41. Vivi
VIVI
Gio’s voice stops me short—but it isn’t enough to stop Tino’s head from gouging against the plank.
It’s a sickening sound, a pull of skin against wood, and my disgusting ex drops to the floor.
He’s down, but not out.
Tino is writhing and cursing on the floor. He grabs at my ankles, but I leap away, racing down the corridor toward Gio’s cell. He’s reaching around the bars, rapidly punching the buttons on the lock’s keypad.
I’m halfway to him when I hear Tino drag himself to his feet. My hair is everywhere, blocking my vision as I risk a glance over my shoulder.
Tino is wiping blood from his face, his lips pulled back in a snarl. Dirt is caked into the red streaks marking his cheeks, his forehead. He looks animalistic. Terrifying.
I pick up speed. It’s not a long hallway, but I can’t seem to move fast enough. Especially when I realize that Tino’s gun is unaccounted for.
Oh, God.
I’m practically on top of Gio when the keypad beneath his fingers flashes green, the lock releasing.
“VIVI!” He’s out of the cell, and I’m in his arms, and he’s pulling me so close it’s almost painful.
I can barely catch my breath. My voice is too faint. “Gun, Gio! He’s still got the gun!”
That’s when metal explodes against metal. Sparks ricochet from the cell doors as Tino’s bullet goes wide.
Gio yanks us sideways, his body between the other man and me. We crash against the rough-hewn wall, my head bouncing painfully before Gio shoves me down to the ground.
Behind him, Tino is struggling. His injured arm is hanging at a sickening angle. The scrape on his head is bleeding even more, blurring his vision. He tries to get off another shot, but this one goes too high, the bullet burying itself in the prison’s rear wall. “FUCK!”
“Vivi.” My name is filled with urgency, Gio’s expression focused. His eyes violent. “Stay down, stay here.”
“What are you going to?—”
He cuts me off, “Stay. Promise.”
“Yes, yes.” The words are only half out of my mouth before Gio turns and launches himself at Tino.
Tino roars. Aims at Gio.
Gio is practically on top of him, shoulders braced for impact.
Tino fires.
I catch a scream, palm slammed against my mouth.
Both men go down. Tino crashes backward. Gio lands on top of him. For one horrible second neither moves.
Then Gio is on his knees, legs spread over Tino as he slams his fists into the other man’s face. One, then the other, his movements expert, efficient. The sound of bone crunching against bone fills the prison.
Tino is groaning, moaning, begging Gio to stop. My husband doesn’t. If anything, he hits the man harder, his fists meeting his face, his side. Tino’s protests weaken. Blood is flying through the air with every hit.
Gio is going to kill him.
I push off from the wall, rushing forward. “Gio, stop!”
He doesn’t. If anything, he hits Tino harder.
“We need him alive,” I yell. “You told me he needs to be alive!”
Gio’s shoulders heave in huge jerking motions. I’m close enough to see the sweat dripping down his neck, the terrifying curl of his lips. He’s a man possessed, intent on pulverizing my ex into the ground.
Careful not to put myself in the line of fire, I touch his back. His muscles jump. I press my palm against him fully, watch as his fists pause mid-punch.
“Gio. You have to stop before you kill him.”
I look at the body splayed out on the floor beneath my husband. Tino’s face is a broken, bloody, swollen mess. His breath is raspy between split lips. Between the damage from Gio’s fists and the large wound in his shoulder, Tino is losing a lot of blood.
Gio stares sightlessly at the man beneath him. He’s silent, practically motionless, except for a twitching in his fingers that he can’t seem to stop. “I want him dead, Vivi,” he whispers to me. “I want to kill him for what he’s done.”
I palm his jaw, tilt his head until he’s looking at me. “So do I, my love. But you told me no. Told me we needed him alive.”
The murderous fog in his eyes fades, clarity reclaiming its place. “Yes, bella. We do.” His voice cracks on the last word, and I’ve never seen him look so stripped down, so exposed. “We can’t let him die. Not yet.”
Gio stands, wipes his bloody hands on his pants before he reaches down and picks up the gun. A simple movement, but it seems to bring him back to himself. He catches my hand, pulls me close. “Bella, are you alright? Did that asshole hurt you?”
