“I’m getting you out of here. Something tells me once the police start questioning Davit, he’s going to implicate you.”
No doubt. She’d done a lot of shady shit at Davit’s behest.
“Are you protecting me?” She tried to stop so she could look at him, but Marco tugged harder on her arm.
“My truck is right over there.” He pointed.
“Where are we going?”
“I’m going to take you to my cousin’s cabin, and you’re going to wait there until I return. Hopefully, if all goes well, I’ll be back with Leo and Max, and both of them will be okay.”
Holy shit. “Why are you doing this?”
He dropped her arm when they reached the truck and then hurried around to the driver’s side, without opening her door. She climbed into her seat, and he cranked the engine and toddled off down the road like they were in no hurry whatsoever.
“Are you sure it’s a good idea to leave Leo back there?” She glanced over her shoulder and bit her lip.
“He probably needs medical attention. I didn’t see everything, but he looked pretty abused when I finally got there and peeked in the window.”
She dropped her head against the headrest. “God, I hope he’s okay.”
“He will be. And, hopefully, this will convince Max to stay the hell way from the Armenian mob.”
“So you’re putting me into protective custody? Can you even do that? Are you an FBI agent or something?”
He snorted. “Not hardly. That was all bullshit. I was warning Davit away from trying to track you down again. I suggest you go even farther away this time, in case he doesn’t heed my advice.”
She stared at him. “You’re helping me escape? Why?”
He gave her a swift glance before focusing back on the road. They were heading north, farther up the peninsula. “Nina told us what you did for her in the airport last year. That was pretty fucking brave, considering who we were dealing with.”
Shannon had no idea how to respond to that other than, she supposed, a thank you. Marco spoke again before she could get it out.
“And I saw the way Leo looked at you. He’s crazy about you, and Leo’s an amazing judge of character. I have a lot of respect for the guy. He could have easily fallen into the same trappings that Max and Davit have, but he never did. Which means despite whatever the hell you had going on with Davit, you must be a good person.”
She shook her head. “Not really. I think Leo’s senses were off this time.”
“I’ll let you hash that out with him.”
They turned down a narrow, dirt two-track that was actually a long driveway, at the end of which was a small cabin surrounded by tall trees, with a lake in the background. The porch light was on, and most of the windows were glowing.
Marco led her inside a cozy, if outdated, home and introduced her to his cousin, Dante. And then he left again.
Shannon stepped out onto the porch and watched the taillights of his truck until they disappeared in the trees.
She dropped into a chair. And waited.
***
Leo had never ridden in an ambulance before.
It wasn’t fun, for the record.
Neither was it fun at the hospital, where they poked and prodded and x-rayed him, trying to determine if anything was broken or if he had internal bleeding. Luckily, he escaped his beating with only some serious bruising.
Oh, and the broken nose, which they set for him, which hurt worse than the actual break.
Leo was going to need a vacation from his vacation at this rate.
When he was released several hours later, it was the middle of the night. Max and Marco were waiting for him. The attending nurse had taken pity on him and gave him some pills for the pain, and they were making his head fuzzy. He wanted to ask a million questions, but he couldn’t get the words to connect from his brain to his mouth.
Once they were in Marco’s truck heading who knew where, Marco said, “I understand you guys already gave statements to the cops.”
Hell yeah, they had. He hoped fucking Davit rotted in jail.
“So you’re good to go, other than having to testify, if the charges stick and there’s a trial.”
Leo didn’t like the dubious note in Marco’s tone.
“Shannon’s fine, by the way.”
He groaned. Fine wasn’t what he wanted to hear. Safe, away from Davit would be better.
“She’s at my cousin’s place. And her bags, and yours, are in the back of my truck.”
“What?” Leo’s mouth finally started working.
“I don’t know how much you know, so I’m not going to go into detail, because it’s her place to tell you. Just know that I think you should hear her out. With an open mind.”
Leo shook his head, trying to clear the fuzz. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“She can’t go back to her life. She needs to disappear. The reality is, the charges probably won’t stick. Davit’s family has top-notch lawyers, and they’ll have him out by morning, so she needs to get the hell out of here as soon as possible. He will never stop looking for her.”
“He’s right,” Max piped up from the backseat. “The guy’s crazy obsessed with her. It’s all connected to his father. He’s got some major daddy issues, and Shannon is somehow tied into it.”
Leo rubbed his forehead, which was a mistake because the action tugged on his nose and sent stabbing pain through his face.
“I’ve bought her a little time by pretending to be a federal agent and telling him that I’m putting her into protective custody, but I suspect that
