I don’t even realize I’ve broken away from Teresa and run for the door.
“Cat, don’t,” Erica says, panicked.
“I can’t leave him there,” I say as I input the code.
Nick puts his hand over mine.
“Caterina, think about this,” he says calmly.
“I am,” I say. “I am thinking about it. I’m thinking the man I love is out there, injured, and he’s not going to win that fight. I’m thinking that if my sister were out there in the same situation, you wouldn’t sit in here and watch her die.”
Nick’s face changes, and I know he knows I’m right. But he’s not ready to go that easily.
“I can’t just let you go out there.”
“And Adrian will die if I stay here.”
“Caterina—”
“No.” I look him dead in the eye. “Move your hand, Nick.”
For one long second, he doesn’t.
Then Lucia says, very quietly, “Let her go.”
Nick’s head snaps toward her.
Lucia is pale, Gabriel clutched against her chest, Sofia and Charlotte pressed into her sides, but her eyes are steady on mine.
“She’s a Conti,” Lucia says. “And she loves him.”
That is all she says.
And that is enough.
Nick swears under his breath and says, “I’ll come with you. I’m not staying here and watching someone else walk out that door, untrained or not. Not again.”
I turn to look at Lucia, and she nods.
He pulls his hand away, and I finish the code.
The second he does, I finish the code. The lock releases with a heavy click.
We step into the darkness of the basement. Behind us, Lucia has handed Gabriel over to Erica and is holding the gun at the ready.
We close the door and wait for it to lock behind us before taking off.
Chapter Thirty Five
Adrian
The first hit landed in exactly the wrong place.
Right in my side.
Not the ribs or the shoulder or the jaw.
Dead center in my wound.
