Page 49 of Savage Little War

It hurts my heart seeing familiar faces, but we all knew that this was a possibility of this mission. No one is guaranteed to come out of it alive.

When we finally find another set of double doors at the back of the house, we pause and turn to each other.

“Ready?” he murmurs.

This time, I’m the one who can’t help but take in every detail of his face. We’re supposed to be celebrating the news of being pregnant, not about to fight for our lives.

“Hey,” Dmitri says softly, bringing me back to reality. “We survive. Together.”

Maybe he can’t make that promise to me, but we can fight to make it the truth.

“I love you,” I tell him.

Dmitri smiles. “I love you.”

He throws the doors wide, and we walk out into the night ready to face the next battle.

15

Dmitri

Moonlight washes the garden in silver.

Cara and I walk through neatly trimmed hedges clipped into clean walls.

My eyes move back and forth, sweeping the area and checking for any signs of life.

Nothing so far.

“What if Ferro is already dead?” Cara whispers to me, sticking close to my back as she trails behind me.

“Then I’ll be furious I didn’t get to do it myself,” I mutter as I follow the path right around a faint curve. The garden almost feels like a maze at this point.

I know she’s hoping that Ferro is already dealt with so that I don’t have to risk myself, but the bastard has managed to stay alive for this long. I doubt that he’s dead from a little shootout inside.

The path meets a circular clearing in the middle of the garden made of cobblestone with a stone fountain in the center. The water tumbles from the cylindrical spout with a gentle trickle, pooling in the circular basin below.

“Dmitri.”

Cara’s whisper is a blade. A shadow steps into the moonlight beyond the fountain.

“Paolo,” I say as he comes into view, blood staining his knuckles and right cheek.

Paolo Ferro is older than Enrico, but nothing about him reads weak. He’s tall, broad, with gray threaded through dark hair and beard.

He looks down at the gun in my hand. “I figured you would want to settle this like men.”

“I don’t want you to die fast. I want you to suffer.” I turn to Cara. “Hide,” I snap.

Cara hesitates, gun tight in her hand, then slips back into the hedges, disappearing into the green.

I turn back to Paolo, still holding my gun. “I’m surprised you showed up. You hate Luca that much?”

“You were a sweetener,” he states as he looks me up and down. “I heard you were the one who killed my nephew. I figured I would dispose of the traitor and the murderer in one night. Two birds, one stone.”

I can only hope that Luca is alive.

“Good luck with that,” I reply, my index finger resting against the side of the gun barrel, ready to fly to the trigger.