“I’m fine. But you—” I touch his face, his chest, his torso, feeling for any injuries I can’t see. “He shot you. I saw it.” I’m starting to shake, my eyes filling with tears I can’t control. “We have to get you help. Goddamn it, Gio! Show me where he shot you”
“No, bella. I’m fine. He missed, he missed.” Gio is scouring my face. His eyes are sparks in the gloom, heated, borderline desperate, and I don’t have a chance to ask him any more questions before he slants his mouth across mine.
One large palm cradles the back of my skull as he steps me back, and back, until my shoulders are pressed against the dirt wall and he’s using his grip to protect my head even as he angles me, forcing my chin high, my mouth dropping open as he grinds one leg between mine.
The pressure hits me in the most sensitive place, and I gasp.
My lips open even wider and Gio takes advantage, licking deep as he kisses me, each stroke a hammer against my heart.
It’s reckless, wild. Dangerous, given the circumstances. “Stop, stop.” It comes out breathy, broken. I blink back the haze of desire he conjures so easily, reaching for his other arm.
It’s outstretched, his other hand pointing the gun at Tino as he kisses me senseless. I might be losing my wits, but Gio’s focus is staggering. He’s hard against my stomach, color high in his cheeks, even as his finger hovers just above the trigger.
“Sorry, bella.” He kisses me again before stepping back. “That’s how I wanted to wake you up this morning. When I realized I might not get a chance to kiss you like that again, well…” Gio’s muscles lock, a new kind of tension gripping him. “I couldn’t help myself.”
“And now?”
He looks down the barrel of the weapon at the man motionless on the floor. “And now, we get this filthy piece of shit out of here.”
Gio helps me away from the wall, and once I’m steady on my feet, he hauls a mangled, unconscious Tino over his shoulder and hands me the gun.
“I’m going up the stairs first. You stay behind me.
Keep that aimed at his shoulder. Watch for any signs he’s awake.
” He looks at me intensely. “You were right to stop me, Vivi. It’s true.
We need him alive. So don’t shoot him—not unless you absolutely have to. ”
He heads toward the stairs, pauses, looks back. “Do you know how to use that?”
“I’ve been surrounded by guns for half my life. I think I can figure it out.”
Heated appreciation darts across his face. “I don’t doubt it, passerotta mia. I don’t doubt it at all.”
I give a weak grin and fall into step behind Gio as we ascend the stairs. The sun has cleared the horizon by the time we make it to the chapel’s garden. The air is already hot, sticky, the remnants of smoke clinging to it.
I look around, expecting to find a battalion of armed men, but the clearing is empty. “Where is everyone?”
“Vampa is on the mainland. Francesca, Aurora, Elio, the Russians, the guards and staff—they’re all asleep. It makes no fucking sense, but I’ve checked rooms and security feeds. Breathing but unconscious.”
Something Tino said suddenly makes sense. “They’ve been drugged.”
Gio turns, shifting Tino’s bodyweight over his shoulder. “Excuse me, what!?”
I look at him, the pieces falling into place.
“Last night. I was outside right after dinner. I overheard Vampa and two others talking about sending baskets of party food to everyone’s rooms. That there was no sense in letting it go to waste.
Between the time the food left the kitchen and everyone ate it, someone laced it with the same sedative Tino used on you.
Someone on this island made sure everyone was unconscious. ”
Clarity flashes across Gio’s face. “But you and I didn’t eat it because we were busy doing other things…”
“And Vampa must’ve already left the island. He did leave the island, didn’t he?”
Gio nods. “He confirmed last night, and I’ve received word from him this morning. He’s fine.”
Could Vampa still have done it?
Did he have the time?
The man has disliked me from day one. Is it such a stretch to think he conspired with Tino to get me off the island?
Vampa or not, there’s a traitor on Lisca Bianca.
I shake my head, unable to fully process what this means. I want to pick it apart with Gio, to figure out who it is before they do more damage, but Tino groans. I look between my husband and my former fiancé and realize I have a much more urgent question to ask.
I wave the gun at Tino. “Why is Tino Valori alive, Gio? Why is he even here?”
Gio’s face blanks. Sweat beads on his forehead. Maybe from the weight of carrying a body. Maybe from the heat. Maybe from the knowledge that he’s going to have to tell me the truth.
“Come on,” he finally mutters, tipping his head in the direction of the villa. “Let’s get this piece of shit somewhere I can clean and bandage him. I’ll tell you as I work.”
The island is hauntingly quiet as we leave the chapel behind and head toward the villa. We make it up the terraced steps and into the entrance hall before Gio deposits Tino to the ground with a grunt. The other man is motionless on the ground.
