I swear he was contemplating staying for a moment before he shook his head and put his hands up.
“Jesus, okay… fuck, who’d have thought you’d turn into a psycho bitch.”
This fucker really was trying my patience. I’d had enough. My chest ached and I needed to attend to Rory.
“Watch what you fucking say to me or you’ll be the first to die. Mark my words, Carlo, your days are numbered. Run along to Daddy now. And tell Frank I don’t give a shit if I’m on his death list. He can try and take me out. He can fucking try. He’ll see what kind of woman he raised. And trust me, when he takes his last fucking breath, it’ll be me standing over him watching him. It’ll be me who sends him to his fucking maker.”
Carlo looked at me like I’d lost the fucking plot. Maybe I had. Maybe seeing Rory slumped over the steering wheel made something inside me snap.
I was done being the pawn.
I was the motherfucking queen.
And this queen would protect her kings to her last breath.
“Leave. Now.”
He put his hands up.
“Okay. Okay. Jesus, you’re fucking crazy.”
He backed away. I watched him leave, making sure he got in his Jeep and drove away. I could see dents in it and I wondered how he was going to hide that.
The fucker.
I dropped the gun into the footwell and crawled back in the car. Rory was still slumped against the steering wheel. There was a trickle of blood falling down his forehead. That worried me. Everything about this worried the hell out of me. I didn’t want to move him for fear that he was gravely injured.
“Ror.” I shook him again. “Ror, wake up. Please.”
I needed to get him help. Fumbling around, I found my handbag and pulled out my phone, about to dial 999. Then I remembered I had a gun and they’d asked me what happened. And I wondered how the hell I would explain this. Explain how I knew who’d rammed us off the road caused the crash. If we got the police involved, we’d be in trouble. I couldn’t tell them why I had a gun with my prints all over it.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
I had to get Rory help. He needed medical attention. I didn’t know how to handle this. Everything was so fucked up.
“Ror… please hold on.”
So I rang someone else and the minute they picked up the phone I almost started crying.
“Little girl.”
“Quinn,” I choked out. “We’re in trouble.”
Chapter 35
I looked down at my watch. Ash had texted me half an hour ago to let me know her and Rory were on their way back. Having dealt with temperamental Quinn last night and this morning, I was fucking glad of it. Thankfully he was now in his office dealing with our plans so was distracted from pacing the house. Xav was right. Quinn had always been uptight, but when it came to Ash, he was like a bomb going off every time he thought she might be in danger.
I flicked through the TV channels, landing on the news and my stomach dropped out from underneath me. There, clear as day was Julian’s mugshot. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I turned up the volume and listened to the broadcaster.
“A manhunt has been launched today as police have revealed a dangerous criminal has escaped. Julian Scott, who was convinced of two counts of first-degree murder and is serving a life sentence at HMP Belmarsh, escaped in the late hours of last night. He’d been admitted to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Greenwich for an undisclosed illness and was due to be discharged and returned to Belmarsh this morning. Police are cautioning the public not to approach Mr Scott as he may be armed and dangerous.”
I blinked. What the actual fuck? Julian had escaped. How the hell had this happened? I thought he’d already been discharged from the hospital. He should be back in prison not out on the fucking streets. Could we get any more bad news right now? This made me sick and the thought of what it would do to my boyfriend killed me inside.
I jumped up from the sofa and went in search of Xav, but I needn’t have bothered as I bumped into him coming into the living room. His eyes were wild and he looked like he’d seen a ghost.
“Xavi?”
“I just got off the phone to the prison… Julian escaped.”
“I know, it’s on the news.”
He stared at me for a long moment before walking by me and looking straight at the TV. I reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. He flinched but I knew it wasn’t about me. He was in shock.
“That motherfucking bastard,” he ground out. “Of course he had to fucking well escape. Quinn was damn right. He must’ve dobbed us into Russo in exchange for helping him get out of hospital. Motherfucker.”
Another shitshow we really didn’t need to be dealing with. With Julian out on the streets, we were all in danger, especially Xav.
“The fucking police will be here soon, asking me questions no doubt. Fuck. We don’t need this. We’ve already got enough going on. Jesus fucking Christ. I can’t deal with this. For fuck’s sake. I should’ve known he’d try this shit. I should’ve fucking known.”
I squeezed his shoulder.
“I thought he’d got discharged days ago.”
Xav shook his head before dropping it to his chest.
“He was meant to but the doctors kept him in as he didn’t respond to the medication at first. They say he’s okay now.”
“Did they tell you how he escaped?”
His whole body shuddered. I dropped my hand from his shoulder, wrapping myself around his back. He took a deep breath and clutched my arms.
“No, they wouldn’t give me details, but I’m damn fucking sure it’s Russo. It has to be.”
It
