Brody's Vow (Colebrook Siblings Trilogy Book 1) (2 page)

Confident he’d never figure out that the pretty embellishment hid her weapon, Trinity held herself rigid and pushed again at his solid chest. He was over six feet tall, outweighed her by probably a good eighty pounds or more.

She could still take him down right now, even slit that strong throat before he even knew what was happening, had she brought a blade with her. But knives weren’t her weapon of choice. Blades were too messy, left too much evidence behind. And there were too many witnesses around anyway. Tonight’s job was more important than killing this disgusting pig, no matter how much he deserved it.

After skimming his free hand all the way down to her ankles and checking her black stilettos, he grunted and stood. Salvatori had joined them now. Tino nodded at him. “She’s clean.”

Trinity clenched her jaw and jerked her arm from his restraining grasp, recoiling a few steps until she could reach for Salvatori. Playing up her need for reassurance. “That was totally uncalled for,” she snapped at Tino, managing to sound shaken. “I’m not a piece of meat for him to feel up.”

“I’m sorry,” Salvatori said, even though she knew he wasn’t. “It’s become an unfortunate security precaution, I’m afraid. But there’s nothing to worry about now, it’s done.” He curled an arm around her, brought her close to his side and squeezed her in what he probably thought was a comforting embrace. Protecting her, when he was the one who needed protection.

She fought the urge to laugh.

“Don’t follow too closely,” he told Tino. “I want some private time with Ms. Gregorivich.”

And that’s going to cost you your life
. Satisfaction slid through her.

He nuzzled her temple, his arm still securely around her. “Shall we?”

Nodding, Trinity allowed him to turn her away and walk her to the big black Mercedes waiting for them at the curb. The valet seated her in the passenger side while Salvatori slid behind the wheel. Normally Tino drove his boss to and from these functions but tonight Salvatori wanted her all to himself. She had to make him think they would have sex in his car, because it was the only place she knew for certain that wasn’t bugged. Salvatori didn’t want anyone keeping tabs on him or overhearing what went on in his private vehicle.

Once the doors shut, a sense of anticipation curled inside her. This was it. What she’d been waiting for.

Only another few minutes.
She knew full well Tino would follow them, and probably a lot closer than Salvatori wanted. He might be a fucked-up, misogynistic, criminal pig, but Tino was damn good at his job. She’d have only minutes to kill Salvatori and make her escape.

“So where are you taking me?” she asked as he steered out of the hotel parking lot. They were in the center of D.C., a city with a heavy security presence. Not her first choice of location to carry out a hit, but she could make it work to her advantage. She knew the entire area by heart now, after spending months here, and knew which routes she could use to escape afterward.

“I’ve got a reservation for us at one of my hotels. In the penthouse suite.”

No way in hell was she going there, where he paid his employees well enough to be loyal and turn a blind eye to whatever went on there, and where every room was bugged and monitored.

She made a disappointed sound. “I was hoping we wouldn’t have to wait that long.” To emphasize the point, she lowered a hand and drew the fabric of the slit in her dress aside, exposing the length of her left leg as they sat at a red light. “Isn’t there a secluded spot we could find between here and there?” She drew her fingertips up her thigh, her blood-red nails grazing over her smooth skin. “A kind of…appetizer before the main course?”

The fixated look on Salvatori’s face was almost comical as he stared at her bare thigh, practically drooling at the thought of what she was suggesting. “I know a place,” he said, and turned at the next stoplight, taking them east, toward the river. Trinity made note of the car that did the same a minute later, knowing it was Tino.

Traffic was light, especially once they left the downtown core. A few minutes later Salvatori pulled into a darkened, deserted alleyway in an industrial section of town and killed the engine. There were no streetlights here, the only illumination coming from the instruments in his dash.

Impatient now that the big moment had finally arrived, he undid his seatbelt and took off his jacket, his breathing already heavy in the quiet interior. “I’ve been wanting to fuck you for weeks now,” he rasped out, any veneer of the civilized businessman he liked people to think he was long gone.

