Ella was sitting on the beach, waiting for Rome to come back from the trip he’d made up the mountain to call his mom where the reception was better. The tide was rolling in. It washed over her feet, up to her skirt, but she didn’t care. Living on the beach, one couldn’t be averse to water or sand. It was going to be everywhere, anyway, and that was fine with her.The second she saw his face, she knew the call had not gone the way he’d wanted it to. His lips were pressed together in a defiant line, and his hands were fisted at his sides. She swa

Rome waited for Ella to get off of the plane and followed her at a distance as far as he could, keeping an eye out for anyone suspicious. He didn’t think they’d see anyone on this side of security who might be a threat. His dad was rich but too cheap to buy a ticket to get behind the security keepers if he didn’t have to.Once they were outside, Rome took a deep breath and let Ella go from his sight. It wasn’t easy to do. He wanted to stay behind her, to make sure she got the car safely, but he had a job to do, and if the airport was under surv

Rome had to keep his head down, even though he wanted to peek out the window and see where the cars that had been following them were. “What’s going on?” he whispered to Ella as she approached the toll booth. He could see her behind the wheel without lifting his head far enough to be noticed by anyone in other vehicles.“They’re two back from us,” she said, rolling down her window and crushing a twenty dollar bill into the person’s hands. “Keep the change,” she said.

Two towns over from the exit Ella had taken somewhere in the middle of New Mexico, they found a hotel off the beaten path. It wasn’t bad, though it was nothing like what Rome was used to. It would do for one night, though.She drove the SUV around back and parked it in the shadow of the building, despite the fact that the room he’d gotten them was on the other side. This way, maybe his dad’s men wouldn’t see the vehicle, but even if they did, they wouldn’t know what room the two of them were in.

It was late afternoon when Rome pulled up to the fence at the end of a long winding drive that led up the hillside toward the new house. They’d stopped overnight, as Ella had assumed they would, and driven into LA slowly, in a roundabout manner, never quite entering the city. Instead, Rome had taken back roads and side routes to Abalone Cove, and now, here they were, going through the gate and sneaking up the driveway, as if they might have to turn around and drive back out again. The gate closed with a sharp snapping noise behind them. At least they could be certain no one would be following them in unless they knew the code.