AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Adriano had woken up Bianca to say goodbye. They stood apart from the rest of us, holding each other in the pre-dawn darkness.
No one wanted to admit it, but this might be their last goodbye.
All of our last goodbyes.
“Thank you,” Dario said to me gratefully.
I kept my eyes on his as I tilted my head towards Rachel. “Thank you.”
We hugged, and then I turned to my fiancée.
Her face was worried. “You haven’t slept.”
“I spent the last two weeks sleeping, courtesy of MI6,” I reminded her. “And I’ll nap on the way.”
She put a hand on my cheek. “I wish I were going with you…”
“I’ll be back before you know it.”
I kissed her deeply, then pulled away.
“Be safe,” she whispered.
“I will. I love you.”
“I love you, too,” she whispered, and we kissed again.
Adriano left Bianca, who did her best to stifle her tears…
And we all got into the cars.
I kept my eyes on Rachel the entire time.
She was the last thing I saw as we drove away.
180
Rachel
Iknew that Lars’s mission wasn’t that different from the ones he’d gone on in Afghanistan when we first started dating.
And it wasn’t that different from the ones I’d gone on for MI6, either.
There was always danger. That was the life he and I had lived for years.
But still, I’d just gotten him back –
And it terrified me to think I might lose him all over again.
So I did whatever I could to keep my mind off what was happening in Venice…
Which Niccolo helped with immensely, in spite of himself. He was quite diverting without even realizing it.
First, he demanded I be kept separate from Dario, Dario’s wife Alessandra, and Adriano’s wife Bianca.
Then Niccolo insisted I be handcuffed to a chair in the parlor, and he would guard me personally.
Which I found hilarious, although I was obviously smart enough not to show it.
