41. Most Valuable Piece
Most Valuable Piece
“How long do you think it will be until he’s released?” I asked Max as we waited in the car for the automatic security gate to lift and let us into Sani’s underground garage. No, our garage. I had to stop treating this like a vacation. I was all in. I wanted this life with my mafia husband.
“As long as Morelli didn’t have any trouble convincing Ferri that they don’t have enough to charge him with the new evidence that’s come through, he should be released within the next hour.”
An hour. Oh, my God, I’ll get to kiss, hug, and squeeze him in just an hour.
Sani’s love language was physical touch, and he wasn’t ready for how much I was going to smother him with it.
Big-T parked the car in an empty space, and we all stepped out, heading through the brightly lit garage towards the lift.
“Aria!”
I spun around and spotted Allegra waving at me through the bars of the security gate.
“I saw you on the news!” she shouted, waving a bottle of champagne above her head. “Let me in so we can celebrate you being the baddest bitch!”
I laughed quietly and glanced at Max. He shrugged as if to say this is your home, and she’s your friend, so why are you asking me? I left Max and Cami waiting by the lift and jogged over to her, with Big-T’s long strides keeping up behind me.
Belio typed in the security code to override the system on the panel while I approached the gate and Ally stepped back. As the gate began to lift with a slow groan, my eyebrows tensed, and my lips tightened when I noticed Allegra wasn’t smiling anymore.
Her hand trembled around the neck of the champagne bottle, and her brown eyes were unnaturally wide.
“Ally?” My smile faded. “What’s wrong?”
Her nostrils flared, and her throat moved as she swallowed. For a moment, she didn’t speak. And then she whispered, “Run.”
The world stopped spinning for a single beat. My stomach dropped. The word had barely left her lips before everything erupted in chaos.
“Belio!” I screamed as Callum stepped into view, pressing a gun to Allegra’s temple and pulling her into him as a black transit van turned off the road and sped down the ramp, headed straight for the gate.
Belio’s arms wrapped around my waist just in time to pull me out of the way as the van hurtled into the garage, the roof catching the bottom of the metal gate.
I found myself face down on the concrete floor under Belio’s body as he opened fire on the several men who jumped out of the van, all dressed in black with guns in hand.
I was frozen with shock, eyes wide as I watched the scene in slow motion.
For a moment, the world moved in silence.
Bodies lunged. Triggers pulled. But no sound came.
My brain struggled to make sense of what my eyes were seeing.
It was only the sound of bullets ricocheting off Sani’s expensive cars or whizzing past my head that tore a scream from my throat. Their guns had silencers, and that somehow made everything feel more terrifying, knowing no one outside would hear the gunfight.
Max was crouched behind a Lamborghini, holding a gun in each hand and aiming over the bonnet, shooting with incredible accuracy. There was no sign of Camilla. Knowing how protective Max was of his wife, I hoped he had pushed her into the lift just in time.
I turned my head to the right to see Callum slowly walking into the garage, with his arm wrapped around Allegra’s neck and his gun still pressed against her head. Tears were streaming down her face.
“Roll under the car!” Belio ordered, lifting his weight off me just enough for me to move, but I couldn’t take my eyes off Allegra. She whimpered again when Callum dug his gun harder into her temple.
“You can take her place, Aria. They don’t all have to die.”
The lift door opened, and four of Sani’s soldiers rushed out, guns aimed. One was hit immediately, while the others took cover.
Belio swung his gun towards Callum, but I shouted no. He didn’t have a clear shot. Callum was using Allegra’s body as a shield, and I couldn’t risk him shooting her instead.
“Aria,” Ally cried, and my chest tightened as fresh tears welled in my eyes. I’d never seen anyone so terrified, and it was all my fault. I never should have dragged her into my mess.
“He wants me,” I choked, and I started to rise from the floor. Belio pushed me back down, keeping one hand on my back while bullets continued to fly in our direction.
“No, Signora. Stay down.”
From across the garage, a body fell to the floor and roared in pain.
“Consigliere Buccini’s hit!” Belio shouted at the other soldiers. “Cover him!”
In the space of a few seconds, the carnage escalated.
Two of Callum’s men abandoned their sheltered positions and sprinted towards us.
Belio managed to take one down, but the other ploughed into him, knocking him off me.
They began fighting, the sound of vicious punches and groans filling the air, and I rolled under the car as a bullet struck the concrete beside me.
