40. Vivi
VIVI
Inod, let my eyes dart in the direction of my husband. Am I imagining it, or did his hand twitch?
Tino is staring over my shoulder, straight ahead. At the prison exit. “Turn, Vivi. Put your back to my front. Walk when I walk. No faster, no slower.”
His body moves forward, and I’m forced to fall in line, my feet moving just a few inches ahead of his. I can’t slow us down. Can’t buy any time in the hopes that Gio will wake up.
I’ve got to do something. “Wait—what happens when we get up top? You know this island is crawling with guards. There’s no way we’re going to be able to escape.”
Tino doesn’t respond, just propels us closer to the stairs.
“I-I can help. If you tell me what the plan is, I can help you get away.”
“You mean us, Vivi. Help us get away. I’m not going anywhere without you. Haven’t you figured that out yet? You’re my insurance policy. Now keep moving.”
Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.
I don’t remember seeing any guards on my way here. For the first time in my entire stay on the island, the grounds were void of Gio’s armed men. Which means something is really wrong and I can’t risk being stuck alone with Tino.
Whatever has been happening down here, it hasn’t diminished his size or strength. In a one-to-one fight, I’ll lose. But if Gio wakes up and we can outnumber him, our odds change significantly.
Stall, Vivi. Stall.
“Okay, so say we make it through the armed guards without getting killed, what then? How much do you know about where you are, Tino?”
He slows, his gun grinding into the base of my skull. “What do you mean?”
“We’re on an island. A really isolated, rocky one. The only way on or off is by air. You need a helicopter to get anywhere.”
He makes a noise. I mistake it for a wheeze, then realize he’s laughing again. “Sweet, clueless Vivi. Like I said. I have a friend. They’ve got the transportation covered.”
“Who? Who is helping you?”
“None of your fucking business. Now, move.” Tino has run out of patience. He pushes forward.
His free arm brushes my side. He jerks, his curse as foul as his breath.
I think something is wrong with his other arm. He can’t seem to use both, only one. Standing this close, I can feel the tiny tremors coursing through his body. The lungs that are working a little too hard, his chest brushing against my back in an increasingly irregular rhythm.
He’s in pain. He’s trying to hide it, but it’s seeping through.
I’ve got to use it to my advantage. Now, before it’s too late.
On Tino’s next step, I drag my feet, moving them too slowly. The toe of his foot catches the heel of mine, and I pitch forward, exaggerating a fall that knocks him off balance—and hits him in the injured arm in the process.
“AGGG!” Tino’s roar explodes, quickly turning into a gagging sound, building until he’s shaking and shuddering in equal measure. I can’t tell if the liquid hitting my back is spit, sweat, or something else.
He’s mad, feral with it.
I’m barely upright before Tino shifts his weight. He’s still so close behind me I can feel him drag one foot as he lets the other one slide forward. There’s a hitch in his breath as he holds his bad arm against his side and lifts the other.
He’s going to shoot me. Every move he’s making telegraphs it before he’s gotten the gun mid-air.
“NO!” I scream it at the same time I jam my elbow backward, into Tino’s motionless arm.
He screams at impact, stumbling backward as his aim falters. The gun lifts too high, the bullet skimming over our heads.
The noise is loud, despite the earthen walls. It gets replaced by a violent ringing in my ear, my head flying sideways as Tino slams the butt of the gun against the side of my head.
I stumble toward the line of cells, my shoulder exploding in pain as I bounce off the metal bars and crash to the floor. My skull is throbbing, a lump forming as Tino jams his face into mine. “Wrong move, Vivi. Wrong. Fucking. Move.”
I push onto my feet, doing everything I can to ignore the ache splitting my brain. “I want you gone, and I don’t want to be dead. From my perspective, it was absolutely the right move.”
Tino keeps the gun level with my head, but I can tell by the sweat pouring down his face that it’s taking all of his energy to stay vertical.
“Only if you haven’t woken the whole island already.
The sedatives my friend slipped in everyone’s food last night will be wearing off soon.
We’re running out of fucking time. Fuck! ”
“Who is helping you?”
He shakes his head. “You don’t think I’m going to actually tell you, do you? No chance in hell, little Vivi. But since you like questions so much, here’s one for you. What do you think is waiting for us when we get back to Chicago?”