He’d probably wanted her from the first time they’d met, at another gala nearly three months ago. She’d played hard to get until two weeks ago, then trailed him along ever since, to ensure he didn’t lose interest and wanted her enough to drop normal security protocols. She was the best in the business for a reason, and damn proud of it.

Trinity gave him a sultry smile and undid her own seatbelt, stretching in her seat, letting him see all the curves he wanted to handle and would never get to. “I hope I’ll be worth the wait.”

“Oh, you will be,” he said. With a groan he reached for her, wrapping a hand around the back of her neck as he leaned across the console and took her mouth in a wet, openmouthed kiss.

She played along, giving him all the right signals, a tiny mewl of want and a wriggle of her breasts against his chest. Immediately he shot out his other hand to cup one of them, and squeezed hard enough to hurt.

There was no cringe of revulsion on her part, no shudder to give her true feelings away. She was in full op mode now, didn’t even register the touch as repulsive, just pressure and warmth on her skin, a signal to confirm that he’d bought her ruse completely.

The instant his tongue delved into her mouth, Trinity saw the flash of headlights in the side mirror as a car turned into the alley and parked at the far end, then shut off its lights.

Just like that, everything clicked into place. This was her moment. She was done with this charade and had to use every available second to get away after the deed was done.

She held the back of Salvatori’s head with one hand, keeping their mouths fused as she reached for the tiny weapon hidden in her garter. With one decisive jab she plunged the little needle into the side of his neck, injecting the poison directly into his jugular in a move she’d perfected long ago.

He jerked back with a strangled cry and gripped her wrist with bruising force, his eyes wide with shock and the horror of dawning realization, but it was already too late for him. She held that cold, black stare and dropped her mask, let him see her hatred of him and his kind while the poison ran its course. A fast-acting, untraceable poison she’d used plenty of times before.

He tried to rear back, tried to disengage from her embrace as he gasped for air, but it was no use. Trinity stayed locked with him, made it look to Tino or anyone else able to see them from the shadows like they were in a torrid embrace. Her pulse remained steady and she felt not one shred of sympathy for her victim.

Salvatori sputtered, gasped twice more, then went limp in her arms as his heart stopped. Leaning him back in the seat, she paused long enough to check his pulse. Finding none, she replaced the little charm holding the needle back into her garter, disabled the car’s dome light, slipped off her heels, exchanging them for the little pair of folding flats she’d tucked into her evening bag.

Leaving him slumped against the seat, she climbed over him and slid out of the far side of the car, using the darkness to her advantage. The shadows and black gown were her only cover as she raced down the alleyway, the thin flats doing little to cushion the soles of her feet. She wasn’t out of danger yet, though.

Her pulse skipped at the sound of a door slamming shut behind her. Tino. She wasn’t sure whether he’d seen her exit the car or what might have aroused his suspicion, but it was only a matter of seconds before he saw what she’d done. By then, she had to have enough of a head start to lose him.

She turned left, ran faster, a burst of adrenaline slicing through her when his enraged bellow echoed behind her in the alley. “You’re dead, bitch!”

To hell with hiding, she was out of time.

She ran across the street, smashed the window of the first car she came across, and got busy hotwiring it, using another skill she’d been taught years ago. As soon as the engine started she veered away from the curb and raced down the darkened street, leaving headlights off.

A car shot out of the alley she’d just come from, the tires squealing as it turned to follow her.

Trinity pushed down harder on the accelerator and kept going. All she had to do was reach the freeway and she could lose him long enough to ditch this ride for another. Then she’d disappear.

But Tino’s car was faster.

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t lose him. And in a matter of minutes it became clear she wasn’t going to be able to outrun him. The realization was humbling, and a little terrifying. Her success rate was one-hundred percent. No one had ever caught her and she didn’t intend to let Tino be the first.

