Swimming with Sharks (70 page)

“Boss?” Luca interrupted Sergio’s violent thoughts.

“Yes, yes…you’re right. Send me a car. I want to be there when you go in.”

He hung up the phone and finished his drink. Revenge was near; he could feel it.

The sun rose over New York. The city was awakening to a dull gray dawn. A gusty northwest wind drove the drizzle—mixed with just a few snowflakes—before it like fog. Alex blinked sleepily. It took her a few seconds to remember last night’s events and remember the situation that she was in. The few hours in which she had suppressed the danger were over, and
her fear returned with the dawning day. She turned toward Nick and saw that he was awake, gazing at her.

“Hello,” she whispered.

“Hello,” he replied quietly. There was a sad expression in his deep, dark eyes. How long had he been watching her like this?

“Do you have to go?” Alex asked quietly.

“Yes,” Nick said with a regretful smile, “it’s almost five thirty. Otherwise, people will think that I’m missing.”

“Please hold me in your arms one more time,” Alex asked.

He nodded silently and pulled her closer toward him. Alex sighed and nestled her face against his cheek. She wanted to tell him how much he meant to her, how much she liked him. But in the dawning light of day, this man lying next to her in bed was once again Nicholas Kostidis, the mayor of New York, who had official duties and a public waiting for him. Last night, they had just been a man and a woman who found refuge in each other’s arms. They had forgotten reality, but now reality had caught up with them again.

Alex knew that it would be fatal for Nick’s reputation if anyone found out about their night together. People didn’t care that the allegations against her weren’t true; Nick’s enemies would see it as a welcome opportunity to sling mud at him.

They looked at each other in silence, both wishing that they could make time stand still.

“What will happen now?” Alex asked.

“I’m going to tell Jenkins that you’ll speak to him,” Nick replied, “and then the arrest warrant will finally be revoked.”

The noise of the awakening city came in through the opened window.

“Where’s Oliver?”

“At the St. Ignatius monastery. He’s doing well.”

Nick looked at her face and stroked her cheek tenderly.

“Come with me right now, Alex. I feel uneasy leaving you here by yourself.”

Alex hesitated. She would have loved to pack her bags right away and go with him.

“No, that’s a bad idea,” she responded. “It would not be good for you if people see you with me. I’m safe for now here at the hotel.”

I don’t give a damn,
Nick thought to himself. He only reluctantly let go of her and went into the bathroom to take a shower and get dressed.

“I’ll call you as soon as I’ve spoken to Connors,” he said in a husky voice as he put on his leather jacket. “Then I’ll send two US marshals to pick you up.”

Alex felt a lump in her throat.

She was emotionally overwhelmed. Sadness over their imminent good-bye mixed with helpless anger at the situation she was in. Nothing would ever be the same again. The man she had fallen in love with was forced to secretly steal away from her because she had been branded a murderer.

“Thank you, Alex,” Nick said.

“I’m the one who should thank you,” she replied, “because you came to me and you believe me.”

“You’re an amazing woman,” Nick said, his voice hoarse. “This night was wonderful.”

And I love you,
he thought. Alex watched him as he slowly walked toward the door, and she almost jumped up to hold him back. But she knew that he needed to go. After the lock clicked into place behind him, Alex buried her face in the pillow and began to cry.

“There he is,” Luca said as a man wearing a leather jacket and baseball cap stepped out of the hotel. He was relieved to find Kostidis and hoped that the mayor had actually visited Alex—although maybe they were mistaken and he had just spent the night with another woman.

Sergio Vitali silently sat in the car’s backseat. He hadn’t said a word in two hours as they waited in the parked car across the street from the hotel. There was no expression on his face, but a volcanic rage boiled inside of him.

“Okay,” Luca said, “we’re going in.”

Sergio nodded and got out. In just a few more minutes, he would know the truth.

Alex flinched when she heard a knock at the door. She had showered and dressed and was just about to pack her suitcase.

“Who’s there?” she called out.

“It’s me. Nick.”

