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And it took everything I had to leave her behind at the hotel, too. Talk about a total waste of effort.
Thanks, Cain.
“Hold on.” Triss gives me a puzzled look. “That’s why you left me? I thought it was because you thought I was all wrong for you.”
I scratch the back of my head. Right. I didn’t tell her the real reason because I was trying to protect her, so that’s what she must have thought.
Oops.
“Um,” Leo interrupts. “I hate to interrupt, but we’re not out of the woods yet, literally. Maybe you can have your talk later?”
He’s right. We were able to take care of the guards inside the house. Well, Leo and his men did. And he just took care of another one here. But there may be more scattered around the woods. Plus there’s still no sign of Sergio.
I grab Triss’s arm. “Let’s go.”
Leo leads the way. I follow him with Triss in tow. Now that she’s here, I’m even more eager to escape. I don’t care if we don’t run into Sergio. In fact, I’m hoping we won’t. I just want to get Triss somewhere safe, quickly, before Sergio sees her. The last thing I want is for Sergio to add her to his hit list or use her to hurt me and my family.
Fortunately, we don’t run into any more guards. After a few more minutes, we reach the clearing at the edge of the woods. I catch a glimpse of cars on the road and hope fills my chest.
We’re almost there.
A gunshot rips the air. A moment later, one of Leo’s men falls to the ground. I stop in my tracks. My eyes grow wide at the puddle of blood spreading beneath the man’s body. Beside me, Triss gasps.
Leo and the rest of his men point their guns at the trees. I look up and see men with guns perched in the branches. There are twice as many of them than there are of us.
Shit.
“That was a warning shot.” Sergio steps forward. “The next bullet will hit an Ursini. Or maybe that woman.”
Sergio points at Triss. I pull her close to my side.
Leo points his gun at him. “What about I shoot you instead? I did that before, remember?”
He did?
“Only because I was ill prepared,” Sergio answers. “This time, I’m not. If you surrender, you’ll live a little longer. Maybe I’ll let your father pick which one of you lives and who dies. If you don’t, you’ll die here and now. I’ll get my revenge either way.”
“And you’ll be satisfied with that?” I ask him. “Didn’t you say you wanted our father to watch us suffer and die?”
Sergio rubs his chin. “Come to think of it, I did say that. And that is more fun. Maybe I’ll just have them shoot the woman if you don’t surrender.”
In an instant, several red dots land on Triss. I feel her tremble as she clings to my arm.
I grimace. This is why I didn’t want her here.
“Like I said, maybe I’ll just shoot you,” Leo says.
He’s surprisingly calmer than I thought he’d be.
“If you do that, you’ll never know who killed your mother, remember?” Sergio replies.
Leo shrugs. “I don’t care anymore.”
“And if you shoot me, the woman still dies. All of you die. And…”
The rest of his sentence gets swallowed up by a nearby explosion. Instinctively, I push Triss to the ground, which shakes beneath us. Sergio’s men fall from the trees.
In the next few seconds, gunshots erupt. I cover Triss with my own body as bullets rain around us. One of Sergio’s men drops to the ground inches away from me.
Then I hear a scream. A grown man’s scream. I lift my head and see Cain towering over Sergio, gun pointed straight at him.
“Please don’t kill me!” Sergio begs.
“I won’t,” Cain says. “Not yet.”
I keep my eyes on him as I get on my feet.
I remember the first time I met him. He was all clad in black, his face void of expression. He didn’t even flinch when he threw his knife at a spider that was crawling next to me. And yet as I trembled in fear, he gave me a warm smile.
How old is he now? Forty? But he’s still just as composed. As skillful. In spite of all those gunshots, he’s completely unscathed.
“First, tell me who you’re working with,” Cain demands. “Give me the name of the traitor.”
“Okay. Okay.” Sergio puts his hands up. “The traitor, the one who killed the head of the Espositos, the one who killed your mother and had Bart killed…”
Bart?
“Who is it?” Cain presses the barrel of his gun to Sergio’s forehead.
“He’s…”
Suddenly, Sergio gasps for air. He grips his chest. His body starts to shake.
Cardiac arrest?
I run towards him to perform first aid. Cain steps back. As I start with my chest compressions, I hear a gunshot behind me. I glance over my shoulder and see a drone on the ground.