The scenery whipped past her in a blur of light and shadow as she sped for the closest freeway onramp, more than a mile away. There was a park on the right, with a lake. Only a few other cars around, and no people that she could see. Her pulse beat faster. She had to get away from him, the alternative was unthinkable.

The headlights in her rearview mirror came closer still.

She ducked instinctively and swerved when the back window shattered. A moment later another bullet slammed into the windshield, leaving a silver-dollar-sized hole.

Trinity swerved again to avoid another shot but he rammed her rear bumper, making her head jerk back against the headrest. She wrenched the wheel to the right at the same moment he rear-ended her again. Her car sailed over the curb and sidewalk, careening straight for the lake.

There was no way to avoid the coming crash.

She barely had time to brace for impact before the wheels hit the damp grass with a bone-jarring thud. The car’s back end lifted, sending it airborne. A second later the front end slammed into the water, the force of the collision driving the air from her lungs.

The airbag punched her in the chest and the side of her head struck the window, stunning her. Freezing cold water poured through the shattered back window as the vehicle sank below the surface, shocking her out of her momentary daze.

With frantic hands she undid her seatbelt and shoved the partially-inflated airbag out of the way. The water was already up to her hips and rising fast. But even as she climbed over the seat to escape the sinking vehicle, she knew that Tino would be up there, waiting to shoot her.

Her training took over.

She forced herself to stay there, poised in the backseat while the water level rose up to her waist. Then her chest.

She took several evenly spaced, calm breaths, ignoring her body’s instinctual flight response. She didn’t know how far down she was, or if she’d have enough air to reach the surface. When the icy water was at her chin she sucked in the deepest lungful of air she could, and shot herself through the back window. With one hand she ripped her wig off, letting it float away in the darkness.

Already the cold was numbing her arms and legs. She swam upward at an angle, trying to put as much distance between her and the shore as possible before she surfaced. The instant she came up for air, she’d be a target.

The wet velvet of her dress tangled around her legs as she kicked, fighting her way upward. When her lungs burned so badly she feared they were about to burst, she gave a final surge of strength and broke through the water.

She dragged in a ragged breath and immediately went back under, heading for the opposite shore. Above her the crescent moon was hidden behind the clouds, giving her extra cover and leaving her in an inky, watery darkness.

By the time she’d made it to the other side, she was freezing and exhausted. Cold water sluiced off her, weighing down her steps as she dragged herself onto shore and up the grassy bank toward the band of forest surrounding this side of the lake.

Her head throbbed from where it had hit the window and warm blood trickled down the left side of her face. She was shivering, her teeth chattering, hypothermia the most urgent threat to her safety. A glance over her shoulder showed Tino outlined by the thin moonlight on the opposite bank, sliding back into his car.

He wasn’t giving up. He was coming after her again. And he had the advantage now that he knew she was a hitter—numerous connections within the Mob and criminal underworld. An entire network of people as lethal as him that he would activate, while she had no one to back her up. She’d known the risks when she’d signed the contract.

Tino would be relentless in his hunt, and if he caught her, he’d make her death slow and painful. Once again, she was on her own, and for the first time she wished she wasn’t. But given how woozy the head injury had left her and how fast the cold was sapping her strength, would she finally be caught this time?

She’d lost her shoes in the water. Twigs and branches scraped her bare feet as she ran into the trees, the world a dizzying blur of gray. Her teeth chattered, her body sluggish with the cold but she couldn’t afford to stop, not even for one moment.

Already she was thinking about her next move, pushing her numb and exhausted body forward. She’d have to steal another car before Tino found her but there was no way she could go back to the apartment she’d been renting, not even to grab her go bag that held her weapons and documents. Now more than ever she needed backup, someone to have her back until she could treat her injuries and slip out of town.

Except she always worked alone.

Her racing mind flipped through a list of possible places for her to go, and dismissed all of them—except one.

There was only one person she could reach out to now, only one place she might be able to get to that would be safe, but it meant putting people she cared about at risk.

At the moment, however, she didn’t see any other way. Her choices were either go there, or die.