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Dario showed up just in time – and nearly beat the thug to death with his bare hands.
To avoid capture, both the thug and the priest bit down on cyanide capsules.
All of it was shocking, but the most surprising thing to me was the cyanide. I’d been in Special Forces and worked as an assassin for MI6, and yet I’d never heard of using cyanide capsules – not in real life. It was something straight out of a movie.
I wondered if Rachel knew about things like that…
And felt a sharp pang when I realized I would never be able to ask her.
As traumatic as the incident was for Alessandra, it led to an incredibly important piece of intel: we had spies all around us. The assailant and the priest were both connected to the Oldanis, just like the man I’d killed in the café.
Not only that, but Alessandra’s escape exposed several glaring weaknesses in our security.
We didn’t have time to patch the gap in the wall, so I installed a camera to monitor it instead. And I posted hidden cameras to watch the secret passageway.
I think the close call shifted something in Alessandra and Dario’s dynamic – because they started sleeping together soon after.
I don’t know how it happened, and I didn’t ask. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.
What I did know was that I started hearing high-pitched feminine moans and screams coming from Dario’s bedroom at all hours of the night.
It was seriously annoying…
Because every time I heard them, I thought of Rachel and what she used to sound like when she came.
I got a white noise machine and cranked it up as high as it would go whenever I went to bed. That solved the problem.
I was worried about the situation – but Alessandra seemed smitten, and Dario was ten times happier than I’d ever seen him before. The stresses of being a don seemed to melt away whenever he was with her.
And there were plenty of stresses – like when a vicious new rival nicknamed the Turk tried to strongarm Dario into letting him use Rosolini territory for human trafficking and drug smuggling.
When Dario refused, the Turk apparently vented his anger by having his men try to kill Massimo and Valentino in Florence. They nearly killed Alessandra, as well.
But we got through it. The extreme circumstances not only drove Alessandra further into Dario’s arms, they fanned the flames of their passion.
Despite the danger, I was happy for them.
Everything was going so well between them…
Until it wasn’t.
One night, they had a terrible fight. Instead of passionate moans, we heard tears.
Then Niccolo came to me. His face was drawn, and he looked beaten down.
“I need you to take Alessandra back to her father’s,” he said quietly.
I stared at him in shock. “…what?!”
“Dario specifically requested that you take her back. He wants you to keep her safe.”
“If he wants to keep her safe, then why is he throwing her out?!”
“He’s not. She asked to leave… and he said yes.”
I stared at him in disbelief. “Niccolo – it’s fucking dangerous out there right now – ”
“I know,” he said wearily. “I know.”
