“All right, I’m going back to bed,” I tell him, turning to head back down the hall. I’ve done all I can for him, and all I want now is to spend every last second with the woman who makes me forget about all this shit.
“Adrian.”
I pause, turning to glance back at him.
“Be careful,” Mateo says.
Nodding once in response, I assure him, “I will.”
Chapter Twenty Two
When morning comes, I make love to Elise again. No condom, again. It’s stupid and sentimental, but supposing I don’t come home today, I kind of like the idea of her having something to remember me by.
I know the chances of getting her pregnant in two tries are low, which makes me sort of regret my practicality before. I felt like we had time, and now that I’m afraid we don’t… well, now I realize what I want.
I want what Mateo has.
Not the empire, but the stuff that actually matters.
I want the woman who loves me, the cute little kids to tuck in at night after a dangerous day’s work. I want to be able to wine and dine the woman I’d do literally anything for, and if she likes stupid fancy dinners and dressing up, I want to be able to give her every bit of that.
It should be a bitter pill to swallow, as much time as I’ve spent raging against just that, but it’s not. I just feel sad that I don’t have time, and the time I did have was squandered resisting.
If I do manage to pull this off today, I’m bringing my ass straight home and making up for lost time. I’m gonna put a baby in my beautiful, bewildering woman who wants togetherness and domesticity. I’ll let her cook and clean, if that’s what makes her happy. I’m gonna find a way to give her friends, too. Mia and Meg are both friendly enough, surely she’ll fit right in if I nudge them in that direction. Maybe we won’t go back to the apartment. Maybe we’ll stay at Mateo’s until I can get us a place that doesn’t suck. It’s easier for me to work from here, anyway. Plus, Maria and Cherie would be back in her life that way, and she could have back whatever bond I took from her when I dragged her out of here, thinking I was rescuing her.
If I get to come home tonight, I swear I’m going to get out of my own way. I’m gonna let us be happy.
Tonight feels like a long time from now, though.
Instead of grabbing coffee and breakfast downstairs, I head out. I’ll pick something up on the road. Don’t want to risk running into Mateo again. I don’t want to lie to him, and I can’t tell the truth until after it’s already done or it won’t get done.
The first couple of hours is spent stalking, anyway. This is the safe part. This is where I could still change my mind, if I wanted to. If I let fear rule me.
Instead I wait for an opportunity to get Antonio’s daughter alone. She lives with her boyfriend, apparently, and while he’s far from someone I’m worried will shoot my face off on sight, he’s familiar enough with my lifestyle that he probably would if he had to.
I’m not afraid of him, obviously. He’s just inconvenient, and I don’t want to kill him, since I’m gonna need something from him later. Extracting information from corpses is beyond even my abilities, in most cases.
The girl works today, so eventually she has to leave. And when she bounds downstairs, her long wavy hair pulled back in a pony tail, dressed in black from head to toe, that’s when I get out of my car.
I feel kind of bad about this. I’ve seen the video that was made featuring this poor girl, and I can’t imagine she’s fond of being grabbed, but I can’t wait until she gets in her car. I don’t know her or her habits well enough. Maybe she would be easily intimidated into getting back out; maybe she would throw the car in reverse and peel out of here. The latter can’t happen, because then she might call her dad.
Which I want, just not under those circumstances.
She’s messing with her phone (and I’m pretty stealthy when I want to be, anyway) so she doesn’t notice me approaching until I’m right there. Fear leaps in her eyes and a short cry of surprise bursts out of her.
“Don’t scream,” I say, pressing my gun to her side.
“Oh, God,” she says, shakily.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” I tell her. “We’re gonna go back up to your apartment. Anyone up there?”
She hesitates, determining whether or not to lie to me. Finally she settles on, “No.”
The lie. Okay, that’s understandable. “Give me the phone,” I say, since it’s still in her hand.