Run To Rome

Groping for a dry towel, she stared at her pale reflection with disbelief. How had her carefully planned life spun so out of control in just a few hours? Not to mention, away from Trent, the whole nightmare was supposed to go away. Instead, it’d gotten worse.

Her mind raced. Working in television, living vicariously through movies, her mind immediately went to the worst case scenario. But maybe they weren’t all in on whatever was going on. Surely Officer Greco wouldn’t have left her alone if she knew what Halli had filmed? She waivered in indecision. Could she risk trusting her? Would the woman help? Would she believe the real story after Halli’s initial lie?

The day fast-forwarded in Halli’s mind and her shoulders slumped. Who was she kidding? No one would believe what had all happened to her today. Heck, there wasn’t even a single incidence by itself that stood a ghost of a chance of being plausible, let alone the whole of it together.

What she needed right now was a new plan. What did she need to focus on after she got out of here? One step beyond escape was crucial to give her a goal to work toward.

The embassy. No, the consulate. Or the hotel? Ben and Rachel might assume she’d go there, but she quickly decided the consulate was closer and probably safer than finding her way along the lakeshore by herself. Plus, though Trent’s wallet appeared well-stocked, she had no idea how far the money would take her. A taxi to Milan was her best plan.

At the door, she took a deep breath, trying to work up the courage for her second bathroom escape in two hours. The thought startled a hysterical laugh. She bit it back before her nerves escalated the reaction out of control.

Focus on the consulate.

Her next breath shook only half as much with a goal set in place. She eased the door open, then quickly stepped back when a visual sweep of the hall revealed a door opening at the end of the corridor. A split-second glimpse of daylight and a green sign imprinted on her mind before the bathroom door shut with a soft hydraulic sigh. That green sign contained a white stick figure running toward a doorway with the word USCITA underneath—USCITA must mean exit.

Voices reached a crescendo in the hall and then waned. Flattened against the wall, between the door and the paper towel dispenser, Halli prayed Officer Greco didn’t locate a white soda anytime soon.

Another quick scan revealed the hall empty. Halli took a second to get her bearings. Left was back to the offices where she’d been held. No hope of escape there. To the right beckoned the exit. Only the hall didn’t end at the exit, but T’d in each direction, and between her and freedom stood two doors on either side, the last ones offices with nameplates and windows.

Didn’t matter, she had to move. With her first step, the theme music from Jaws began to play in her head. Each step forward increased the tempo, just like in the movie. God, she was losing it!

She made it past the first door. Her sigh of relief was cut short, however, when the second door, not ten feet in front of her swung open, and a short, fat bald man stepped out. The air seized in her lungs.

The man turned to waddle toward the exit sign, reading a document in his hands. Halli watched in amazement as he turned the corner without even glancing in her direction.

Could it be her luck was changing?

A soft noise registered directly behind her just as fingers fisted in her shirt and yanked her backward into a small room. Her instinctive scream was curtailed by a large hand over her mouth. The door clicked shut and a solid wall of muscle forced the air from her lungs. A wall that smelled like leather.

Alrigo.

The distinct, heavy scent assaulted her senses, turning her queasy stomach. Frantic clawing to remove her living steel gag proved futile. Tears stung her eyes when they confirmed the arm holding her was indeed encased in leather. She screamed again, but the killer’s hand muffled it to a moan.

“Shut up, sweetheart, or you’ll bring the whole damn building running.”

Halli went completely still. Trent?

Relief weakened her knees and wiped all logical thought from her mind. She’d never been so glad to hear a familiar voice in her life. She tried to turn and face him in the dim light, but his hold prevented any movement.

“I told you not to go to the police.”

Halli stiffened at the unexpected menace in his low growl and his arms banded tighter. She tried to speak, but his venomous whispers overrode her muffled attempt.

“You’ve screwed up everything, dammit. Everything I’ve worked on for the past two months, Lorenzo’s death, saving your ass—all of it for nothing because you had to go to the damn police.”

Lorenzo? Was that the friend he’d spoken of earlier?

“Do you know who showed up about fifteen minutes ago, Halli?” Trent snarled in her ear. “While you’re wandering around the police station like some lost little tourist?”

She tried to nod her head, but he spun her around so they were face to face. His hand remained glued over her mouth as he pinned her against the door. Beneath the shadow of his blue baseball cap, hazel eyes burned into hers with an anger that scared her almost as much as the man out in the station.

“Your buddy from the villa. The guy who shot up my car when he tried to kill you. And what thanks do I get? You turn around and walk straight into his hands. He’s waiting out there right now to finish what he started this morning.”

Halli couldn’t suppress a terrified shiver in the face of Trent’s blunt, furious words. A dark, dangerous aura cloaked them in the confined space as she endured his glower. So why, then, was she also completely aware of every inch of his hard, angry body vibrating against hers?

Something fluttered in the pit of her stomach, something more than fear. She darted her gaze around, desperate to focus on something other than him. They appeared to be in some sort of storage closet, full of miscellaneous items and janitorial supplies.

“I’m taking you out of here right now,” Trent stated, compelling her attention back to him. “Despite the pain-in-the-ass you’ve been, I refuse to let them kill you like they did my brother and Lorenzo. I can’t live with another death on my hands, you hear me?”