Closer to the Edge

Anthony ran his hands over his face slowly, contemplating the information that his body guard had just told him. “They’re planning on running?”

Roberto nodded. “From what I heard, sir, yes.”

“That Rowan sure does know a lot about what we do,” he mused, standing up and walking over to the window. “How did she find out?”

“I’m not sure, sir. I assume her father told her.”

“They must have an inside man then,” Anthony said. “I want the records of all the new employees from the past two years. That’s when all of this started. I want background information and former employers as well. Anyone connected to the Delvecchio’s are to be brought to me for questioning.”

“Yes, sir,” Roberto said with a nod, turning to leave.

“Oh, and Roberto?”

“Yes, sir?” he said, pausing.

Anthony smiled. “We’ll leave for the penthouse this evening, eight o’clock.”

“Sir?”

“If he’s going to try to leave to avoid me getting Rowan, he’s wrong. My son may be smart, but if he thinks he can outsmart me, then he has another think coming.”

+

Paul ran his hands over his face as he sat in front of his laptop. Martin was sitting next to him while Ash kept a close eye on Rowan (though Paul was beginning to suspect that the girl really didn’t need it). “The hardest part is going to be getting out of here without anyone noticing,” Paul said.

“Where are we gonna take her?” Martin asked.

“Where are we going?” Rowan asked, her tone terse. Rowan had been sitting silently since the two of them came back into the room, when they immediately dragged out their laptop and maps and set about trying to figure everything out. The entire time, they had studiously avoided answering any question that fell past her lips and didn’t even look at her. Needless to say, she was beginning to grow frustrated.

“There’s a country house we can take her to. It’s about an hour away. It’s going to be hard getting her there because you know he’s gonna track my plates the minute he finds out,” Paul said.

Martin shrugged one shoulder. “Good point.”

“What if we take someone else’s car?” Ash suggested.

Paul shrugged.

Martin turned around. “Are you, my love, suggesting that we steal a car?”

Ash smiled.

“I love you.”

Ash laughed.

Paul shook his head. “That won’t work. All eyes will be on us. That’s a clear sign and he’ll know.”

“Where are we going?” Rowan repeated.

“Shut up,” Paul said quietly.

Rowan sighed. “What is going on?”

“We’re talking here,” Paul said a little bit louder, meeting her eyes. “So can you just be quiet for a few minutes? I’ll buy you ice cream if you do.”

Rowan rolled her eyes. “I’m not a child that you can bribe with ice cream.”

“Then stop acting like a child. Okay? Good girl,” he said with a smile, nodding his head before turning away.

Rowan’s mouth dropped open and she glanced over at Ash.

Ash shook her head, motioning for Rowan to not say anything.

She didn’t listen. “What the fuck did you just say?”

“Bad idea,” Ash muttered.

Paul turned around, frowning. “I said, shut the fuck up because I’m trying to find a way to help you,” he told her, his voice eerily calm compared to the anger he felt rising inside of him.

“Help me? You fucking kidnapped me!” Rowan yelled.

“And I’m trying to fix it!” he snapped.

“You think you could’ve done that before you took me?!”

Paul sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose before shaking his head. “You know, I wish I could’ve. It would make this whole situation a lot easier,” he said softly.

Rowan shouldn’t have let her anger fade, she really shouldn’t. And maybe she didn’t know him, or anything about him, but something told her that he wasn’t lying. And maybe he was just as conflicted as she was. Maybe.

“Can you two give us a minute?” Paul asked, glancing at Martin and then at Ash.

Martin nodded, grabbing his girlfriend’s hand and walking to the door. “You guys sure like your alone time,” he muttered.

Ash bit back a laugh.

Paul flipped him off and breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the door shut behind him. He turned in his chair to face Rowan. He rested his chin in his hands, his elbows on his knees. “Believe it or not, Rowan, I’m trying to figure out how to help you.”

“Why?” she asked.

“It’s one of those things where I didn’t know all of the details before this happened. Now I do. And I want to stop it,” he told her.

“Why?” she repeated. “My life should mean nothing to you or whoever you’re working for.”

“Maybe it doesn’t to him, but it does to me.”

Rowan sighed. “You know, you’re supposed to be a bad ass all the time and make me hate you. Not make me sympathize with your cause, whatever it may be,” she said quietly.

“It’s a talent,” he said, a soft smile on his face as he carelessly shrugged one shoulder.

“What’s going on? Does…whoever really have it out for me?” she asked.

