Page 74 of Taking Care of the Target

As he said it, the reality of their situation slammed into him, without the rosy lenses this time. A life on the run. Worrying anytime she wasn’t with him or was more than a few minutes late. What if Bobby got desperate for money and ended up going to Carlo with their location?

No, he wouldn’t do that.

Vince’s gut hit the floor.Not sober, but if he was using…He ran a hand over his face, telling himself he could work that all out later. Once they were farther away, he could think more steps ahead.

“I’m going to check the messages on my phone real quick. See if I can find out what’s going on.” He picked up the hotel phone, dialed his cell number, and then punched in the voicemail code.

Carlo’s voice filled his ear. “What the fuck’s going on, Vince? Did you take care of the waitress? I know things got screwed up, but just come in. We can fix it if you come in. If not, you know what I’m going to have to do. Please don’t make me do it. I should’ve…I should’ve listened to you. People are breathing down my neck and…just call me.”

Vince skipped to the next message. It was Bobby. “I know you might not get this, but if you do, tell your friend I looked up her friend, and I’m on my way to check in. She believes in me, and I’m doing it.”

Tell my friend I looked up her friend? What is he…?Vince shifted to face Cassie. “Bobby said he looked up your friend, and he’s checking into rehab. Anyway, I think that’s what he meant.” More than anything, he wanted it to work, but he knew having Bobby stuck in a rehab center for however many weeks would only make it easier for Carlo to find him, even if he used a fake name, which Vince prayed he’d been smart enough to do.

Of all the times to be responsible… please don’t let it get him killed.

“Annie’s the best,” Cassie said. “I hope he goes through with it. Just know that a lot of people have relapses…”

He hung up the phone, not bothering to listen to the next message from Carlo. “What’s going on? Suddenly I’m the optimist and you’re the pessimist?”

“I just don’t want to give you false hope. I’m just…I can’t…my mind’s sort of at maximum capacity with all my thoughts and worries right now.” She took his hand and squeezed it. “I’m sorry. Of course he’ll make it through. Then both of you will have shown Carlo what you’re made of. Well, without actually showing him, since he might kill you.”

Her face darkened. “I wish there was a way to ensure he doesn’t get away with it. Especially killing that guy—killing Eduardo.” She said his name with quiet reverence. “I think of his family, his son in Mexico, and it eats at my conscience. I don’t know if it’ll ever stop.”

Vince pulled her to him and kissed the concerned crinkle on her forehead. “We’ll think of something. But right now we need to hit the road.”

She wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly. “Okay. We can do this. We’ll start over, just like you said you wanted to.”

As he held her, his mind spun over exactly how he was going to keep the promise he’d made to her last night. Worry for Bobby mixed in, muddying every path he could think of, and a plan he really didn’t want to consider worked its way into his head. With Bobby stuck in one place, even if he’d covered his tracks, it was only a matter of time until Carlo found him.

He couldn’t leave his brother without protection right when he was working so hard to turn his life around. And he and Cassie could run forever, and she’d still never be safe.

There was only one way to keep her truly safe.

And it meant that he couldn’t be the one to start over with her.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Cassie checked out of the motel and collected the deposit while Vince went across the street to the grocery store. Apparently he needed a few more items.

“We good to go?” she asked as she climbed into the Jeep.

“Good to go,” he said, his eyes fixed on the road.

They merged onto I-81 and headed south. She kept thinking Vince was too quiet, but he’d never been especially chatty, so she took over for both of them. She commented on the scenery and asked for his opinion on dishes she knew how to make or wanted to learn how to make.

After she’d exhausted that line of questions, she fell quiet and just let herself soak in his rugged profile and the strong hands he’d run over her body last night and this morning. For a brief moment after they had sex in the shower, she worried she’d used it as an escape, the way she used to, and she didn’t want to repeat her past mistakes. But then she realized sex with Vince was a completely different kind of getting lost. Because she wasn’t runningfromher life, she was moving toward it.

Unconditional understanding and love was also involved, no fake intimacy about it.

When the split for I-70 came up, she expected Vince to head west, but he turned east instead. “I thought we were going to West Virginia,” she said.

“Minor change of plans. Just a small detour into Maryland.”

“Why?”

He looked across the Jeep at her and every one of her organs turned to stone. “Vince, why?”

“The Jeep’s too distinctive, and airlines aren’t going to take cash no matter how much you or I flirt with the desk clerks, not to mention flights are too easy to track. So I’m heading to the nearest Greyhound station.”

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