“Have you seen Father Luigi?” I ask. “Was he in the church when it caught fire?”
“I pulled him out of the stairwell before I went down, but I haven’t seen him since.” Gio’s expression darkens. “I don’t think the church was ever on fire. I think someone used smoke bombs to lure either one or both of us from the house. Draw us down into the cells.”
I shudder at the idea of anyone conspiring with Tino. Can hardly understand who would’ve wanted to concoct such a devious and dangerous plan.
Hands propped on his hips, Gio stares at the man sluggishly bleeding all over his marble floor.
Something cold and vicious passes through his eyes.
Something that looks dangerously like murder.
My husband blinks, banking the menacing emotion.
“I need to check on Ro, and I need to get bandages. I’ll be back as fast as I can. Can you watch him?”
I nod.
“Keep the gun on him, bella. Just in case. I’ll be back as fast as possible.”
I do, and he is, returning within ten minutes, maybe less. He’s carrying a first aid kit in one hand, his shoulders tight.
“Aurora?”
“She’s fine. Still sleeping. I’ve moved her somewhere she’ll be safe until this is over.”
“And everyone else?”
“I don’t know. We don’t have time to check.
We need to deal with Valori first. Before he loses any more blood.
” Gio kneels on the ground; I follow. In a morbid recreation of the night we saved Little Bird, we clean the very large wound in Tino’s shoulder and bandage it as best we can.
The muscle and bone are mangled. I’m not sure Tino will be able to use that arm again. Then again, I don’t actually care.
Some of the lacerations on his face are deep, places where Gio’s fists broke the skin. My husband doesn’t seem particularly interested in cleaning them, but we give Tino’s face a cursory wash and bandage the largest gashes to stop more blood from dripping onto the marble.
Done, we both drop back onto the floor. Silence stretches. Tension. When I can’t stand it anymore, I look at Gio. “What is Tino doing here? You told me he was dead.”
“I lied.” He says it without fanfare, eyes dark, solemn. “He didn’t die at the church.”
“Then why did you say he did?”
“I didn’t want you to think anyone was coming for you.” Gio doesn’t look away. Doesn’t pull the punch. “I didn’t want you having hope that Tino would rescue you.”
“You didn’t want me to have hope?”
“No. It was too risky.”
My throat has gone tight, a cold sweat chasing away the heat from the Mediterranean’s morning sun. “Too risky for who?”
Gio looks at me. Just looks. Face open, guilt filling his eyes. It swells, heartbreaking, then is gone. With a blink, I’m looking at a man who is pure ruthlessness. Hard to the bone. I know now he’s going to tell me the truth. And it might just break me.
“Too risky for me,” he answers. “And Aurora.”
“Why Aurora? What does she have to do with it?” I point at Tino. “With him?”
“Everything.” A single word that encompasses his whole world. “She’s the reason behind everything, Vivi. The reason I’ve done it all.”
Devotion radiates off him, and I want to go to him. Hug him and kiss him and tell him what a good dad he is. How lucky Aurora is to have him. He’ll do anything to protect that little girl. Not all of us know what that’s like.
I want to love him for it.
But there’s more to it than that, and a chill has crept into my heart. Because his devotion cuts both ways, and I’m the one who is going to be left bleeding. “You have to tell me what that means.”
Gio’s eyes have gone obsidian hard. There’s no light left in them, no warmth.
The man I’ve fallen for is gone, buried.
That look on his face is the swing of the axe, his answer the killing blow.
“It means I took you to protect her. A simple trade. Your life for hers. I was going to let you die, Vivi, so Aurora can live.”
Between us, Tino groans. Drool is mixing with blood, a slimy substance that’s spreading across the floor toward me. I barely notice it. Can barely think enough to breathe.
“My life… as a trade?” My voice shakes, teeth knocking together. “A trade to who? And why?”
Through the pulse pounding in my ears, I hear movement outside. Feet on the front steps. The scent of perfume mixes with the blood in the air, and a stranger’s voice says, “A trade to me.”
It’s a woman’s voice. One I don’t recognize.
I hear a gun cock the split second before a shadow falls across me. I’m staring at Gio, frozen. Unable to make my brain work fast enough.
Gio pins me in place with that unforgiving gaze. He doesn’t want me looking away. But I do. Because he’s pointing his weapon at something. Someone. I follow the line of his arm, past the muzzle of the gun, to the woman who has entered the villa.
The woman who has her own gun pointed at my head.