“He wants to kill you. And I—we want to prevent that,” he said.

“It has something to do with the DiGiovannis, doesn’t it?” she asked. “I mean, that’s when you started to change, when you learned more about the family. Are you working for them?”

Paul sighed.

“I’m clearly not in any state to run off and alert the authorities. I just want to know,” she told him.

“Yeah,” he mused, nodding. “Yeah, it has to do with the DiGiovannis.”

“Did Anthony DiGiovanni ask you to kidnap me?”

“He didn’t really ask. He made it clear that I was no son of his if I didn’t do exactly what was requested of me,” Paul said, a bitter tone in his voice. And he really didn’t know why he just told her that. He had no idea. Maybe it was a cursory slip of the tongue; maybe it was subconscious because he felt like he could trust her. He didn’t know.

Rowan paled. “What?”

Paul shrugged.

“He’s your father?”

He nodded.

“You’re Paul?”

Another nod.

Rowan didn’t know what to think of that. Maybe because she wanted the son of Anthony DiGiovanni to have buck teeth and acne (or something) and not be…the man sitting across from her. “Well, that was unexpected. Though, I should’ve seen it coming.”

Paul laughed slightly. “You probably should’ve.”

“You have more to lose than I do, Paul. Why are you helping me? Shouldn’t you just hand me over to Anthony and have it be done with?” she asked.

“I can’t do that.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know,” he told her honestly. “I just… I feel like I owe you. You told me more about my family in five minutes than I’ve learned in my seventeen years.”

“You’re going to trust me blindly?”

“I asked my father, in so many words. Besides, I have no reason not to trust you,” he told her. He glanced down at her wrists and feet and felt sick to his stomach. Part of him couldn’t believe that he had kept her tied up like an animal, but he knew he had to until he was sure that she wouldn’t try anything. He stood up and walked over to her, untying her wrists and ankles slowly. He couldn’t stop himself from touching the red rashes. He was disgusted with himself.

“You’re actually untying me without me pestering you for two hours?” she asked, unable to hide the light tone of humor in her voice.

Paul smiled. “I don’t think you’re going to run.”

“Think I learned my lesson,” she mumbled.

Paul stood up and walked over to one of his duffel bags. He shuffled through until he found what he needed, a triple-antibiotic cream and some gauze bandages, before walking back over to her and sitting down in front of the chair. He carefully rolled her pant legs up before gently rubbing the Neosporin against the raw skin and wrapping them tightly (but not too tightly, he was sure of that) with gauze. When he was finished, he rolled her pant legs back down. “Can I see your wrists?”

Rowan didn’t second guess him. She set her hands, palms facing up, on her legs and watched him intensely. She couldn’t believe that he was the same person who had slapped her for talking too much, not when he was being so careful with her like he was then. She moved her eyes from her hands to his face and okay, yeah, he was attractive. She wasn’t just figuring that out for the first time. His beauty was obvious but she could tell that he didn’t let it go to his head.

“Too tight?” he asked, looking up at her.

Rowan shook her head, quickly shifting her eyes from his. She was caught staring and she could not stop the blush from rising up her cheeks. “No. No, it’s okay.”

“I’m sorry,” Paul whispered.

“For what? You didn’t do anything,” she said, keeping her gaze fixed on her now bandaged wrists.

Paul sighed and reached up to cup the side of her face, his fingers lightly sliding over the skin. “I’ve done enough,” he muttered, more to himself than to her. “I’ll make it right, Rowan. I’ll get you out of this, I promise.”

“I know you will,” Rowan said. “We can hide out at my house.”

“Hmm?”

“We can go to my house,” she repeated. “My father can help us.”

“If my father finds out—“

Rowan smiled. “Haven’t you learned by now that our parents know a thing or two about discretion?”

Paul laughed lightly before nodding. “You’re right on that one.”

“It’s just an option, Paul. We don’t have to.”

“No, I think that might work,” Paul said slowly. “I just gotta figure out when. Anthony wants you in his office by Monday morning. We have less than thirty six hours to pull this off.”

“We can do it,” Rowan told him with a shrug. “We know this city like the back of our hand.”

Paul nodded again. “Good point. That and I won’t have to worry about keeping you blind folded this time,” he joked.

Rowan rolled her eyes. “You got jokes. I’m proud of you.”

Paul smiled.

“But you’re right. Now that I’m not being dragged around against my will, I can actually be of some help,” she told him. “Get Martin and Ash back in here. We have some planning to do.”