27. Francesca
FRANCESCA
Our weekend in Palermo passed in the blink of an eye. We tried a few new restaurants and spent most of the day on Saturday at the beach. Late on Sunday night, Wolfe drove us home, long after the tourist traffic had died down.
I hated that I had work in the morning, especially after leaving such a beautiful place by the sea. It made me treasure the week I’d spent with Wolfe there even more because I’d been truly disconnected from the world at the time. But now, work was in the back of my mind, haunting me.
I woke up to the sound of my alarm and saw that Wolfe was already gone, out of bed and working out in his gym downstairs. Half asleep, I stepped into the shower and got ready for the day. Then I made myself a cappuccino, downing it quickly before I headed to work.
When I arrived at my father’s villa, Leo wasn’t there, probably because he didn’t wake up until later in the day, whenever he decided to show up. The mornings were usually reserved for the wine business anyway.
A couple hours later, the winery was full of people, those there for the wine and others for the guns. Lots of people were working, and the painters were adding the final touches to the outside of the villa where my office was located.
I was working on my laptop in my temporary office when I heard a commotion outside that caught my attention. Men raised their voices, and others shouted. When someone shouted, “Vincenzo!” I knew it was serious.
I abandoned my laptop and ran to the window to stick my head outside.
I was on the opposite side of the villa from the location of my first office, so I couldn’t see the main gate.
I turned my head and could see the road over the wall and the clouds of dust, which told me several people had approached the iron gate.
I left my office and ran upstairs to my father’s office because I knew he was there since I’d just spoken to him ten minutes ago. “Dad.” I rounded the corner and came to a stop when I saw that he was already armed and guns were spread out on his desk.
I gave a jump when I heard gunfire from outside. “This can’t be happening again.”
“Frankie, come on,” he said. “Get over here.”
I rushed forward to the pile of guns he’d pulled out of the safe.
“Put this on.” He held out the bulletproof vest to me. He already had his on.
I stared at it and felt my heart race.
“Frankie.”
I snapped out of it and put it on, strapping it into place. The first thing I did was call Wolfe, but he answered so fast it barely rang. “Someone’s here—”
“I’m on my way.” He somehow already knew. “Stay alive until I get to you.”
I wanted to sob on the phone because this was the third attack I’d experienced in just a few months. I couldn’t do it again. I couldn’t have another pile of corpses around me. I couldn’t let anyone come near me. I just…couldn’t do it again. But it wasn’t the time or place to say any of that.
Wolfe didn’t hang up on me. “Don’t forget who you are, Francesca Mancini. Say it.”
The words popped into my head, but I struggled to say them aloud.
“Come on.”
“I’m—I’m a tough…fucking bitch.”
“Damn right. Just hold them off until I get to you.”
“Okay…”
“Love you.”
I gasped when I realized it might be the last time I ever heard those words. “I love you too.”
He hung up.
My father was already armed to the teeth. Two rifles hung over his shoulders, and he had a handgun sticking out the back of his jeans. Just like Wolfe, he was perfectly calm. “Grab the shotgun.”
Without really thinking about what I was doing, I grabbed it and made sure it was loaded before I shoved a handful of bullets into my pocket. “Wolfe is on the way.”
Dad nodded at what I said. “Cover me.”
“Okay.”
He moved to the edge of the door and poked his head around the corner.
The gunfire continued outside like it was a war zone.
I stood behind my father, gripping the gun so hard that my knuckles already hurt. I felt moisture coat the metal because my palms were already sweaty from the adrenaline that leaked out of all my pores.
The gunfire suddenly came to a standstill. And somehow, the silence was worse. My ears started to ring because of the abuse the loud noise had caused to my eardrums, but I still preferred the sounds of a fight over the silence of a surrender.
“What’s happening?” I whispered.
My father remained still, straining his ears as he listened.
We were on the third floor in a well-insulated house, but I could hear the commotion on the bottom floor. Sounded like a stampede of men, and then I heard the yell of a voice that sounded familiar, but I didn’t recognize. “Vincenzo! This is how you greet a guest?”
My father spoke almost under his breath. “Warren…”
“Warren?” I blurted. “I thought you killed him.”
