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I shiver with sudden cold.
Shit, am I going to die? Will I ever see Marco again? And Sefi? I was supposed to rescue her, and I’ve fucking failed.Chapter Thirty-OneSefiI hold back a scream.
Oh. My. God. Alessio!!!
I struggle against the shackles. There’s a pain in my chest and I’m shaking uncontrollably.
Alessio’s deputy and the officer disarm Pockface, grappling him to the ground and taking his weapon off him.
Koffler phones for an air ambulance while attending to Alessio, rolling his head back to clear his airway.
The officer unshackles me and takes off my gag.
I go straight to Alessio, kneel down beside him.
He’s bleeding so much, there’s a puddle of blood on the floor.
Without hesitation, I pull off my sweater and, with trembling hands, press it to his wound. I’m only wearing a cami underneath, and the chill of the air makes me shiver.
I’m so fucking scared for him I could almost black out.
I bend and whisper in his ear. “We’ve got you. Hang in there.” Sobbing, I hold his hand. “I’m so sorry...”
His eyes blink open momentarily. “Marco?” he moans.
“We’ll call him. Please don’t worry. We need to get you to the hospital. He can meet us there…”
Alessio’s beautiful, thick dark eyelashes fan the top of his cheekbones. The skin of his face has turned pale… so very pale. I kiss his forehead, and smooth back his hair. Actions which only a short while ago he was doing to me.
Fucking Pockface. He was in the shadows at the far end of the cellar. I wasn’t able to warn Alessio. My breath catches on another sob.
The minutes tick by while I hold him, whispering encouraging words and telling him everything is going to be okay.
As I say the words, they don’t ring true. Alessio is lying so still, his breathing so shallow, his skin so cold.
Deputy Superintendent Koffler asks me if I’m alright. With a concerned expression, he inquires if anything bad happened to me while I was being held prisoner. At first, I don’t understand what he’s getting at. Then it dawns on me he wants to know if I was molested, or even raped.
I close my eyes, remembering the arrival of the short, dark-haired man last night. He was obviously the boss by the way Pockface reacted to him. I swear Pockface practically kissed the fucker’s feet. It was then that I found out Giorgio had been taken in for questioning. “I’ll send reinforcements,” boss dude said. “We’ll move Signorina Martinez to another safe house asap.”
He came up to me, leaned into my space and ran his tiny hands down my body. “You are even more like her close up.” I had no clue what he meant. He stood back, looked me up and down, then turned to his men. “If anyone touches her, they’ll have me to answer to. She’s my property.”
Tears of humiliation rolled down my cheeks. I was being treated like a commodity. But maybe that was my salvation? Boss dude had warned his men off me. They might have raped me otherwise. I just hoped help would arrive before they moved me to another location.
My chin trembles now, but I tell the deputy superintendent that I’m fine… and I am compared with Alessio.
Time seems to slow down as we wait for the ambulance. I keep talking to Alessio, telling him how much Marco loves him and how they’ll be together soon. I even whisper that I love him too, both him and Marco. I can’t help myself I’m so upset.
Eventually, Koffler receives word that the helicopter has landed in an adjacent field, and the paramedics will be here within minutes to take Alessio to the hospital in the nearby city of Treviso, the only one with an air ambulance service. “Would you like to go with the Commissario?” Koffler inquires. “You should be checked over after what you went through…”
I thank him and ask if I can use his phone to call Marco. He scrolls through his contacts and presses the speed dial icon.
My hands shake as I take the cell from him.
How can I tell him that the man he loves could be dying because of me? This is all my fault. My stubborn stupid fault for not leaving Italy when I should have.
Marco picks up. “Any news, Deputy Superintendent?” he inquires, clearly under the impression it’s Koffler on the other end of the line.
“It’s Sefi,” I breathe.
“Oh, Dio mio. Are you okay, tesoro?”
My belly twists into freaking knots.Chapter Thirty-TwoMarcoThis morning I called the Guberman, told them Sefi was unwell. Now I’m at the airport with Camila, having met her in Arrivals and walked with her to the water taxi station. Happiness radiates through my chest on hearing Sefi’s voice. If she’s calling from Koffler’s telefonino, it means that she’s safe.
But why Koffler’s cell and not Alessio’s?
