44. Wreckage
CHAPTER 44
WRECKAGE
A ntonio
“Ale!” Serena shouts, but it sounds like nothing more than a whisper over the deafening whistle ringing in my ears. She struggles beneath me, but I hold her down as a ball of crimson fire consumes the plane. “Let me go! I have to get to him!”
Flames engulf its fuselage, starting at the engines where a furious, fiery roar drowns out all other sounds. The fire quickly spreads, consuming the wings and licking up towards the tail, painting the sky in a horrifying spectacle of orange and black smoke.
My heart is a manic drumbeat pounding against my ribs as darkness edges into the corners of my vision. The familiar scene threatens to pull me under. The smoke, the destruction, all of it is much too similar.
“Alessandro!” Serena cries out again.
“There’s nothing you can do,” I murmur against her ear. Or at least that’s what it sounds like to me. I could be shouting for all I know. Still, she squirms beneath me, trying to shove me off. Pressing my body against hers, I scan the chaos, the flames erupting from the luggage cart, another burst racing across a line of jet fuel.
Squinting, I scan the wreckage for a body but it’s impossible to make anything out through the storm of brilliant orange and sooty black. Merda , there is no way Serena’s cousin survived that.
Who the fuck did this? And more importantly, who was their target, Serena or me?
The possibilities are few, and as far as probabilities go, it must be one of my enemies. Unless her cousin caused some shit I’m not aware of. The Rossi’s aren’t a family you’d want to mess with, but to my knowledge they have no business in Milano. There is always their affiliation with the Kings but?—
Sirens blare, and my muffled hearing goes in and out. In a second, the tarmac will be crawling with carabinieri . We have to get out of here. The intense heat warps and blackens the metal of the jet, windows burst from the pressure, and what was once a symbol of the Rossi empire becomes a devastating inferno.
“We have to go.” I curl my arm around Serena’s middle and haul her off the tarmac. She’s still struggling against me, kicking and wriggling. “Please, Antonio, I need to find him.”
I glance at the wreckage again, and a pit of dread consumes my gut. “There’s no way he made it out of that alive, tesoro .”
“But he wasn’t inside the plane.” Her desperate gaze glances around the charred remains, the columns of thick black smoke making it impossible to see much around the jet. “He could have jumped out of the way like we did.”
I don’t mention the obvious, that he was much closer when the jet exploded. “Maybe,” I whisper against her ear. “But right now, we must go. If he survived and you don’t, then it will all have been for nothing.”
Tears glisten in her eyes, a few slipping free and gliding down her cheeks. And fuck, I hate this feeling of powerlessness.
“Please, Sere, we must go. Now.” I hold her tight against my body as the approaching sirens grow louder. “Whoever did this could still be here.” I only hope Valerio’s driver is still nearby and didn’t flee with the explosion.
I drag her a few feet, but her head remains twisted over her shoulder staring at the charred skeletal ruins of the sleek jet. Without thinking, I bend down and haul her into my arms. My wound screams from the tug of still-healing flesh, but I ignore it and race through the billowing smoke.
I blink quickly as the dark memories rise again, threatening to consume me. No. This is not Papà ’s lifeless body I’m carrying today. It’s Serena and she’s so full of life and love, and I will not let her die today. Chasing away the darkness, I focus on the hangar only a few yards away and the bumper of the Mercedes peeking around the corner.
Thank Dio , the driver hasn’t left yet.
“Wait!” Serena hisses as her gaze focuses on the black car. “What if he’s the one who sold us out?”
“Valerio? No way.”
“And his driver? Are you a thousand percent sure you can trust him?”
I pause, yards away from the car, my heart bashing a frenzied staccato against my ribcage. Serena’s not wrong. At this point, it could have been anyone to betray us. “Fine,” I growl. “This way.” I spin us around and take off toward the chain link fence surrounding the hangars.
The driver beeps his horn, throwing his hands up. I whirl around just quickly enough to wave him off, then sprint toward the fence. An employee parking lot stretches just beyond, the answer to our escape.
When I reach the chain link barrier, I lower Serena to her feet and hook my fingers around the metal post. “I’ll give you a leg up.”
“Or we can just go that way.” She signals toward a door a few yards away, a thick chain with a padlock around it. Then she pulls out the Beretta I gifted her this morning. “I think Toni can handle this.”
I can’t help the smile from curving my lips as she takes off toward the opening. With the sirens blaring and the pandemonium from the fire, no one is going to notice a gunshot. I watch as Serena points and shoots, the bullet ringing true and slicing the padlock in half. It hits the cement with a smack, and she’s already looping the chain through by the time I reach her.
Dio , this woman is incredible. That gaping hole in my chest, hollowed out from the idea of never seeing her again, feels full again. Cazzo … I am so fucked.
Serena jerks the gate open and another alarm blasts, but with the commotion, not a single member of the emergency crew spilling across the runway turns in our direction. “Come on, move it!” She holds the gate open, ushering me through.
I race toward her, grabbing her hand as I pass. Because I need to hold her, I need the feel of her flesh pressed against mine after almost losing her forever. And the second we’re out of this mess, I’ll admit what a coglione I’ve been and beg for her forgiveness. Then I’ll sink my cock inside her, claim her as mine with each orgasm I steal until she forgets she ever wanted to leave me in the first place.
And this time, I will never let Serena go.
“This is a mistake,” I growl.