Alex felt her heart jump with joy. Nick had come back to her! She opened the door with a smile, ready to fling her arms around Nick’s neck. But it wasn’t Nick standing in the hallway. Ice-cold shock shot through Alex’s body, and the smile died on her lips. Sergio Vitali was standing in front of her, a murderous rage glowing in his eyes.

There was a great commotion in Gracie Mansion when Nick returned at ten to seven. The security officers and his staff were standing in the foyer, and Lloyd Connors, Frank Cohen, and Michael Page were having an animated discussion in Nick’s study. Nick went into the house through the staff entrance and was astonished when he saw all of these people here so early on a Sunday morning.

“Hello,” he said. The three men spun around and stared at him as if they had seen a ghost.

“Nick! For heaven’s sake!” Frank was pale and visibly worried.

“What’s the matter?” Nick asked innocently. “Did something happen?”

“You’re unbelievable!” Relief was written clearly on Connors’s tired face. “We’re going crazy here worrying about you, and then you stroll in as cool as a cucumber and ask us what’s going on!”

Nick’s looked around the room from Connors to Frank, and then to his chief of staff Michael Page.

“Where have you been, Nick?” Frank asked reproachfully. “The security service called me at one o’clock saying that you weren’t at home. No one knew where you were.”

“We wanted to inform the police,” Page said.

“I wanted to ride around the city a little last night,” Nick replied. “I wanted to be alone. I’m not a child, after all.”

“No one said that,” Connors said in a conciliatory tone, “but since the assassination attempts, we have safety protocols almost as stringent as those for the president. We were worried, Nick.”

“I thought that they had kidnapped you.”

Frank let himself sink into a chair and took off his glasses.

“The security people were losing it,” Page said, shaking his head, “and I was, too! You can imagine how much hell they’d give me if something were to happen to you.”

“I’ve been roaming around the city by myself all of my life,” Nick countered. “I didn’t feel like running around with five bodyguards in tow.”

“The next time you feel the need to stroll through the city at night, please at least let us know,” Connors said as he grabbed his coat and yawned. “I’m going home now to catch a few hours of sleep.”

Nick sighed. He felt guilty that his team had stayed up all night worrying about him. He was so excited by Alex’s call last night that it simply didn’t occur to him that anyone would notice his absence.

“I’m sorry I caused such a commotion,” he said. “It won’t happen again.”

“Let’s hope so.” Connors grinned tiredly.

“Alex Sontheim is back in town,” Nick said, and the deputy US attorney turned around abruptly.

“Since when?”

“Since yesterday evening. She’s ready to speak to you and Jenkins today.”

“Well, that’s pretty good news for a change.”

Connors’s exhaustion vanished.

“Bed will have to wait a little longer then. Where is she?”

Nick hesitated. He couldn’t tell them that he knew.

“She gave me her cell phone number.”

“Okay,” the deputy US attorney said with a nod, “let’s drive to my office. We’ll call her from there and then send someone over to pick her up.”

Alex stared at Sergio with wide-open eyes. Her first reflex was to try to slam the door shut, but one of the men accompanying him had blocked her. So now they were all standing in the small room: Sergio Vitali, Luca, and three other men with cold stares who apparently wouldn’t mind killing her. Alex’s entire body was shaking, and fear pumped though her veins.

“So our paths cross again,” Sergio said in a chilly voice. His gaze scanned the small room, fixating on the rumpled bedding for a few seconds. His hands clenched into fists, but he managed to keep his composure.

“Nice little room.” He didn’t let Alex out of his sight. “Did you run out of money? You could rent a suite at the Plaza with the fifty million that you stole from me.”

Alex couldn’t say a word. She was paralyzed with fear.

“You’re a sneaky little whore,” Sergio continued. “I truly misjudged you. I thought you were smart, but apparently you’re not. You’re quite stupid, actually.”

Without warning he punched her in the face. Alex stumbled onto the bed. Sergio reached her in one step and pulled her up again.

“Who was here with you last night?” he demanded. Alex just silently shook her head. His face looked distorted, and he rammed his fist right into her stomach. He pulled her up by her hair and hit her so hard that her lip burst open. Blood dripped down her chin.