AllFreeNovel
Share Us
We wait for a few minutes and then hear gunshots ring out. Rafaele’s phone begins to ring. We watch as call after call comes in. Fiero grabs the phone and throws it at the wall.
I walk over to the window and see armed men meeting on the lawns, confusion all around.
“The coast is clear,” I turn to Fiero. “They’re mostly out to fight your guys.”
“Good,” Fiero nods. He reaches out, and with a deep breath, I place my hand in his.
We rush out of the room, and I make my way towards the hallway corridor with the tall marble columns.
I push open a large, double-sided mahogany door. “Quick, through the library,” I tell Fiero to go through before closing the door behind me.
As we walk through the library, I warn him. “Once we open that ornate door,” I point to the end, “we reach a private gallery. The gallery has security, and I doubt those men would have left. There must be three, four?”
Fiero looks at me, doubt lingering in his eyes. I know what he’s thinking. He doesn’t want me to see the monster in him. I reach over gently and squeeze his hand. “Do what you must,” I whisper.
He nods and pulls out his gun, loading it. We reach the doors, and he motions for me to hide behind the wall. With one kick, he slams it open. I hear men roar at the encroachment, and Fiero disappears from sight into the corridor. I unpeel myself from the wall and lean forward to peep.
The sound of gunfire reaches my ears. I watch Fiero shoot down one man. Another comes at him with a knife, and Fiero grabs him and uses him as a human shield just as another volley of shots is fired at him. The man in his arms drops dead. Fiero raises his gun, shooting down the assailant.
In less than ten seconds, I’ve watched him take down three men. As Fiero checks the last corner for any more lurking enemies, I step out of my hiding spot and approach him.
The room is silent, save for the distant echoes of the ongoing chaos outside. Fiero's chest rises and falls rapidly, adrenaline still coursing through his veins.
I reach out a hand to touch his arm, needing to ground myself in his presence after witnessing the violence he's capable of. He turns to me, his green eyes meeting mine. There's a flicker of something soft in them and an apology.
“I had to,” he whispers.
“You freaking killed it,” I break out into a grin. “That was hot.”
He raises an eyebrow, and without a second thought, fire courses through me. I grab his neck and pull his face down towards mine, bringing him in for a searing kiss.
The taste of victory lingers on his lips, and I want to savor it, but he pulls away. “The battle’s not over,” he tells me, taking my hand and guiding me down the corridor. “Where to next?”
I stop in front of the portrait and hear Fiero gasp - “Rhea Silvia.”
I stop and let him stare at the portrait. “Beautiful, isn’t she?”
“The most,” he shakes his head in awe.
A bomb goes off outside, and our admiration is sucked back to the present. I quickly unhooked the painting from the wall, pressed the button, and two machines whipped it out. I put my fingerprints in, and the machine scans my eye before turning green.
The walls part, and we walk through.
“Okay, one down,” I say as we walk up to a large steel door with the security code system on it. “This code changes every day. I don’t know what to do.”
“My men have got this,” he mutters. Picking up his walkie-talkie, he confirms the code.
I gape in disbelief. “Just like that?”
“They’re Russian,” he says, like that’s supposed to mean something to me.
“Now, right behind that door,” I point to the end of the room, “lies the diamond. It’s guarded by intricate laser beams that crisscross the space like a deadly web. One wrong move, and you could die.”
Fiero sucks in a deep breath.
“I memorized Rafaele’s lead the last time. Just follow me, okay?”
He nods hesitantly. “You have circus training, I don’t.”