“No,” he said, his wide eyes still down the hallway.
“But Leo said you did.”
My father ignored what I said and turned to me. “Frankie, I need you to hide. Crawl out the window and onto the roof. They won’t think to look for you there.”
“What—what?” I blurted. “I’m not going to leave you.”
“Frankie, just do what I say.”
“We stay in the office and pick them off one by one. That’s what I did before—”
“Frankie.” His nostrils flared as he rounded on me.
“Do as I say.” He grabbed my arm and shoved me, shoved me hard with a force I didn’t think he was capable of.
“Now.” He went around the corner and fired his automatic rifle into the staircase, making them scatter before they could ascend to our floor.
He turned back to me, his eyes still livid with rage even though this was probably the last time we would ever see each other. He mouthed, “Go.” And he pointed down the hallway.
My eyes started to water as I looked at my father for the last time.
He looked like he would yell at me again.
“I love you…”
His eyes softened, but only slightly, and then he turned back to the top of the stairs before he fired down below again, keeping them back so they couldn’t access the third level.
I turned and ran down the hallway with the shotgun in my hands, sticking to the edge of the hallway and glancing out the window.
There were SUVs all over the property, and I could see all of our men on their knees with their hands behind their heads, like they’d been overpowered or they’d surrendered.
And I didn’t see any way Wolfe could get through all of that to me.
Gunfire sounded behind me, and I ran into the nearest room, a guest bedroom that no one had ever used.
I crossed the room to the window and yanked it open before I poked my head outside.
There was nothing to grab on to to climb up, not even a drainage pipe that collected water in the gutters and directed it to the soil on the ground.
I left the window and was about to run into the hallway when I stopped at the sound of more gunfire echoing in the hallway and shattering my eardrums. I wasn’t sure if my father was taking his last stand…or if he was already dead.
Stay alive until I get to you. Wolfe’s voice played in my head, and I gripped the gun in my hands. I was cornered with nowhere to run, and if I jumped out the window, I would break one or both of my legs in the fall.
“Where is she?” The man I assumed to be Warren spoke from down the hallway.
“Frankie left for lunch—”
I heard the distinct thud, like someone hit my father in the face with a gun.
“Lie to me again and see what happens. Leo?”
Leo?
“She’s here.” I recognized his voice, clear and recognizable…without a doubt. “She’s hiding in one of these rooms.” When I heard his voice again, I nearly gasped in surprise and heartbreak. My hands loosened on my gun, and I nearly dropped it on the floor as the shock rippled through me in waves.
The rat…
The rat was…my brother?
All this time?
My father didn’t speak again. That meant he was unconscious…or in as much shock as I was.
Warren issued another order. “Find her, boys.”
Instead of a surge of terror, I felt a tsunami of rage.
I was so fucking mad.
So mad that I would blow all these assholes to hell—my brother included.
Footsteps sounded as they moved down the hall. Doors opened and closed as they started their sweep. Instead of waiting for them to come to me, I stepped out and fired at whoever was outside my door, killing without prejudice, not caring if that bullet hit a stranger or my own flesh and blood.
The shotgun blasted the man in the chest, and he flew back and hit the floor. Before he landed, I turned my gun to the asshole across the hallway, and I fired, hitting him in the face.
I ducked back into the room and reloaded my gun.
“Come and get me yourself, you fucking coward!” I cocked the gun and straightened.
“Let me put a bullet right between your goddamn eyes, you son of a bitch.” I leaned against the doorway and listened for footsteps, knowing some of the men were nearby from their previous checks.
Leo shouted back down the hallway. “Frankie, surrender! They aren’t going to kill you.”
“Come down here yourself and watch me surrender, asshole.” I’d been angry with my brother before, over small things and big things, and despite his questionable character at times, I’d never imagined, not even for a fucking second, he would be capable of this kind of depravity.
That he would betray his own flesh and blood for money and power.
“Come on!” The second I heard steps outside my room, I stepped out and fired once and then turned the gun and fired again, downing two guys in a split second because my focus was razor-sharp.
The adrenaline gave me second sight, the ability of a hunter, channeled the rage I’d witnessed Wolfe possess during times like these.
“Frankie, there’s four—” Thud.