“You’ve already said that, and you’ve been overruled.” Serena shoots a scathing glare in my direction. “What other choice do we have? I, for one, refuse to spend the night under the stars at Parco Sempione as you suggested. We can’t use your credit cards, and I don’t have mine. You made me dump my burner phone so I can’t exactly call my family, and I need to find out if Alessandro is okay. We need cash, and I can get that from Santi.”
“Fine,” I hiss as I follow Serena toward the wooden double doors of the courtyard entrance. “But we make it quick, and you don’t give him any details we can avoid.”
“Deal.” She presses her finger to the buzzer, and a moment later a voice crackles across the speaker.
“Hello?”
“Santi, it’s me, Serena.”
“Serena! Girl, where have you been?”
She glances across the quiet street along the outskirts of downtown. “Open up and I’ll tell you.”
A sharp buzz rings out, and the lock clicks open. I reach for the handle but don’t open it all the way. I drop my gaze to meet hers. “You’re sure about this?”
“Yes. Santi was my first friend in Milano. I trust him with my life. And besides, I’m not going to start spilling all your dirty little secrets.” She throws me a wink, and Dio , that flirty look has my dick twitching. “I’ll just ask him for a loan, and we’ll be out of here in under an hour.”
I dip my head, knowing I lost this battle long ago. Serena needs to know what happened to her cousin, and she’s right— we need some sort of connection to the outside world. Again, my hand reaches for hers as I tow her inside the walls of the courtyard apartment. Despite the dismal state of our current situation, the fact that she allows me to take her hand brings me a ridiculous amount of satisfaction.
And merda , I cannot wait to be alone with her. Which only proves what a bastardo I am because I should be more concerned with her cousin’s wellbeing. If he’s dead, she’ll be devastated. If there’s anything I’ve learned about Serena Valentino, it’s that her family means everything to her.
The door to her friend’s apartment swings open, and a tall male fills the doorway. I bristle at the sight of the attractive young man who reaches for Serena, her eyes lighting up at his appearance. She never mentioned how good looking he was…
“Eeek!” he squeals, jerking her into his arms.
But I keep a firm grip on Serena’s hand, keeping their bodies far from flush. Her head spins at me as she tries to shake free of my hold. “Um, let go, please,” she hisses as she struggles to hug her friend with one arm.
“No,” I snarl through clenched teeth.
“What do you think is going to happen if you let go of my hand?” she bites back, keeping a forced smile firmly in place.
Santiago glances between the two of us, his brows nearly reaching his hairline as he watches the show. “Oh, my, goddess, this is where you disappeared to? You’ve been shacking up with a hot Italian daddy?”
“Excuse me?” I growl. I’m not that much fucking older than she is.
“Relax, daddy.” Serena throws me a shit-eating grin, her palm resting on my chest before she turns back to her friend. “Yes, I’ve been with Toni for the past few weeks.” She cups my cheek, staring into my eyes like she means it. “It all happened really fast, and it’s been super intense.”
“Well, come in, come in, and tell me all about it.”
Serena squeezes my hand, and I follow her through the entryway. Unease flickers in my gut, but I ignore it, reminding myself we’re not walking into the home of a rival family, but rather simply a friend of Serena’s. It’s been so long since I’ve lived beyond the chaos of our dark world, it’s easy to forget how to behave with a civilian.
“We don’t have much time, Santi,” Serena rattles on as he leads us to the sitting room. “We’re kind of in a rush to catch a train.”
“A train to where?”
“The Amalfi coast, of course.” She grins at me adoringly. “It’s a long story, but Papà turned off all my credit cards. He doesn’t approve of the measly age gap between Toni and me. And this poor guy had his identity stolen so all of his cards are blocked. It’s just been a nightmare.”
I watch in absolute awe as she spouts out a story with incredible details that has me buying into our tragic Romeo and Juliet tale.
“So basically, if you could just lend me a few hundred bucks to get down there, I’ll owe you big time and I promise to pay you back by next week the latest. Toni’s got family down south that will fund the rest of our trip. He’s just too proud to ask for help…”
Santiago watches her wide eyed, mirroring my own expression.
“I’m good for the money, you know that. I just don’t want my father harassing you if I schedule a transfer from my trust. He’s desperate to find us, and I want him to sweat it out a little longer.”
“You are a devious little thing.” Santiago smirks. “Of course I’ll lend you the money. You just have to promise you won’t ghost me like that again.”
“Never. I’ll get a new phone, and I promise to text you.” She runs her finger across her chest in the sign of the cross.
“I’ll do you one better.” Her friend twists toward the coffee table, opens a drawer and reveals an iPhone box. “It’s brand new. They sent me the wrong model, and I was going to sell it online, but it’s yours. You can add it to my bill.”
“Santi, you are the best!” Serena throws her arms around her friend, and I barely restrain the urge to pry them off his cold, stiff body.
Instead, I slide closer to her, wrapping my arm around her shoulders so she’s forced to release him. His eyes dart to mine, a knowing grin on that perfect jaw line as he wags a finger at me. “Oh, he’s a jealous one. I can’t blame him though, Sere, you are one of a kind.”
“And mine,” I grit out, unable to stop myself.
Serena’s head cants in my direction. “Behave,” she scolds. “I know you can’t get enough of me, but we’ll have plenty of time for that when we’re cruising down the coastline.”
“Of course, tesoro .” I force a smile, but I tuck her more tightly into my side all the same. If she wants me to act like we’re together, I’m more than happy to indulge her.
Maybe even for the rest of our lives.