Free Nowhere to Run (Stephanie Carovella) by Nina D'Angelo Page A

understand why Stephanie had just walked away from it all.
    She flicked her eyes over Jesse again. She didn’t miss the way he followed Stephanie’s every movement and her mouth tightened in annoyance. Realizing she was watching, Jesse turned his head back towards her, his expression now guarded, making her curl her lip into a snarl.
    Her eyes narrowing, she turned her attention back to where Stephanie stood with Ben, feeling her own pain turn to intense fury. “Dominic knew her so damn well because he was usually thinking the same thing. She was his female version – two halves fitting perfectly together,” Gena spat out, anger inflected in her voice. “Like him, she’s reckless and like him, once she gets something into her head nothing or no one will change her mind.” Her fury revealed itself in her eyes, as she spat out, “And, like him, she’s going to get herself killed.” She sighed again. “She hasn’t said anything to you?”
    Jesse shrugged carelessly. “Like I said, Stephanie never tells me what she’s planning. She stopped including me in her life the day she left L.A.”
    Gena frowned, opening her mouth to argue, but Jesse intercepted her. “No, that’s not even right. The day Dominic died, she stopped. All those walls I fought so hard to break down went right back up again. It’s like I ceased being important to her. As soon as Dom died, she stopped caring or feeling anything. She shut down completely.”
    Gena bit her lip as guilt flooded through her. She wished she could ignore his last remarks. “You’re telling me she hasn’t tried to pump you for every bit of information she can get, regarding Angel’s death?”
    Jesse smiled in amusement at her. “Now Gena, why would she need to do that when she has the crime scene report and photos?” He drawled. His smile widened when Gena spat out a string of curses.
    “She hasn’t spoken to you about Angel’s death at all?” Gena asked unevenly, glaring furiously at Stephanie.
    “Oh, you mean like finding out who killed Angel and making them pay?”
    “Yes, Jesse, just like that,” she groaned aloud, ignoring the dark glares Angel’s parents shot her.
    He nodded reluctantly, swinging an arm around her shoulder. “Now that you mention it, Gena, she might have said something about it. I don’t blame her though, I feel the same way.”
    Gena knocked his arm off her shoulder, hissing out between clenched teeth, “Damn it Jesse.”
    He interrupted her. “What Gena? You can’t expect us not to want to hurt this guy, even to kill him for what he did to Angel.”
    Gena shook her head angrily. “Of course I understand it, but this is what I’m here for. It’s what the law is here for,” she said fiercely, softening her tone at his disgusted expression. “God, Jess, I couldn’t bear it if any of you were hurt. Angel would never want that.”
    Jesse was non-committal, muttering, “We’ll see.”
    Gena scowled at his evasive answer. The last thing she needed was to protect her friends from their own stupidity. Seeing the determination in Jesse’s eyes, she acknowledged it mirrored the intense fury she’d seen in Stephanie’s. It was pointless arguing with him, the same way it was pointless to ask Stephanie to leave this alone. They were both as stubborn as each other.
    All she could do was make sure they didn’t interfere with her own investigation, and protect them if they needed it.
    ***
    He watched Stephanie Carovella throw dirt onto the coffin, smiling lovingly at the anger in her eyes. She was fire and rain. Lord, he had forgotten how glorious she was. He’d forgotten her fire. He’d missed her. He savored the thought of her, remembering the first time he’d seen her.
    It was the way she held herself which first caught his attention. She held herself like it was she against the world, and she planned to kick it in the ass. He’d never met a woman who had had as much determination as she did. She’d been so much more