Page 80 of Nobody's Girl

“Are they gone?”

“Yes. You haven’t done it.” Tamara nodded at an uninjured Sofia who growled at her. Grant smiled.

“No, I decided you have done a good enough job to warrant this gift.” He turned back to Sofia. “Sadly, we don’t have enough time to draw this out, or for me to fuck you, beautiful Sofia, so instead…” And he drove the knife deep into her belly. Sofia gasped in agony, and Grant stepped back, leaving the blade buried in her to the hilt. Blood seeped from around the weapon and dripped down the white dress.

Tamara laughed and clapped. “Grant, that’s…”

In a split second Grant had taken up another knife, whirled around and had plunged it into Tamara’s throat. Tamara staggered back, her eyes wide with disbelief as Grant chuckled. “No loose ends, Tamara darling. I let you watch me stab Sofia but as for the rest of it…I think I’ll enjoy it alone.”

Tamara, her voice gone, slid to the floor, her eyes shifting from Grant to Sofia as she bled out. She began to smile as she gave a gurgling sound, then the air from her lungs hissed out finally, and she was still.

Grant looked down at her dispassionately, then turned to finish Sofia. He never saw her hand with the knife in it until the last second before Sofia plunged it into his eye.

Sofia, having freed one hand, had wrenched the knife from her abdomen and cut herself free as Grant watched Tamara die. She had no hesitation in finishing Grant Christo and as she wrenched the knife from his eye and watched him drop, she knew this was her last chance. The wound in her belly was agony, but adrenaline surged through her as she stepped over the bodies of her would-be killers and yanked the door open. Ivo was here, Penn was here too, somewhere, and she mustered all the energy she could and screamed for them, staggering along the corridors, feeling the blood dripping, making her feet slippery, every movement drenched in pain. She drew in another lungful of air as she stumbled and dropped to the floor. She dragged herself against the wall and screamed again.

“Ivo!”

Ivo heard her scream and his heart began to pound as he and Penn raced to find her. When he saw her, slumping, half-sitting, half-lying against the wall, he began to panic, but when he reached her, she opened her eyes and smiled at him. “I knew you’d come,” she said weakly, touching his face. “I love you so much. I’m sorry I ran…I should have known better.”

“It’s okay…oh god, Sofia…” He gently removed the hand that was clamped over her wound, and his veins ran with ice. She was losing so much blood.

Penn touched his shoulder. “Let’s get her to hospital, Ivo….now.”

“I think I’m okay,” Sofia said, but then fainted. Ivo scooped her up into his arms and together, he and Penn hailed a cab and rushed her to the hospital.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Sofia smoothed Ivo’s dark curls away from his face, marveling at his soulful green eyes and the thick black lashes. “Do you know you’re drop dead gorgeous, Ivo Zacca?”

Ivo grinned. “How much morphine did you take?”

Sofia grinned. “I’d get stabbed more often if I got this stuff every time.”

Ivo winced but Sofia kissed him. “Hey, I’m kidding. And look, the knife missed everything that could have killed me. Guess Grant wasn’t such a hot shot – or rather hot stab – assassin after all.”

“Could you stop saying ‘stab’?” But he kissed her back, passionately, tangling his fingers in her black hair. It was still miraculous to him that she was okay. The wound looked so brutal, so deep, that when the surgeon had told him that it hadn’t been so serious, that Sofia would recover quickly and fully, Ivo had been so overwhelmed he’d embarrassed himself by bursting into tears. Penn had comforted him, but then sold him out to Sofia who hadn’t stopped ribbing him since. “My big man, crying like a bebè.”

Ivo grinned sheepishly. “You got me. How do you feel?” It had been two days since the stabbing, and Sofia’s color was good, and the i.v. tubes had been taken out of her arms.

“I feel….liberated. Like a huge weight has been lifted. Tamara was such a malevolent presence that I think I was always waiting for her to ruin things.” Sofia put her hand on his face. “I hate that she kissed you.”

“I didn’t kiss her back.”

“I know that, Ivo Zacca. It was just such a shock to see that photo. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Honestly? I didn’t see the point of it. It was some stupid thing that happened when I was out of it at my mom’s funeral. Which reminds me…Dad is on his way over from LA to see you. Clemence sends her love – she wishes she could come, but Peony is still too young to fly. Desi was almost at the airport but I told her that, hopefully, we would be back soon. Will we?”

“You bet your sweet ass we will,” Sofia grinned. “I cannot imagine living anywhere else now but Paris.”