“I love you, prima. I love you so much.”

Loosening my arms, I drop to the ground. “You better go get that test.”

“Yeah.” He seems wistful for a guy going to the drugstore.

“And take a run into Manhattan to check for Connor.”

He nods. Again, he won’t make eye contact, but it’s not because he’s overwhelmed. This is different. This is a man who doesn’t know how clearly I see him.

“Go,” I say.

He gets into the BMW and rolls down the window. I lean down.

“There’s an envelope of cash and a phone in the safe. Call if you need to, but not if you don’t. My new number’s on a card under it. I set the security system so you can get out.”

“You’re not going to be gone that long.”

It’s a cruel observation I shouldn’t make, because I know better. He takes me by the back of the neck and kisses me long and hard. I have to grab the top of the car door to stay on my feet.

I know what he intends to do, but I pretend not to.

Chapter 32

CHAPTER 32

DARIO

Half a block from Precious Blood, I wait alone with the pregnancy test in a white bag on the passenger seat. The traffic makes my car look like any other, and I melt into the city like just another guy who should have taken the subway into Manhattan.

I can’t take her with me to St. Easy. Not right away. She can follow if she wants to, once we know what we’re walking into.

Once I know.

Now there are three of us, and everything is infinitely more complicated.

Like the apartment we left, the house in Yonkers is an island of buried treasure without a map. Inside the walls, I’ve hidden cash, identification, cell phones, credit cards, and weapons. To a certain extent, I could get back on my feet enough to make calls, buy gas, and prove to a cop I own the car, if one wanted to pull me over. Everyone on my team was expected to manage their own getaway, so I only had treasure for me. Sarah’s fake passport was left behind in her suite. I could go get it, if I knew where to find it, and I don’t have all day to look.

It’s the little frustrations. I can’t leave her in the world with no identification. From the front seat of the car, I call my documents woman and set her up to go to the Yonkers house tomorrow afternoon.

Another thing to the list. I’ll tell Sarah. She’ll understand.

I fidget in the seat. I’ve put car service stickers in the windows. Parking enforcement will let me sit here and wait for a nonexistent client until they don’t, then I’ll go around the corner and come back.