41. Georgia
41
GEORGIA
I sat at the kitchen table right by the window and stared out at the moonlit garden. Right now, outside somewhere, Elio could be fighting for his life against Massimo. I was terrified. I felt sick. I couldn’t even think or worry about what would happen to me if Elio lost. If he did, I didn’t care what happened. They could carve me up and ship me to my father inch by inch. I would be dead anyway.
There were about ten guards standing around the kitchen, watching me. It should have been comical. I didn’t know what they thought I could do by myself. I didn’t even have a weapon to defend myself with, but apparently Sergio Ravelli was taking Elio seriously. I wished he weren’t. If only he’d underestimate him.
That didn’t seem to be the case.
A slight breeze blew through the gap in the kitchen door. I stared at the yard and then looked up at the stables, remembering that night we’d first slept together. Life had seemed so shiny and full of hope then. I’d been excited to live, because I’d met him, the man who made every second exciting. We were going to leave Castel Amaro and see the world. We’d had our whole lives ahead of us… and now, I might lose it all again.
Elio was right; I hadn’t really been living alone, without him… I’d just been waiting.
I was staring at the dark stables when I saw it.
A light flashing in the darkness.
Flash-flash, pause…
I’d know that pattern anywhere. That code had lived in my brain for fourteen years.
Come to me.
Adrenaline surged through me. I considered my escape. Elio was telling me to run to the barn, and I’d follow his orders off the ends of the Earth, trusting him to catch me when I fell. I didn’t stop to think. I didn’t let my panic take over.
I trusted Elio’s plans to work.
I trusted him, period. If I was going to die here, I’d do it trying to reach him.
This time, I’d trust him until the end.
I glanced around casually, checking the guards’ positions. They were chatting among themselves, clearly feeling safe. I waited until the one closest to me turned around and started to argue about the latest football match and then lunged for the door.
The handle moved beneath my palm, and then I was outside. The men closest to me grabbed at me, but I twisted away, putting my head down and running toward the stables with everything I had.
Someone beside me reached out for me, and a strange zipping sound echoed around before he fell. Someone got close on the other side, and he also fell. A fine spray of blood hit my cheek, but I kept running. The men beside me kept falling, picked off one by one. Some still had their hands outstretched toward me, just about to grab me.
Not one managed to touch me.
They fell as I ran, perfectly protected by my merciless mercenary. There was no hail of bullets. Each shot was exactly precise. Not one of the men got up.
I reached the stables and slammed inside.
One man was still behind me, doggedly on my heels. He’d been right behind me the entire time and had clearly used me as his shield.
I ran down the central aisle of the stable, aiming for the ladder at the end. I didn’t make it. The guy behind me grabbed my hair and yanked me back, just as Elio’s legs appeared from the space above the hayloft. He dropped and landed smoothly, pointing a gun at the man behind me. A sharp feeling pricked me under the chin.
“Move and I’ll cut her throat,” the man’s voice wavered. He was terrified.
Elio didn’t bother answering him. His gaze fixed on me.
“You trust me, cara ?” he asked. “Nod if you trust me.”
I didn’t stop to think. I bent my head and nodded.
The bullet zipped over my head and hit my attacker between the eyes. His hold went slack. He fell to the floor, and I stood there, shaking all over.
Then Elio was in front of me, bundling me into his arms.
“It’s okay now, topolina , you’re safe.” He smoothed my hair back and looked me over, his gaze running across me, searching for injuries. It snagged on my bloody lip. A remainder from when I’d bitten Sergio, and he’d clocked me.
“Who?” Elio’s voice was utterly lethal.
“Sergio… he kissed me… and I nearly bit his lip off,” I admitted.
Elio took a shuddering breath and then pulled me close, pressing a kiss to the top of my head.
“That’s my good girl. My wife.” He breathed into my hair. “My love.”
My heart clenched hard, and everything else that was going on suddenly felt far away. It was all happening behind thick glass. It couldn’t touch us.
“My love?” I repeated.
“Yes, my love. I’ve thought of you as a lot of things over the years apart… my poison, my betrayer… my killer… but through it all, you were always my love. My one and only everything. Now, I need you to?—”
“I’m not staying here without you! I’m going with you. This time, you’re not leaving me behind. Where you go, I go,” I said determinedly.
Elio stared at me and then smiled. The darkness shifted in the stables, the place where he’d asked me to marry him.
“Abso-fucking-lutely. I’ve learned my lesson. You’re not leaving my side.”
He took my hand in his and threaded our fingers together.
“Let’s finish this.”
Inside the house was silent as a tomb.
Bodies were strewn across the floor. I stared at the formation.
They were laid out head to toe in a line leading toward the stairs.
An arrow formed of bodies.
I glanced at Elio, horrified.
“This way,” he murmured.
I stayed behind him, and we walked up the stairs. He had a gun at his side, and I could feel his focus. I felt safer than I’d ever felt before, protected by this man.
We reached the top floor and started down the hall. At the end of the passage, at the doorway to my father’s office, two dead bodies were propped up on either wall, their arms stretched out to point at the open doorway. The black rectangle seemed to gape. I was scared to see what was inside.
“Who did this?” I whispered to Elio.
“Massimo. He’s a creative soul.”
A strangled cry sounded from the room before us. Elio squeezed my hand, and then we were stepping inside.
Massimo was sitting at the desk, his feet up, arms behind his head.
“The gang is all here, Sergio. Now, the party can get started.” He grinned at us. “I see you found us easily enough?”
“Your directions helped,” Elio said dryly and checked in the corners of the room.
Everyone was dead, it seemed, except for Sergio. He whimpered somewhere in the room.
Massimo clicked on the desk lamp, and the whole bloody scene came into focus.
Sergio was trapped beneath the desk chair — no, not trapped.
Impaled.
Two legs of the chair seemed to be driven through Sergio’s legs. Two long metal pokers from the fireside were driven through his spread-out arms. He was sprawled out in a cross shape, and Massimo’s weight on the chair made it impossible for him to move.
He was crucified to the floor.
Blood formed a pool around the desk.
“I figured it made sense to end Sergio and his little vendetta here, where it all started, Alfredo Bellisario’s study. The place where the prosecutor made his deals and did his dirty work.”
“I’ll tell you the information,” Sergio groaned. “But you can’t kill me.”
Massimo laughed. “I don’t need your information, Sergio. I have everything I need, and I didn’t have to betray a brother-in- arms to get it.” He stared at Elio. “But no matter, I know he understands me.”
He stood suddenly and stepped back, gesturing down to Sergio like a waiter presenting a particularly delectable main course.
“All yours, Apollo,” he said to Elio and winked at me. “A little insider nickname for our dearly beloved Colonel.”
Elio nodded to Massimo and turned to me, pulling a long, wicked-looking knife from his belt.
“I didn’t know what to get you as a wedding present, cara … but now I do. A life, free from danger. That is what I promise you.”
Then he turned and made his way across the room.
“Don’t look. You don’t have to,” Massimo said, standing beside me. He shifted his body and hid the desk and Sergio. “You never have to look… that’s your husband’s job now.”
“No, not my job.” Then Elio was there.
I fell into his arms. He brought me close and kissed the top of my head.
“No?” I pressed myself as close to him as I could.
“No. My honor and privilege... my birthright. Protecting you… loving you, is my legacy, topolina , and I’m the luckiest bastard in the world.”