Chapter 19
JACKSON
T he morning air was too clean, too fresh.
After everything, it felt wrong, like the world had reset without asking if I was ready. Washed away all the horrors of yesterday. Alfeo's body was gone. Dragged off into the trees like he'd never existed.
Good. That was what I'd hoped for.
I watched Ivy shudder beside me, wrapping her arms around herself despite the warmth of the morning sun. Her normally confident posture had crumpled, shoulders hunched forward as if she could make herself smaller.
"Thank God that bastard's gone," she muttered, glancing at the spot where he'd fallen. "Even the blood washed away in the storm. It's like it never happened."
We walked in silence, the three of us strung out like survivors of some apocalypse.
No idea where we were, no map. Just the crunch of gravel under Ivy's boots and the occasional wince when pain shot through my leg.
Again and again. I kept my eyes on the horizon, scanning for a house, a road, anything that might lead us back to civilization.
Elena walked by my side, offering her support with an arm around me. We looked like a rightly interesting trio. Me, in nothing but briefs with a bandaged leg, Elena in her dressing robe, and Ivy in her skimpy club outfit and heeled boots.
After sharing my truth with Elena in the darkness, I felt like something had shifted.
I wasn't sure why I'd felt the desire to share with her.
Maybe it was my injury and loss of blood making me sentimental.
But she'd just listened, a solid comfort as I relieved that nightmare, revealing my raw pain and suffering to her.
She'd not judged or shown me pity, just remained quiet and comforting. It was all I'd needed.
"I wish I had shoes," Elena said as she stumbled, making pain flare through my leg. I'd awoken to it feeling slightly better, until we'd gotten moving. Each step increased my agony, forcing me to limp heavily. I silently prayed it wasn't infected.
I grunted as a rock jabbed into the underside of my foot, making me wince and lean too much on my wounded leg.
"Maybe we should stop for a bit. You need to rest," Elena said, but I shook my head.
"Keep moving," I grunted. "We're exposed out here."
I didn't need to voice my concerns, they both understood. If Other Malatesta's found us, then we were shit out of luck.
I clutched my gun tighter, wishing I wasn't walking barefooted with nothing but briefs. Then again, Elena was wearing a simple nightgown and robe as well, her bare feet covered in dirt and dust.
Exhaustion weighed on me like armor. After a somewhat restless, painful night with barely any sleep, I was running on fumes.
No fever yet—small mercies—but the lethargy was dangerous.
We needed to find help, find a way back to the city.
This dirt road seemed to lead nowhere, just deeper into the sticks.
My body ached from the ordeal, muscles screaming from tension and exertion. The memory of Elena's fingers pressing against my wound, trying to stop the bleeding, flashed through my mind. I'd nearly died protecting them. Protecting her.
And she'd then saved me.
The silence was broken only by our labored breathing and the occasional bird call that seemed obscenely cheerful given our circumstances.
Ivy kept glancing over her shoulder, as if expecting Alfeo to rise from the dead and follow us.
I couldn't blame her. I'd seen death before, too many times in my line of work, but even if I had developed an unflinching response to it, I knew it was not the same for them.
Death was never easy to witness when it wasn't a part of your daily life.
It never became less violent, less immediate.
It was both a blessing and a curse of mine, how it didn't reach me as much any more.
You couldn't let it, couldn't falter. One mistake or hesitation could be your last.
By some sheer miracle, we reached the end of what must have been the long dirt drive and stepped onto an asphalt road. One full of potholes, but a proper road nonetheless. The sight of it nearly brought tears to Elena's eyes.
"Should we tell the truth?" she asked, breaking the silence now. "That we were kidnapped? That you were shot?" Her tone was cautious, but I couldn't miss the edge underneath. The thought of explaining this to police, of dragging the Donati name into an official report, clearly made her anxious.
I shook my head, wincing as I shifted my weight. "No cops if we can help it." My voice came out rough, like sandpaper over stone. I should've drank more water before we'd left the house. "Donatis can clean up the mess, but I'd rather not make one if we don't have to."
She didn't argue. Just nodded, lips pressed tight.
The reality of my world—of what was now her world too—settled over her like a shroud.
We were dealing with a shooting, a kidnapping, a death, and our first instinct was to avoid authorities.
Six months ago, she would have been appalled.
Now, I could see she understood the necessity with a clarity that should have frightened her.
I gave them Roman's number, repeating it until both Elena and Ivy could recite it back without blinking. My eyes felt heavy, clouded with pain, but I forced my mind to stay tactical.
"If we flag someone down, I'll stay hidden," I instructed. "You call him. Use the codeword, he'll know what to do."
"What's the codeword? Will he send a full SWAT team?" Ivy asked, her voice steady.
"Pickle," I said, feeling the ghost of a smile touch my lips. "Tell him we're in a pickle. It's to mean we need assistance but isn't Grade A life-threatening."
"Oh, cause this isn't life-threatening?" Ivy scoffed.
"If he thinks it's that, he'll send a chopper with a SWAT team," I stated. "Might be a bit too much."
"Right." Elena nodded.
"What if Alfeo's men come for us?" Ivy shot back.
"Honestly, if they intended to, they would've found us already.
They'd have gone to any locations Alfeo would potentially run to," I assured them.