I keep my expression blank, dumb. I don’t want to guess. I want him to tell me. I want him to relish knowing more than me, being wiser than me, keeping him busy as I take careful steps backward, hands outstretched to feel for anything I can use as a weapon.
“Guess,” Tino provokes.
I don’t. I won’t.
Tino has no patience, no willpower. He can’t help but barrel on, “Our fucking wedding. This traitorous fucking arrangement that Marchetti made with your father—we’re getting it annulled.
Gio stole you from me, Vivi. And that can’t fucking stand.
Neither you nor Marchetti are going to stop me from getting what I’m owed! ”
My hand lands on something long, heavy. Rough. I can’t risk looking behind me to see what it is, but my best guess is a plank of wood. Something used in the maintenance required to keep a place like this standing.
I keep my movements slow, steady, calmly wrapping one hand around it as I lock eyes with Tino. He looks deranged. And like he’s losing a lot of blood. “Owed?” I repeat. “What are you owed?”
“Payment,” he spits back, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.
“Did you know I’ve been handling your father’s dirty work for years?
Executing hits he considers beneath him.
Paying off mistresses, disposing of jealous husbands.
Keeping your mother satisfied when he can’t or won’t.
I’ve earned my position in your family. I’ve paid my fucking dues!
You and your inheritance are what I get in return.
You’ve been living the life of a nun, little Vivi, so you might not know this—but you’re fucking loaded. ”
“I’m not.” He’s mistaken. “I’ve never had any money of my own. Just whatever allowance Father gave me.”
“Because it’s in a trust.” Tino is looking at me like I’m the most clueless creature in the world; I’m starting to wonder if he’s right.
“A trust your grandparents established, the wealth skipping your father and going straight to you and your sister. You each access your portion on your twenty-first birthdays.”
He takes a step forward, gaze terrifyingly bright. “You’re worth millions, Viviana. And it is going to be mine. Payment that’s long overdue.”
The greed in his eyes dims as he runs them over me. “I have to take you, too, but that’s just a technicality. It’s not like I’m going to fuck you. I have Cleo for that. I just have to be legally married to you. Then what’s yours is mine, whether you’re alive or dead.”
I can feel the implications of Tino’s words trying to work their way into my brain. The unadulterated greed. The disgust. Hatred, even. The glaring fact that there’s no hint of affection.
I’ve known for weeks that any relationship I thought I had with Tino was a dream. A fantasy cooked up by a lonely girl who was promised magic and fairytales by the people she should’ve been able to trust the most.
My parents lied about Tino wanting to marry me. Tino lied, too. There’s never been any caring or compassion between us. Never any desire, let alone love. Nothing except lies and deception.
A truth I’m seeing play across his face. A face I dreamed about night after night for years that, now, doesn’t even warrant a place in my nightmares.
Tino’s cruelty hits but doesn’t hurt. I don’t care what he thinks or wants anymore. I only care about getting him out of my life forever.
My family conspired to saddle me with this selfish dick. But I’m the one who is going to get rid of him, once and for all.
Cleo. “Ah, that’s right. Someone did mention you have a girlfriend.” I say it so calmly that Tino does a double-take.
His eyes bug, his expression comically reptilian. “What do you know about her?”
My fingers tighten around my makeshift weapon.
“Let’s see… I know you had a secret apartment where you two would meet, a place you were never going to tell me about.
I know you were fucking her in that apartment hours before you were supposed to marry me.
And I know she was faking her orgasm that morning.
No woman thrashes around like that when she comes. ”
I mean, maybe they do? I’m no expert. But the insult has the intended effect. Tino roars and, forgetting about his injured arm, lunges toward me. The movement jars him too hard. He stumbles in agony, his grip on the gun slipping as his nervous system collapses.
He falls, knees buckling, the weight of his torso carrying him forward, his head moving toward me at the perfect angle.
I pull the plank from behind my back, angle my arms, and start to swing. I’m aiming for his head, putting every bit of power I have into the hit.
I hope it kills him.
I want him dead.
I don’t know if it’s luck or karma or what, but Tino’s head and my plank are on the perfect collision course when, from the last cell, I hear Gio scream, “Vivi, NO! We need him alive!”