Last Chance Hero. Melinda Di Lorenzo

      “That’s how we found out he was alive.” Ivan’s voice was smug. “Showed up for a funeral.”

      Jordynn’s eyes sought Dono. “When?”

      “Jordynn...” He trailed off, but Ivan answered for him anyway.

      “Two years ago,” the other man stated.

      Her mother’s funeral.

      Jordynn’s head spun. He’d been there. Close enough to see. Maybe to touch. She swallowed. How could he have come back like that, and not spoken to her?

      “Accidentally got caught on camera,” Ivan added. “Weird thing. A local crew was doing a news story that day.”

      “I remember,” Jordynn whispered. “A special on the history of the cemetery. They had to stop filming before we could start the service.”

      “But not before someone managed to catch Mr. Grady in action. Dark coat, hood pulled up. But the angle was just right, and my boss was sure it was you.”

      A sob built up in Jordynn’s throat, and Dono reached for her. But Ivan waved the gun menacingly, blocking him from getting any closer. And she was actually glad. She wasn’t sure what would happen if he touched her right that second.

      She wanted to sit down. To process it. She wobbled. And neither man seemed to notice.

      “Like Mr. Grady said, though. It doesn’t matter anyway. Not now.” The man shrugged. “And my boss wants a word with both of you.”

      “A word?” Dono repeated doubtfully. “You and I both know he’s not interested in a chat.”

      “To be honest, what we know doesn’t matter, either,” the gunman said. “Only matters that we do what we’re told. And just in case you were thinking about jumping and running, I’ll give you another fair warning. There are two guys out there in a car on the street. Armed and dangerous, as they say. Not the subtle type, either.”

      “Two thugs outside. Two upstairs. Our friend tied to the chair in the living room. And you. Six men to bring us in,” Dono said. “Either that’s overkill, or we really are special.”

      “A decade-long headache can make a man do crazy things. Step back inside. Slowly.”

      “You sure about that? ’Cause I’ll be even more of a headache once you actually get ahold of me.”

      “Quit trying to delay the inevitable.”

      “I’m just making sure this is the way you want to go.”

      “Be awful to have to shoot you in front of your girl.”

      “You won’t shoot me here.”

      Ivan sighed and moved the gun to Dono’s chest. “You a hundred percent certain of that?”

      Jordynn’s heart constricted. She tried to take a breath, and couldn’t. She couldn’t handle the thought of seeing what would happen if Dono didn’t obey the other man’s order. She hadn’t even wrapped her head around the fact that he was there. Or that he’d been there before.

      Focus on the present, she told herself. In spite of it all, you don’t want to lose him all over again so quickly, do you?

      “Listen to him,” she burst out. “Please.”

      He met her eyes, and she saw more than a hint of worry there. And she knew he had just been stalling. Trying to come up with some way of getting them out of the situation. And she could read him well enough to know he hadn’t succeeded.

      “Inside,” the man behind her barked, clearly running out of patience.

      Without taking his gaze off her, Dono put both hands on the bottom of the window frame, ready to pull himself back in. Jordynn’s eyes couldn’t help but stray to his fingers. She recalled just how they’d felt clasped with hers a few minutes ago. Rough. Strong. A bit dangerous. She’d thought it was a good combination, considering their situation. Lord knew Jordynn was none of those things on her own. Now, though, their reassuring solidity seemed like a bad thing. Because they’d only help in pulling him back into danger.

      But a moment later, their strength became irrelevant. It was no match for gravity.

      As Dono pushed himself up, a snap echoed from beneath his feet. A flash of surprise crossed his face. Then his body tipped sideways, and he lost his grip on the window. His cheek hit the frame with a sickening crack, and he slid out of view.

      For several seconds, Jordynn stood still. And so did the man behind her. Then they both moved at once, but in opposite directions. The gunman surged forward, hollering for some help, clearly intent on seeing where Dono had fallen to. But Jordynn didn’t need to check on him. She knew where he would’ve landed, and knew, too, what his options for escape would be. He might’ve hurt himself, but five feet wasn’t far enough to make her worry about broken bones. Not too much, anyway. What did concern her was getting to him before the two armed and dangerous men who were somewhere out there. That...and what they might do to him if he’d knocked himself unconscious. Or worse, if he was disoriented and wandered into their sights.

      And what are you going to do stop them?

      She shoved down the voice in her head. Not trying to help Dono wasn’t an option. So while her captor peered out the window, she spun on her heel and darted in the opposite direction. She leaped down the stairs and flew into the hall, then moved to open the door. But as she stepped back to fling it open, she slammed straight into a body. And it was most definitely not Dono’s.

       Chapter 4

      Jordynn tried to pull away, but it was too late. The big man on her doorstep was stronger. Faster. And clearly more experienced at capturing people than she was at escaping from them.

      She barely reached the doorstep before his arms were around her, spinning her hard and shoving her against the exterior wall of the house. Jordynn’s chest scraped along the wood siding making her cry out. Her yelp earned her a sweaty hand over her mouth, and a heartbeat later, she was being turned again and lifted.

      At the end of the driveway, she could see Tom, her neighbor, heading for his car.

      Please, please!

      Jordynn inhaled through her nose and tried to scream. But it was no use. The man’s palm was pressed too firmly to her lips, his grip on her chest too tight. All that came out was a wheeze. In seconds, he’d pulled her through the door, shut it again, then dragged her to the living room. There, he set her down, then shoved her roughly enough that she landed on the rug. Bits of the shattered coffee table dug into her body. She forced herself to ignore the pain.

      Breathing shallowly, Jordynn crawled to the sofa and gripped its edge. She looked up, but didn’t dare stand. Especially not when she spied Ivan, pacing the room in front of the man Dono had tied to the chair. His face was dark and dangerous, and he didn’t bother to stop moving to glance at her as he addressed the man who’d tossed her in.

      “Rope her up,” he ordered. “Pull some of that stuff off the Nose to do it.”

      The Nose?

      But Jordynn didn’t have time to consider the oddity of the nickname. Or to worry that it sounded just a little too pseudo-gangster for her liking. Because the big, rough man had begun to unwind the wire from the unconscious one. And she knew where it was going to wind up next. Her feet itched to outrun the inevitable.

      “Now what?” the big man asked as he finished his task.

      “I’d like to shoot them both and be done with it,” Ivan muttered.

      “The boss—”

      “I know what the boss wants.”

      Jordynn kept her eyes down, pretending not to follow the exchange. Pretending it didn’t scare