Chapter 19 Stella
STELLA
I immediately bolt toward her, overwhelmed with joy, and I wrap my arms around her to hug her so tightly until we can barely breathe. “I can’t believe you’re here.”
“Oh, honey,” she says. “I’m so happy you’re safe. I was so worried about you.”
“How are you even here?” I mutter.
“Some guy came to my door, told me to come with him if I wanted to see my daughter. Of course, I immediately grabbed my bag and left with him. I needed to see you.”
I pull away just to look at her, and she wraps her hands around my face, squeezing my cheeks. “Are you okay? Is he treating you well?”
I smile. “Yes, better than I could have hoped. Better than Lucio would have treated me.”
She swallows. “That monster over there nearly got you killed.”
I place my hands over hers. “He’s not a monster, Mom.”
“Does he hurt you?” she asks.
I shake my head vigorously. “No. Never. He doesn’t even dare to touch me.”
“Good.”
I look her up and down. “And you? Are you hurt?”
“No, I’m fine. I just fainted during the wedding because I was in shock.”
“When Matteo’s men came in to steal me away, I couldn’t get to you in time. Matteo dragged me away from there, and there was no time to speak to anyone, let alone say goodbye—”
She shushes me. “It’s okay, honey. I’m okay. Lucio just threatened me. Said he’d destroy our family if I didn’t bring you back. Like I could ever.”
She glances over my shoulder at Matteo, who is still kneeling at his mother’s grave. “So that’s your husband now.”
“It’s not what it looks like.”
“Yeah, well, to me it looks like he forced you to marry him.”
“I know, but Lucio was about to do the same thing.” The thought of kissing that man ever again makes bile rise in my throat.
“Lucio just wanted me to get Father’s money,” I say, swallowing back the fear of telling my mother something so crucial it could hurt her if she knew, but I have to trust her.
“Oh honey, why didn’t you tell me sooner?” she says.
“Because I didn’t want you to get hurt,” I reply.
She hugs me again and coughs a few times. “You don’t ever have to worry about me. I’m your mother. I can take care of myself. I worry about you. I should have protected you from him.”
I cry into her shoulders. “I’m sorry, Mom.”
She rubs my back, and we stand there for a moment, just taking it all in. I’m so happy she’s safe and that I’m back in her arms.
She pulls away again. “Tell me if I need to do anything. I will rescue you out of this situation myself if I must.”
I love her. “No, Mom, it’s fine. Matteo’s treating me well. It’s just that Lucio never stops trying to get to us.”
Her hand clenches. “That son of a bitch.”
I love it when she swears.
“I don’t want you to do anything,” I tell her. “Please. I just want you to stay safe. He’s dangerous. Let us handle it.”
She lets out an exasperated sigh. “What if Lucio comes after you again?”
“He already tried. But Matteo’s men are strong.
Matteo won’t let him,” I say. “But don’t tell anyone I told you about Lucio’s true intentions.
Okay? Please. He’ll have you killed.” I grab her arms to make sure she looks at me instead of Matteo.
“You have to promise me not to tell a soul. Not even my father. Okay?”
She nods a few times. “That’s going to be easy because your father and I haven’t spoken in years.”
I let out a sigh too. “Yep, and that’s exactly why Lucio wanted to marry me.”
“Just for the money your father has?”
I nod.
“That bastard,” she says, making me laugh again. She hugs me tight. “God, I miss you so much.”
“I miss you too, Mom,” I say.
Behind her, a man in a suit snaps his fingers, and I recognize the badge on his chest with Matteo’s emblem on it.
So it was one of his men who brought my mother here.
This was Matteo’s idea all along. That’s why he brought me to this cemetery. It’s the perfect place for a secret rendezvous.
I hold my breath as my mother pulls away. “I guess it’s time to leave again, isn’t it? I really wish we had more time.”
I nod a few times. “I know, but we’ll see each other again,” I say even though I’m not entirely certain. I have high hopes. “Matteo’s doing the best he can, and he wants you safe as well, for my sake.”
She glances over her shoulder at the guy staring at her while he’s checking his watch like he’s in a hurry. “He’s gonna drive me home again. At least, that’s what he said. I don’t know if I can trust these guys. They give me the creeps.”
“I’ll go back with Matteo. I’ll talk to you again later, okay?” I reply.
“Promise me,” she says.
“I promise, Mom. I’m safe. You stay safe too. Don’t talk to Lucio or anyone else from the Agostini family.”
She nods, then turns and walks to Matteo’s guy, who guides her all the way through the cemetery back to the second car. She sits on the passenger’s seat while he closes the door behind her, and she waves at me through the window with a lukewarm smile on her face.
