***
Nico
When I enter the barn, Cosima stands a few feet away from Matilde. There are three men here, too, all of them armed. My wife pleads with me to save our children the instant she sees me. “She’s after the babies!” I love how much she loves them, but there's no way I'm leaving her.
An outsider is circling her, aiming a gun at her head - Cosima’s biker lover, no doubt. “Guns down or watch me put two in her skull,” the man warns.
There are men I know who would open fire, not caring if a woman died, men who look at women like replaceable objects that exist for their enjoyment. I'll never be one of them. I could never risk her precious life. I drop the guns.
“Nico, no,” my sweet wife whimpers.
Cosima’s eyes shift back and forth between us. “Amazing. I think she actually cares about you, Nico,” Cosima says, sounding amused. “Margareta liked the idea of us taking over Chicago, but I guess you’ve got this silly girl infatuated with you… somehow.”
“My life for hers, Cosima. You wanted to kill a Capo. I’m here. Let her go.”
“Catch up, Nico. Taking you down wasAntonio’splan. I don’t wantyourlife. Not until I take the lives of those you care about.”
Guns or no guns, I prepare to reach for my blade. I can’t watch that. I won’t. I’ll die first. Maybe, somehow, I can save her. My kids need their mom.
The bikers start arguing with Cosima about what they want, giving me an opportunity. Before I spring though, Matilde moves first. Twisting and rolling, she manages to free the switchblade from where she must have had it hidden in her bra. I’m already diving for the guns on the ground when she throws her knife at Cosima. I shoot one of the men, and a sudden hail of bullets fills the barn. Leone and our men have launched their counterattack.
Like a madman, I storm toward my wife, scared to death she'll catch strays.Just like Margareta.Could fate be that cruel?
***
Matilde
I can't say what I was thinking. Some madness took over. I couldn't die on my knees and let Cosima take everything from us without a fight. I draw my arm back and throw the knife as hard as I can, and bullets fill the air like a swarm of mosquitos buzzing.
Everything happens so fast, but my heart is in my mouth, watching Nico rush toward me. He's hit in the thigh but doesn't stop. The grim determination in his eyes tells me he won't until he reaches me.
Cosima is on the ground, but Blake isn't. He wildly shoots at anything and everything until he's out of bullets. Throwing down his useless gun, he draws a large bowie knife out of his boot just as Nico reaches him. He's skilled with that knife, but my husband is the best with the blade in all the Trio.
Nico holds up his hand, and the firing ceases. He smiles, the creepiest smile I've ever beheld, twirling his knife like it's part of his hand. "Want to dance with me, biker?"
It is a dance, not an elegant fencing match but a desperate dodge and too-quick-to-see strike. Nico's so calm, so poised, despite the blood seeping through his pants. Up, down, back and forth, they circle each other. The ringing clash of steel is the only sound I can hear. Cosima's lover swoops in, trying for a fatal stroke, and that's the last mistake he'll ever make. Nico sidesteps him, flicking his wrist just so and cutting his opponent's throat to the bone.
The other two are dead. My knife is still buried in Cosima's stomach, and the gunshots she received in the ensuing fury have turned the dirt floor red around her. Against the odds, we have survived.
“Nico!” I cry, hurrying to him as he slowly sinks to the floor. I kneel beside him, placing a hand over the wound.
"I'll be okay." He squeezes me tightly, his eyes searching my face like he can hardly believe this moment is real. “You're alive."
I quickly nod. "I'm alive because of you. You could've died."
"I’d die for you a million times without fear. It’s the thought of living without you that kills me."
"Nico…" I whisper, overcome by his words.
"Leone? Our children, my sister-in-law?"
I stiffen, waiting for news until his uncle replies, "All safe. I'm sending the ATV out to fetch them back to the house. And Primo."
"How badly was he wounded?" Nico asks.
"Two in the abdomen, but the kid's tough, and thankfully Maddalena was there to keep pressure on his wounds so I could come looking for you."
My husband turns his attention back on me. "I thought you were hiding."