It was what I'd been going over in my mind.
But it also made me wonder if the Malatesta we'd left behind had kept his mouth shut completely.
If he'd gone to the Donatis, the Malatesta would've likely co-operated to keep the peace, offering up all locations as well.
So, someone should have come out this way.
Unless the house was not a safe-house like I'd assumed.
We waited by the roadside, me concealed behind a large oak tree while Elena and Ivy stood with their thumbs out. Long enough for my pulse to settle into something steady. Long enough for the pain in my thigh to become a dull, constant throb.
"What if no one comes?" I heard Ivy grumble to Elena. "I need a shower. I'm tired of squatting to pee."
I rolled my eyes. Of course that was what she was worried about. She really was all wit and bravado.
"Someone will," Elena replied, with more confidence than I knew she felt. "We just need one person with a phone."
As if summoned by her words, a car appeared in the distance. Small. Civilian. I ducked further behind the tree, my movements stiff. I watched Elena squeeze Ivy's hand once before stepping forward.
She forced herself to appear calm. Controlled. Just a woman whose car broke down, not someone who'd witnessed a killing, been kidnapped, then threatened before she pulled the trigger herself.
"Our van broke down," she called as the car slowed beside them. "Could we use your phone to call a family friend?"
The couple—middle-aged, with matching hiking shirts and concerned expressions—exchanged a glance before the woman nodded. They too were probably lost, or looking for a trailhead.
"Of course, honey," she said, handing over her smartphone. "Are you girls okay? You look a little… roughed up."
"Camping accident," Ivy supplied smoothly. "Wouldn't believe it, but my friend here was trying to make us breakfast in nothing but slippers. Thought she saw a bear and had us take off."
"Yeah, I lost my slippers while running, and then we weren't too keen on trying to find our camping spot again. We went back to where we parked the van, but it wouldn't start. And we may have left both our phones at the campsite," Elena explained, surprising me with their quick thinking.
"Do you want us to help you find your campsite? We can help?" The woman was quick to offer, but Elena shook her head.
"No, we'll just call our friend, he's not too far away and he can come help us. You look like you've got plans today, and we'd rather he come anyway. He's a mechanic so he'll get us back on the road again too," Elena assured her.
They bought it without question to my surprise. From my hiding spot, I could see the genuine concern on the woman's face. These people had no idea what they'd stumbled into, what kind of darkness they'd brushed against by stopping to help us. It never came without a cost in my world normally.
We'd all need to be grateful right now.
Elena dialed Roman's number quickly when the woman handed her phone over. When she spoke, her voice was light and casual, betraying none of the terror we'd lived through.
"Roman? It's Elena," she said. "We're in a bit of a pickle. Jackson said you were off today, and we're hoping you can come get us. Our van broke down too, so bring your tools."
There was a pause, and I knew Roman was processing the code, whilst probably trying to figure out what she meant by tools. If he brought weapons and men, so be it.
Elena asked the couple for the road name, then relayed it to Roman.
"Thanks," she said before hanging up, and I knew Roman would already be on the way.
She handed the phone back with a smile that looked painfully forced. "Thank you so much. Our friend is on his way."
The couple offered to stay, but Ivy flashed them her most dazzling smile. "We're good. He'll be here soon. You two look like you've got somewhere to be."
"Camping," the woman said, smiling back. "Anniversary trip."
Elena and Ivy congratulated them like we weren't standing in the aftermath of blood and bullets. Like I wasn't hiding with a gunshot wound behind a tree twenty feet away. Like we hadn't left a body.
They drove off with cheerful waves, and I watched until their car disappeared around a bend. Only then did I emerge from my hiding place, moving with the careful steps of someone trying not to aggravate an injury.
"Roman's coming," Elena told me, moving to support my weight again. "just under an hour, he said."
I nodded, meeting her eyes. Something unspoken passed between us—an acknowledgment of what we'd survived together, of how it had changed us.
"You did good," I murmured, my voice low enough that Ivy, who had wandered a few steps away to keep watch, couldn't hear. "Both of you."
"Hey, we're in this together." Elena smiled.
She was right. We were in this mess together. And honestly, I was grateful it was the pair of them. They'd proved more useful than many in such situations.
Not to mention I owed Elena my life now.
We moved off the road and found a comfortable spot with grass to wait in, while I kept the gun at hand.
Ivy sunk onto a fallen tree, picking at something on her boot with her nose scrunched up.
"I can't wait for some food. Some bacon and eggs would be amazing," Elena said as she leaned back on her hands, staring down at her dusty, wiggling toes. The ocean green nail polish was chipped, and I wondered why she'd chosen the color.
"Don't start talking about food, I'd kill for a burger," Ivy groaned.
I just wanted a hospital first, food could wait. Dying from sepsis was not how I wanted to go out.
"How are you feeling?" Elena asked.
"Like I can't wait for Roman to get here," I admitted, offering her a genuine smile, which she mirrored.
She let her gaze move to the trees across the road, and I studied this remarkable woman beside me.
I'd watched her become someone who could stand on a country road with blood under her fingernails, lying to innocent strangers without blinking. Someone who could kill to protect those she cared for.
I wasn't sure how to feel about that transformation yet. For helping turning a civilian into a killer.
But I was damn grateful.