longer tired. Dex’s information is like a shot of adrenaline being injected into my veins. “How much do they know about our involvement?”
Dex shakes his head. “Not sure. I’ve only heard this second hand so far. I’m meeting with Vinny and his men up at The Rooftop in a few minutes, and I’ll get a better read on just how much he thinks he knows and what he plans on doing.” Dex turns to face Rowan who is sitting on the bed with terror in her eyes. Katja is sitting next to her holding her hand, but clearly not giving her any true comfort. “We need to get Rowan out of The Whitney.”
“Agreed,” I say as I reach for one of my ready bags that I always keep on hand to go in an instant from the top shelf of the hallway closet. It has every essential I’ll need for several weeks on the run. I was trained to plan for a situation like this, but never truly thought I’d have to use the escape hatch. “I’m getting her out of here.”
“Are you sure it’s safe to leave?” Katja asks.
Rowan follows the question with, “Where will we go?”
“There’s going to be a hunt, and no matter how many precautions we’ve taken to keep what happens here on the thirteenth floor confidential, the walls are going to grow ears. We can’t risk word getting out that Rowan is still here,” Dex says. He then looks at me. “My guess is that Vinny will assume you cleaned this and—”
“Yeah, I’m not going to be his favorite person,” I interrupt as I reach for my jeans and black t-shirt to get ready to leave. I then look at Rowan who is looking at me as if waiting for me to give her the marching orders. “Get dressed,” I say to her. “We need to leave while Dex has them preoccupied on The Rooftop.”
“I have a house in the Hamptons—” Rowan begins to say.
“You can’t go anywhere connected to you or your family,” Dex says.
“It’s not. The house belongs to a friend of mine—but not able to be traced to me. It’s empty, and close enough for us to get to fast,” Rowan corrects.
I give her a small smile, liking that she’s already thinking smart. I need her head in the game if we are going to get through this alive, and so far, the girl is impressing me.
“It sounds like a good place for now,” I pipe in, not being able to think of a better place not easily traceable back to Dex or me. And she has good points that we need a place now and close. Dex and I have some hideouts, but they’re fucking pits, and the Hamptons sounds like a good place, even if it’s only temporary.
Dex nods his approval. “Katja, go back downstairs. Business as usual. I’ll go upstairs to the roof, and you two sneak out the delivery doors.”
I pull out two burner phones and hand one to Dex. “I want to know how that meeting with Vinny goes the minute it’s over.”
In a whirlwind of fast acting, Rowan and I are in a sedan not registered to any of us. I knew it would be easy to slip away unnoticed, but not sure how long that can last. It does help that we don’t have to travel far to reduce our chances of being spotted or picked up on street cameras. I have her lie down in the back seat until we are out of downtown because I know the Lucianos are smart fucks, and they hire even smarter people. Underestimating them will be the quickest way to get us all killed.
Rowan and I sit in silence for most of the trip. My thoughts are lost in coming up with solutions, playing out the worst as well as the best scenarios in my head. I can only imagine what is going on in her brain. I’m used to this level of stress. She isn’t. Or at least not to this degree of darkness. The fact that she isn’t curled up in a pool of her own tears is very telling of her inner strength and character. I’ve dealt with men much taller, broader, and beefier than she that would be in hysterics at the thought of the mafia after them. Not Rowan. She remains steadfast, and it’s about the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.
When we arrive at the gate of her friend’s house, I let out a whistle. “Damn, this is some house.”
It’s not like I haven’t been to mansions before, but I wasn’t expecting that I’d be keying in a code to enter a castle. Nor feel as if I was pulling up to a celebrity’s place today. This is a house like no other I’ve seen before.