Devil's Advocate: A Dark Mafia Romance (Devil's Playground Book 1) by Vivi Paige (learn to read activity book TXT) 📕

doors. I heard a pop and my instincts had me on the ground. I scampered to my right just as another shot came, and I fumbled with my belt to try to pull my .22 from its holster. I counted at least three guys. I saw two from the illumination of the street lights across the road. Both masked. One was hiding behind a parked Cadillac and another behind a dumpster. Someone else was firing from my left, but I couldn’t see him. It was too dark only half a block away.

I finally got the pistol out and aimed for the black mask bouncing up and down behind the Cadillac. He was doing a pretty consistent dance over there, and I guessed his next move, aiming for just above the hood of the car. I got lucky. I heard him call out, and he went down, but the others were still firing. I scampered behind the trash cans left out on the street and aimed again. I heard my shot ricochet off the dumpster, but my target ducked for cover in time.

Meanwhile, the doorman in Sophie’s building seemed to be checking in on what was going on. I saw him peering out through the front doors. There was a neighbor sticking her head out from an upper window as well. Even though we were in Chicago, this wasn’t really the typical spot for a shoot-out. The residents in Sophie’s wealthy neighborhood probably didn’t even hear the screams of stray cats at night. Three masked gunmen were sure to draw some attention.

“I’m calling the cops,” the woman from above me called out. If there was any moment these guys might hesitate or think about retreating, now was it. I had to take my chance. I took off down the alley next to Sophie’s building, trying to keep an eye over my shoulder as I ran through the dark. I blindly fired behind me, hoping my luck would continue tonight.

“Fuck,” I heard one of them call out as he dodged the bullet. No luck. But just then a door opened in front of me and a woman emerged with a trash bag. Bingo.

I squeezed my way past the woman and in the back door of a shop or maybe office building, pulling the door closed behind me. Maybe it would lock and keep these chasing thugs away from me. I tripped over another bag of trash on the floor before scrambling up and pushing my way through shelves of towels, sheets, and nail polish. A nail salon, from the looks of things. My suspicions were confirmed as I found myself bursting into a small storefront with a row of women in pedicure chairs.

“What’s going on?” A blonde reading a magazine asked, and a brunette even screamed. I winked at the screaming brunette as I ran past other women at the front having their nails painted. Ordinarily a room full of peacocks preening their feathers would have been just the place to spend a few minutes, but not with one or two mobsters on my tail.

“Nothing to see here, ladies,” I called out and pushed through the front door.

I heard sirens around the corner and took that as a good sign. Maybe these assholes following me would get scared and run. I hadn’t heard any shots behind me, and there weren’t any more screams coming from the nail salon. If two heavy-set men in black masks were running through a salon of women, I would certainly hear it. At the very least from the brunette.

Still, I kept running. I always make it a rule to run more than I think I should. I’m careful like that. I followed a familiar diversionary pattern that had me weaving in and out of alleys and down blocks. I jumped a few fences just to be safe. Damn the expensive leather I wore on my feet—it was killing me now.

That’s the last time I try to impress that lawyer, I thought.

I counted another twenty steps, one of my lucky numbers, before slowing down.

What the FUCK was that? I thought. I threw myself onto the stoop of a brownstone and put my head in my hands. Someone put out a hit on me? After my meeting with the Don and Flavio sticking up for me, I thought I was good with the Maloiks. Did the Don change his mind? Did he decide I was too much trouble after all?

Or was it something else? Maybe not related to this murder charge at all? It could be another family trying to get one up on the Maloiks. Or even a former victim looking for revenge. I had a long past and lots of skeletons hiding in the closet. Which one was chasing me now was anybody’s guess.

All I knew was that I couldn’t go home. If they’d found me at Sophie’s apartment then they definitely had people stationed at my own. Going home was a sure way to find myself in the hospital. Or even dead if the guy was a good shot.

I looked up to the sky and tried to make out any stars through the light pollution and the clouds, but there was nothing there. Sometimes I wonder how I get myself into these messes. I sighed and shook that thought away before checking up and down the street. All clear. I stood up and took off in the direction I’d come. The safest place for me was right back where they had already found me. It looked like Sophie was going to host a little slumber party.

Chapter Fifteen

Sophie

I leaned forward, pushing myself against the extension cord.

“Damn it,” I hissed, the rubber cord digging into my chest and arms as I tried to wrangle myself free. Not that it did me any good. For all his faults, Indro sure knew how to tie a woman up. Unfortunately for me, that hadn’t been done in the way most women dream about. Instead of a 50 shades of sexiness