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It was finally over.
109
I staggered over to Lucia and pulled a folding knife from my pocket, which I opened with a click. I knelt behind her chair and carefully cut the zip tie binding her wrists.
I had to be extra careful because I was losing feeling in my hands.
I knew I didn’t have long.
“Are you sure you’re alright?” I wheezed as I moved in front of her to free her ankles.
I expected her to answer.
What I didn’t expect was for her tiny hands to grab my face, force me to look up at her –
And then she kissed me. Passionately. Without any regard for the blood spattering my face.
When she pulled away, she was smiling and sobbing.
“I knew you’d come for me,” she whispered, and she showed me the toy ring I’d proposed to her with. “I knew it.”
I smiled, overjoyed.
But I still had work to do.
I carefully cut the bindings on her ankles. Now I couldn’t feel my hands at all.
“There,” I whispered. “You’re free.”
I tried to get up –
But my legs gave out from beneath me, and I fell back against the interior wall of the bell tower.
“MASSIMO!” she screamed as she rushed to my side.
She grabbed one of my hands, and her eyes widened with shock. “Your hands – they’re so cold!”
“It’s… it’s okay…”
“HELP!” she screamed as she turned to the stairwell. “HELP US, PLEASE!”
I heard Lars’ and Adriano’s voices in my ears.
“I called the Widow. We’ve got a chopper coming in – hang on, Massimo – ”
“Massimo, hang on, I’m coming up, just hang on – ”
“Thank you, guys,” I whispered. But the voices were distracting me from Lucia, so I pulled the earpiece out and let it fall on the floor.
“I did my job,” I whispered.
Lucia got right up next to me and cradled my face in her hands. Tears were spilling down her cheeks. “What job?”
“I kept you… safe. I failed twice… but in the end… you’re okay…”
She nodded frantically. “You saved me – you did!”
“…if… there’s a baby… you have to keep it safe…”
