16. Mia #6
Sasha hates quick kills, but he doesn’t waste time with this one, and I know it’s a sacrifice he’s making for me. Letting Leonardo slump to the ground, he sheaths his knife and gets on the bike, starting it and waiting just long enough for me to hold on before he races back down the road.
“It’s Uberto,” I yell. “He’s the traitor. We have to get to him in time!”
Sasha speeds around the corner, and I’m grateful he knows how to handle a bike, or we’d be flying off the cliff and straight into the Ionian Sea.
Even with how fast we’re going, it doesn’t feel quick enough.
All I can think about is Dario being hurt, and by the time Sasha slows down, my heart aches and I feel like I can barely breathe.
We’re back at the villa, but instead of going to the house, he races past it and heads down a gravel road I’ve never been on.
He stops in front of a smaller house, and the first thing I see is a man sprawled out on the lawn.
Even with part of his skull missing, I can tell he has blond hair, and I let out a sigh of relief at knowing it’s not Dario or Sandro.
“What is this place?” I ask, dropping my helmet on the ground while Sasha gets off the bike.
“This is where their top men live. Sandro wanted Dario to wait here, said he didn’t trust him to keep himself in check.”
My brother may prefer knives, but I’m not at all surprised to see a gun already in his hand as he looks around.
Before I can ask anything else, there’s a loud popping sound and Sasha is grabbing me and pulling me towards the house.
Shots land near our feet as we race for the door.
We’re almost there when I hear him grunt in pain and then I’m being shoved onto the porch and under the cover of the roof.
“Oh my god,” I say when I look over and see blood running down my brother’s arm.
“I’m fine,” he says, giving the wound a quick look and sounding way more annoyed than anything else. Reaching down, he pulls a gun from his ankle holster, clicks the safety off, and hands it to me. “It was a good stab wound,” he tells me.
“What?”
“Leonardo,” he says. “You did good, little witch. He would’ve bled out in minutes.”
If I wasn’t so worried about Dario, I’d smile, but all I can manage is a quick nod before he opens the door and pokes his head in.
When he sees it’s clear, he motions me inside.
All the training he and Dario have been giving me kick into gear as I put my back to Sasha’s and scan the room, making sure no one is hiding with a gun pointed at us.
The room is empty, but there’s a hallway to our left and right.
“I’m taking this one,” I whisper. “You take the other.”
Sasha looks like he wants to argue, but I take a second to point at the wound that’s still bleeding freely from where he’s just been shot. “We need to hurry,” I remind him.
He hesitates for another second before saying, “Holler if you need me and be careful, Mia. ”
“I will,” I promise, and then I drop down and scurry past the open window in the living room before standing in the hall.
My heart races, and my hands are sweaty, but before I keep going, I take the knife from my forearm and slip it into my back pocket.
It’s too big to fit, and part of the blade sticks out, but it puts the handle within easy reach, and I feel better knowing I have two weapons ready to use if I need them.
I hope like hell I don’t fall and cut my ass to shreds, but the risk is worth it.
With gun in hand, I creep down the hall, ears straining for even the faintest of sounds, but it’s so quiet it makes my ears ring.
I pass an empty bathroom and a room that’s set up like a bunkhouse with several twin beds, but I don’t see anyone and I don’t hear anything.
Creeping towards the last open door, my breath catches in my throat when I turn the corner and see Dario standing inside with another man.
The sight of Dario alive and well sends a wave of relief through me, so powerful I almost sink to the ground.
His back is to me, his focus outside the window on the shooter that’s hiding on the hill above us, but I’d know his body anywhere, and I don’t need to see his face to know it’s him.
There’s a man beside him, fidgeting with a Zippo lighter, and as tense as the moment is, I can’t help but think that the repetitive movement must be driving Dario crazy.
I run my eyes over the man, noticing the way he’s not staring out the window like Dario.
All his focus is on the man I love, and all the joy I’d just been feeling is sucked from my body as fear replaces it.
I know I’m looking at Uberto, and when the man turns his head and catches sight of me, his dark eyes go from surprise to anger.
He knows something has gone wrong if I’m showing up here, face and clothes covered in blood with a gun in my hand.
I must make a noise because Dario turns his head, and as soon as he sees me and all the blood I’m covered in, all he can think about is getting to me.
Everything happens so quickly after that.
He turns towards me right as Uberto steps behind him, making it impossible for me to get off a shot.
I see the sharp blade behind Dario right as I scream his name and lunge for him, willing to do anything to keep him safe .
I’ve never been the toughest person in the room. I’m never going to out bench press anyone, but I’m small and I’m fast and I use that to my advantage, throwing myself between the two men right as Uberto plunges the knife forward, aiming for Dario’s stomach.
He gets me instead.
The blade sinks in deep, the wound low on my belly, the shock of it stunning me right before I pull the trigger. The bullet hits Uberto in the chest. He collapses as Dario yells my name.