Chapter 26
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
FINA
The sun welcomes a new day by the time I gingerly exit the barn. I can’t believe I slept with him. Inside an old barn, nestled on a hay mattress, his body half on me, half off, his arm flung across my chest.
Everything aches.
My heart most of all.
I didn’t enter the danger zone. I kicked the door down.
I sigh. Casual sex and I don’t seem to be vibing.
And … I feel guilty. Because I lost the damn keys.
I thought I’d release him so we could shower in the house, but the keys aren’t inside my bag.
I couldn’t tell him his stay at the farm is indefinite now, until I get a replacement.
How does someone even explain to a locksmith they’ve a man shackled inside a barn?
Who reeks of sex and sin? Who has a just-been-fucked aura about him?
I’ll open the barn windows to air the place out, and instruct him to behave. Play dumb to the locksmith and pretend I’ve no clue how Renzo got himself in this predicament.
I’m halfway across the driveway when my phone rings. My stomach drops as I release the hay bale and dig inside my purse for my phone. Panicked that something’s wrong if my aunt’s calling me this early.
When I look at my phone, I realize I’m being FaceTimed … by Sebastiano Beneventi.
No. No. No.
Damn you, Dante—he must have shared my number.
I tug my torn dress tighter. What do I do?
The phone buzzes again, almost angrily.
Exactly as I picture the man at the other end.
I make the sign of the cross, smooth back my untamed hair, and answer the FaceTime call. Don Beneventi fills the screen, and a gasp escapes me. Eyes hard and lips tight, power radiates off him like a bull ready to charge. The man is just as terrifying on the phone as he is in person.
“Renzo still with you?”
I bite my lip, dumbstruck by his call, though that’s not why I hesitate. I feel protective of the man chained inside my barn.
“Elia. Is my goddamn son with you?”
“Yes.”
The muscles in his jaw jump as he clenches his teeth.
“He’s okay. Better than okay,” I reassure him. Because something’s wrong, it’s written all over his expression.
“Listen carefully and do exactly as I say. Get him to the town of Anzio, where a boat will be waiting to take him to Sardinia. Grassi’s men will be anticipating that he’ll flee to Sardinia but with luck will swarm the larger port at Civitavecchia instead. If he resists, tell him Grassi has Dante.”
My lips part. “Has?”
“Ambushed him and likely has him locked up in a Sicilian dungeon. His men are hunting for Renzo right now.”
My grip tightens around the phone, pulse pounding in my ears. “They won’t touch him,” I say, my voice low and sharp. “I’ll do what I have to.”
Don Beneventi tilts his head, studying me. “I get it now.”
Before I can ask what he means, he cuts me off. “I’ll hold you to it. Now get moving and call me from Sardinia.”
I stare at the empty screen. Not because of his words, but because of what he left out.
It sounded like I’ll be the one making that call.
Not Renzo.
I’ll be on that boat, too.
My mind races. I need to call Aunt Teresa and alert her. But first, I’ve got to wake up Renzo and get us to the port.
I drop my phone into my purse, ready to do just that.
The stranger comes out of nowhere and slams into my side, taking me to the ground and knocking the wind out of me. Before I can scream, I’m punched in the side then head. Once. Twice. Three times.
He hauls himself off me, but not before I spy his hand, and the heel mark I made, deeper and uglier than the wound the feathered nuisance left on me.
Dread grips me. Lord, he’s the same man who attacked me before.
I lie still, pain flooding every nerve ending, my mind scrambling for a way out.
He kicks me hard in the ribs. My vision fractures, my world spinning.
“You little bitch,” he snarls. “Thought I wouldn’t find you? Thought you could hide?”
Oh my God. It can’t be…
“I own you,” he roars, completely unhinged.
A psycho living up to his name.
I try to push up from the dirt, struggling to breathe.
Settemo towers over me, pure evil carved into human form. He drops a black duffel bag at his feet and pulls out the one thing I never wanted to see again. The white latex catsuit.
My stomach turns, and I fight off my panic.
He lunges before I can react, gripping my ankles and yanking them into the material.
I gasp and thrash. “Get off me, Cunt Stud.”
Wrong word choice.
He flips me like I weigh nothing and drags me by the ankles down the gravel drive. Pebbles slice into my skin, the drive scraping my arms raw. My scream catches in my throat, choked off by terror.
I hear an engine running. He’ll load me into a vehicle and drive off.
I’ll break my promise to Don Beneventi about getting Renzo to safety. Joke’s on me.
Renzo can’t save me.
If Settemo gets me in that vehicle, I’ll disappear.
Forever.
I claw at the dirt, screaming as rocks shred my palms. My knees knock against the ground, pain spiking with every inch.
He halts, moves to my side to glare at me. “You fucking around on me? Who did you wear that slutty lingerie for?”
Freaking psycho.
He grabs my hair and sends my head into the pavement. As the sun dims and my world spirals, I’m rolled onto my back. Helpless to do anything but survive and pray for a miracle.
Time and time again, it’s proven that I have a funny relationship with God.
I hear my salvation before it strikes.
“Cakooo.”
A battle cry from off to the right.
The feathered nuisance is charging straight at us.
Neck extended, wings flapping violently, he barrels across the yard like a demon possessed. Without slowing, he leaps, talons first, and slams into Settemo’s face, spearing him in the eye.
The bastard howls in pain, clutching his eye, stumbling back. Blood trickles between his fingers.
I wiggle free from the latex, curl my legs and kick him as hard as I can.
It isn’t enough.
He turns, focus back on me, fury twisting his features. But then suddenly freezes.
His gaze shifts to behind me. Something terrifies him.
And then he’s running … away.
He’s halfway to the waiting white van when a shadow passes me.
Renzo.
Free. Wild-eyed.
Gun raised.
What the hell?
“You’re fucking dead, motherfucker!” he bellows.
The crack of bullets pierces the air. Glass shatters. The van swerves.
Dirt erupts as Renzo fires at the tires.
The van accelerates in reverse, engine roaring, but Renzo doesn’t stop. He takes off after it, relentless.
“Wait!” I scream, clambering to my feet, shaking off the latex completely. “Stop!”
He doesn’t hear me. Or he doesn’t care.
“Your father called!” I yell, stumbling down the drive after him. As much as I’d like Emo strung up and bloody, there’s a more urgent matter to attend to.
“Dante’s been captured!”