Page 73 of Sicilian Savior

His eyes welled with tears, but he looked past me to the stairway leading downstairs. With one quick glance back to me and my nod to tell him it was okay, he jumped up and bolted past Victor.

Victor caught the quick movement and spun around, but I launched myself at him, throwing my body between him and Luca.

“Run, Luca! Get safe! Find Knox!” I screamed as I wrestled with Victor, keeping his gun from swinging Luca’s way. “Run!”

“No!’ Victor shouted as he tried to fight me off.

All the fight techniques Knox had taught me snapped on inside of my mind, and I got three hits into Victor’s face before I felt the familiar sting of the back of his hand across my cheek. I ignored the pain, throwing myself back into the battle to buy Luca as much time as I could.

“Fucking bitch!” Victor snarled as I landed a blow to his nuts.

“Don’t stop running, Luca! No matter what!” I screamed, hoping he’d be far enough away already he couldn’t hear me.

Victor threw an elbow into the side of my head, and it hit hard enough he dislodged me. In the blink of an eye, his arm snaked around my neck, and the barrel of his gun pressed against my temple.

“Luca!” He shouted in the direction our son had run. “I have your mother! If you don’t come back right now, I will kill her! Do you understand me? I’ll kill her, and it will all be your fault! Get back here! Now!”

“No! Don’t!” I screamed out, but Victor covered my mouth with his free hand. I struggled against him, but his tight grip muffled my shouts to moans.

“I mean it, Luca! I’ll kill her! Do you want your mother to die? She will. At the count of five, I’m pulling this trigger. In five... four... three...”

Tears burned my eyes when I heard the soft footsteps of my son coming down the hallway.

No. Please don’t come back. Save yourself, my baby boy.

But my silent pleas went unanswered, and a terrified Luca appeared in the doorway. I nearly collapsed from the devastation of my failed plan. Of course Luca wouldn’t leave me to die. He wasn’t his father, and it only made me love him more though it broke my heart his choice to save me had stolen his one opportunity for escape.

“Nice fucking try,” Victor snarled.

“I’m sorry, Mama,” Luca whispered, his lip shaking as he stared at me from the doorway. “I couldn’t leave you.”

“It’s okay, baby,” I soothed. “You were so brave.”

“Get over there.” Victor jutted his chin toward the couch. Luca obeyed and walked over, his shoulders slumped in defeat. “If you two try anything else, I’ll kill you both. Clear?”

His arm squeezed my neck tighter, cutting off the air.

“Clear?” he demanded again.

I tried to nod and answer but couldn’t breathe to speak. “Yes,” I finally choked out.

Victor pushed me to the floor, and my palms burned like the pain in my face when they smacked the hardwood.

“Stay down there,” he commanded.

Even if I’d wanted to stand, I couldn’t. Knowing we’d missed our chance gutted me, and looking over to see Luca sitting terrified on the couch nearly killed me just as if Victor had pulled that trigger. After a prolonged silence, Luca whispered, “Mama, I have to go to the bathroom.”

“Okay, baby. Let me see what I can do,” I said, keeping my voice calm and upbeat despite the despair inside of me.

I turned my attention up to Victor and cleared my throat. “Victor? Luca needs the bathroom. I could use one too.”

He spun around to look at me, his head tipping back and forth as he dragged the tip of his gun across his cheek, then pointed it back at me.

“You’d better not try anything again,” he warned.

“We won’t. I promise,” I said, trying to sound as convincing as I could.

After staring at me for several long moments, he snarled. “Fine. This way.”