I won’t forget finally seeing her anytime soon, and I’m happy that I was able to talk to her.
When she’s out of sight, I turn around to face Matteo again. He’s already gotten up from his knees even though he’s still staring at his mother’s grave.
I approach him while I take a deep breath and place my hand on his shoulder. “Thank you. And I mean it from the bottom of my heart.”
This man did something for me that means the world to me. Even though we both knew it was dangerous, and he knew the risks of bringing her here, he still went ahead, just so I could see my mother again … just to make me happy.
“You said you missed her,” he says. “I didn’t want you to suffer like me.
” He turns his head to look at me. “I want you to be happy, even if you think I’m a monster, even if you hate me, and I won’t hold it against you if you do.
But I swear, on my mother’s grave, I will keep your mother safe, Tesoro. ”
I’m overwhelmed by gratitude, and I wrap my arms around him, hugging him tight.
“This meant the world to me,” I say. “And I don’t think you’re a monster at all.”
He gently rubs my back. “I wish I could do more.”
“Lucio is the real monster.”
“I know, Tesoro. I think so too.”
BANG!
The loud gunshot catches me off guard. My gaze scatters as I try to find where it came from, if I really heard it correctly. But then another bullet ricochets off the cemetery walls, and panic takes hold.
“They’re here,” Matteo growls.
He grabs my arms and pushes me aside, pulling his gun from its holster as he aims at the entrance.
My lungs constrict. “Where?”
“Hide!” he yells.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
I crawl behind his mother’s grave, clutching the stone as gunshots scatter the cemetery. Several men appear from behind trees and gravestones, all aiming for Matteo.
I recognize one of them as Bartolo.
I gasp and immediately lean over the gravestone to look at Matteo shooting at his enemies. “It’s an ambush. Matteo, we have to run!”
Matteo shoots back at Lucio’s men, aiming for the first guy approaching on the left, but then a bullet hits him in the shoulder from the right.
“Matteo!” I scream.
Grumbling from the pain, he turns and hits the one who shot him point-blank in the head with a bullet. The man drops to the ground, blood oozing from his wound.
More gunshots follow, and Matteo does his best to fend them all off, shooting left and right as swiftly as possible, but he’s severely outnumbered.
“Stella, run!” he yells. “Save yourself. I will shield you. Go, now!”
What? He wants me to leave him?
Another one shoots him in the thigh, and he sinks to one knee.
“Matteo, no!” I shriek, crawling away from behind the stone so I can get to him before they kill him.
He lifts his gun and shoots at a man in the distance, gunning him down with just two shots to the chest, while I rush to his side.
“Stella, you have to leave, now,” he says through gritted teeth. “I cannot bear to lose you. Please. Leave me and get yourself to safety first.”
“Fuck that. Do you have more guns?”
His nostrils flare. “Just one. In my left pocket.”
I rummage in his coat and take out the small extra gun he keeps in there.
“Do you know how—”
I undo the safety and prep for a shot. “Lucio taught me one good thing.”
I fire at the man who shot Matteo in the leg and shoot him right between the eyes. His body flops down onto the pebbled path, blood squirting from the hole, and I move onto the next target, firing bullets at him until his legs cave in on him and he sinks to the ground.
Matteo shoots at a guy near the fence, who dies on the third bullet.
BANG!
A stray bullet hits Matteo right in the chest, and he groans in pain as he sinks to the dirt completely.
“NO!”
I raise my gun and shoot at Bartolo as he waltzes toward us. Five shots and then my bullets are out, but he finally falls to the ground like a sack of potatoes littered with bullets. I’m glad he’s rotting in the dirt where he belongs.
I tuck the gun back into my pocket and immediately kneel beside Matteo, checking his wounds. There’s a gnarly bullet hole on the right side of his body, opposite his heart.
“Matteo? Matteo!” I slap his face to wake him up, but no matter what I do, he won’t respond.
“No, no, no, no!” I push my fingers against the open wound to try to stop the bleeding, while I fish out his phone with a bloodied hand and unlock it with his limp thumb.
“C’mon, c’mon, quickly!” I yell at myself while opening the emergency contact and pressing Call.
Seconds feel like minutes as the call goes unanswered, and it feels like my life just flashed before my eyes. But all I can focus on is how Matteo is just lying here in a pool of his own blood, unresponsive, while I wish he would say my name one last time.
I can’t lose him. It’s too soon. Please, don’t die on me, Matteo.
“Matteo?” Finally, Franco picks up.
“He’s down! Matteo got shot! Help us!” I yell through the speakers, panic slicing my voice into pieces.
“Stella? Shit, I’m on my way.”