“Look around, Aria,” Callum shouted as my eyes darted to Max bleeding out and three of Sani’s soldiers dead.
More would come. They’d be on their way, but time wasn’t on my side.
My mind raced with a million different scenarios, but none ended well.
“Do you want your best friend to join the body count?”
I closed my eyes as Ally cried loudly, begging him to let her go.
Fuck. Think. Think like Sani. He wouldn’t panic.
“You have five seconds to swap places with her, Aria, or this bullet will be lodged in her brain, and I’ll take you anyway.”
I forced my breathing to slow and rolled onto my back under the car.
“Five.”
My eyes quickly scanned the undercarriage, searching for a tracker Sani had placed on all his favourite toys. The small red light blinked from under the chassis. I reached for it and hid it in my bra.
“Two.”
I scrambled out from under the car and stood up with my hands trembling in the air. He tilted his head with a smirk. I stepped forward, glancing behind me to see Belio struggling against three men on the ground as they pressed a gun to the back of his head.
When I was within arm’s reach, Callum shoved Allegra forward harshly, and she fell to the floor. He grabbed my upper arm, yanking me towards him, and pressed the gun to my head instead. I glared at him through angry tears. Let him take me. Let Sani find me.
“Always such a good girl.”
“I fucking hate you,” I spat at him, and he grinned.
“Can’t say I blame you,” he said, pulling me towards the van.
Allegra began crawling towards me, blubbering with her arm outstretched. “Aria—I’m so sorry! He threatened to kill my parents if I didn’t do what he said.”
Callum immediately aimed his gun at her, and I grabbed his arm. “No! Please. Leave her. She’s harmless.”
His jaw clenched, but he lowered his gun and shoved me into the back of the van.
He climbed in beside me as the rest of his men knocked Belio out and jumped back into the van, slamming the doors shut.
My hands were forced behind my back so tightly I felt my skin pinch against the cable ties, but I didn’t take my hateful eyes off Callum’s face the entire time.
The van lurched violently as it sped out of the garage, tyres screeching against the concrete ramp. My shoulder rammed into the metal door beside me, sending a jolt of pain down my arm, but I barely felt it. I was too busy glaring at Callum.
“What the fuck is your plan here exactly?” I snarled. “Santino will kill you. You can’t get away with this.”
“How will he manage that from a prison cell?”
I smiled, feeling a small wave of triumph. He didn’t know. The van hit another corner, and one of his men slammed his hand against the door to steady himself. Callum didn’t move. He remained perfectly balanced, watching me with an unreadable expression.
“You really thought you’d done enough, didn’t you? The explosion, my father, the investigation. But you’ve underestimated Santino at every turn. He’ll be walking free any minute now.”
Callum’s face paled slightly, and my heart gave a small kick of joy. He narrowed his eyes at me before glancing at his watch.
“Even if that’s true, it will be too late.”
My throat lodged with sickening bile as I let the fear crawl back up my spine. “Too late, meaning I’ll be dead.”
He stared at me and then broke into a laugh. “You really have no idea, do you?”
“About why you want me so badly? No, I don’t. All I can assume is that you’re a demented psychopath who’s already banned from all the dating apps and this is your only way of getting a woman.”
He stared at me, his eyes crinkling at the corners with amusement. “I don’t want you at all, Aria. No offence. But I do need you.”
“For what?”
“I’ve achieved what I came here to do, and I’m finished with Rome.
The Italian Mafia will be scrambling to hold onto their ports, contracts, and shipping routes.
I’ve tarnished their impeccable reputation.
I’ve proven they aren’t invincible and I’ve settled a score.
The power they’ve had for decades is slipping through their fingers.
And you…” He leaned in closer, brushing his thumb along my jaw.
I jerked my head away instantly, repulsed by his touch.
His hand lingered in the air for a second before he withdrew it with a quiet sigh. “...you’re the most valuable piece.”
“Why?”
There was something darker in his eyes. Personal torment.
“You’ve spent your whole life not knowing what you are,” he said almost too softly. “For that, you should be grateful.”
My pulse spiked.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
Tilting his head, he let his gaze drift over my features and then down to my mum’s sapphire necklace hanging around my neck.
“Some people are born into wars they never asked for.”
The way he said it made my stomach turn. He leaned back and folded his arms.
“You’ve started this war! You think Santino won’t find me? There’s nowhere on Earth he won’t come looking for me.”