Learning to Trust by Lynne Connolly Page A

the dark irises. “They will follow for sure. Not safe.”
    No, it wasn’t. Two people were far harder to conceal than one, but he didn’t want to leave her alone. “Will she be safe here?”
    Without hesitation, Franco nodded and spoke in Italian once more. Lina translated. “He says he’s paid his dues so they won’t hurt us. All they want is for you to leave. They assumed I picked you up, and they want to see that I’m left behind. That will prove that you were a casual pickup.”
    So that they could hold her hostage, no doubt. That would not happen, but he couldn’t see any way around leaving her here, at least temporarily. He spoke in English, but he watched Franco carefully as she translated. “I am not without influence. If any harm comes to Lina, I will ensure you personally suffer. Is that clear?”
    That seemed to get the message across. Franco nodded, but Jon was pleased to observe the reassurances weren’t effusive. He wouldn’t have trusted that. “Okay, I’ll go. Lina, remember the hotel you recommended?” She nodded, but he was relieved when she didn’t say the name aloud. “I’ll go there. Follow me, you hear? If you don’t, I’ll come back. And if for some reason I can’t stay there, I’ll leave word at the desk for you. For—Cassie Francis.” Not her real name, not her assumed name. One he’d just made up.
    “Okay. Just go.” He hated the way she looked, hesitant, afraid. He never wanted to see that look in her eyes again. And for that, for her, he’d go.
    He pulled out his cell phone and hesitated, before shoving it back in his pocket. They could trace him. It’d have to go. Franco handed him his, a well-worn Samsung. He’d owned that model three years ago. Jon called the taxi firm that had taken him from the airport to his hotel his first night. They asked him to repeat the address, no doubt surprised to find him there. He obligingly repeated it.
    By the time it arrived, he’d shoved some clothes in the sports bag and dragged the suit carrier out from the shelter of her little curtained closet. Shit, he hated this. Before he put his toilet bag away, he hesitated and glanced inside. Nothing he couldn’t afford to lose.
    He grabbed five hundred euros from his wallet and shoved it inside. Then he gave the bag to Franco. “Give this to them. Show them. Say Lina became suspicious when I told her not to look inside. Then I said this was my stake. With any luck they’ll think I’m small potatoes, if all I had was this. Tell them she stole it from my luggage.”
    Franco gave him a tight grin, and touched his fingers to his forehead in a mock salute. “Good. I will tell them. I am sure this will help.”
    Either that or the five hundred would help him to keep his mouth shut. Jon didn’t much care as long as it worked one way or the other.
    A sharp blare of a car horn outside alerted him but he didn’t go to the window to discover if it was the taxi. It might not be. He wouldn’t tell Lina he could be riding to his death, but he knew enough to realize that if he called the police, they were all dead. The gangsters in this part of the world didn’t take prisoners. But they wouldn’t want to kill him if he obeyed them and cleared out. He was banking on it. This would have to work.
    He dragged her close and took a kiss from her. She gasped and opened her mouth, even now so sweet he could have lost himself in her. If not for the danger to Lina, he’d never be doing this. Never leave her alone. But from what he understood, if he took her now they’d chase them both. Hunt them down. And he couldn’t protect her like he wanted to until he was safe. That he’d do. He drew away from her reluctantly to find that Franco had left them, probably to clear the way.
    Her jaw trembled but her eyes remained steadily fixed on his. “I’ll be fine. I promise.”
    “You’d better be.”
    He left without looking back but couldn’t resist a glance up at her window as he climbed into the