An Echo in the Mafia (Echo Reid, Reid Family Book #1)

Part 70

She had to get her side looking sharp. She refused to be slob in this house. That was when she heard the knocking. 

Echo poked her head out of the closet, wondering if maybe she'd imagined it. No.

There it was again. 

"Mrs. Farina?"

Echo straightened herself up. It was one of the men who guarded the house- she recognized the voice. 

"One second." She said, closing the closet door behind her lest he see what a mess it was in there. 

"Yes?" She asked, opening the door.  

"I have something for you." He said, holding out an envelope with her name. Echo took it, raising her brow. No return address.

"Thanks, who brought it by?" She asked, thinking it might be an invitation. 

"The boss asked me to give it to you." He said simply. Echo was intrigued. Luke? Had Luke left this behind for her. "I'm to wait for you."

Echo looked up at him. There was something strange about this whole thing. She opened the enveloped, taking out the paper and sucking in her breath. 

Her heart nearly stopped. 

This was NOT from Luke. 

If you ever want to see Mr. Farina again, you'll come find him. Tell no one. 

Echo gulped, tucking the paper back into the envelope and slowly looking back up at the man. 

"I take it... Luke isn't your boss." She said, barely able to get the words out. The man shook his head. 

"No, ma'am. You can a couple of minutes to change, tell Ms. Adelia you're going out but that's it. We leave in 15 minutes. I'll be in the front. Don't make me come looking for you." He said simply. His voice was so calm that it almost made her relax a little. 

"Okay." She said with a nod. "What's your name? Is it really Guzman?"

"Yes." He said, turning round. "Fifteen minutes."

Echo closed the door behind him, leaning her forehead against it and trying to get the room to stop spinning. 

Luke. She wasn't sure if she'd said the name out loud or not but the sound of it shocked her. Luke. They had Luke. 

What if they didn't? What if this was a trap?

"Come on, Echo. You don't have time." She said to herself, moving quickly into the closet to change. It didn't matter, it was too big of a risk. Maybe it was a trap but if they did have Luke and she didn't go... what then? She couldn't stand the idea of him getting hurt. 

No, she had to go. She had to try to save Luke. 

After all, she still had a lot of yelling to do. 

---

"Nadia!" Adelia said with a smile as she walked into the foyer, Baby trailing behind her and jumping excitedly as he saw a new person. 

"Hi." Nadia said sweetly, bending down to greet the small dog. He was still so small, despite the months. 

"What are you doing here?" Adelia asked. 

"Can't a girl visit her favorite cousins?" Nadia said with a grin. 

"Only if I'm your absolute favorite." Adelia said with a smile. 

"Just don't tell Luke." Nadia teased. "I actually came by to see Echo."

"Oh." Adelia said, "Well she's not here."

Nadia frowned. 

"Really? I told her I was coming by." Nadia said, finding it disappointing. She really needed to talk to her, she wasn't going to keep this to herself any longer. "Will she be back soon?"

Adelia looked around the room before motioning for her to follow. 

"Come with me." Adelia said, prompting her to walk towards the library. 

"Okay." Nadia muttered, wondering what this girl was up to. 

"What's going on?" Nadia asked as Adelia closed the library door behind them.

"Echo left a little a while ago." Adelia asked, "She told me she was going to meet up with Luke and that I should call you."

"She what?" Nadia asked, confused. 

"Yeah, I was about to when you arrived." Adelia said, "It was so strange. Echo wouldn't just leave me alone like that. I'm 15! Nobody likes to leave teenagers alone."

"That's weird. First Luke is out of town and now Echo." Nadia muttered. There was something very strange about all this- why would they just leave Adelia like that?

"Adelia- Who's the guard who's usually by the front gate?" Nadia asked, remembering the other thing she'd planned on mentioning to Echo. 

She'd been so busy at the clinic all afternoon that it didn't hit her until she was in front of the vending machine. HE was the man she'd seen Grace with, that's why he was so familiar. 

"Guzman." Adelia said. "He's always bringing donuts in the morning. It's nice of him but I feel like he tries too hard. You know one time he brought everyone a coffee from that nice cafe down the street? I  thought it was odd but Echo loves..."

"Adelia... sweetheart. Focus." Nadia said, bringing her back to the moment. "Where is he now?"

Adelia wrinkled her nose. 

"He left with Echo." Adelia said. "Why? I thought it was strange that Luke still let Echo go out without any escorts."

"OH god." Nadia said, feeling sick to her stomach. "Where's Alfonso?"

"Alfonso?" Adelia replied. "Probably out back... why?"

"I need you to go find him and tell him to meet at my apartment in an hour." Nadia said. 

"What? Why?" Adelia asked, stomping her foot. 

"Honey, I can't talk about it." Nadia said, extending her hand and patting down Adelia's hair. 

"I'm so sick of adults saying that to me." Adelia said and Nadia frowned. 

"I know that but it can't be helped. I need Alfonso to come with me to go get Luke and Echo." Nadia said, turning to leave the library. Adelia pulled on her arm. 

"But how do you know where they are? Neither of them said where they were going." Adelia asked, confused. 

"I know someone who does. Now, please. Do what I ask and have one of the guys take you to my mom's house." Nadia said, running out of the room. 

Adelia stood staring after her for a bit. To Aunt Daniela's house? She groaned. It was so boring over there. Still, Adelia moved quickly, heading straight into the kitchen and out the back door. 

Nadia knew she looked crazy running down the street but she needed to move fast and her car was parked pretty far. She needed to hurry, hoping that Grace hadn't left town already.  Damn it, Nadia repeated to herself as she finally got in her car. 

Why did she have to run her big mouth without thinking? She remembered warning Grace to leave town and now she hoped that this wasn't going to be the time that Grace actually listened to her. 

She knew it! She knew she had seen Grace talking to someone in the city... but if she was connecting the dots correctly then that meant that Grace was crazier than she thought.  

Nadia knew Grace was a lot of things but... was this really who she was? Something inside of Nadia still believed in Grace, even if it was the dumbest thing she'd ever done. As she pulled into the parking lot for Grace's building, she noticed her car. 

"Thank god." Nadia muttered, running up the stairs as fast as she could. She was here, she was still here. 

"Come on, Grace." Nadia said loudly, pounding on the door. "Open up."