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And then I see the blood as he removes his shirt. It spills out of his left shoulder. He doesn’t flinch or even seemed fazed by the blood pouring out of his shoulder.
He doesn’t seem angry or afraid that he’s about to die from blood loss. He doesn’t go to the front of the plane to signal an emergency landing when we get back over land. Instead, he walks to the back of the plane as he throws his bloodied shirt on the floor. He opens the door at the back and disappears inside, leaving me alone.
I take a deep breath as I realize that I might have missed his heart, but I hit him. I shot someone. And it could still result in his death.
I spot my gun lying carelessly on the floor. I pop out of my seat and run over to pick it up. It’s still loaded. I still have a chance to take Arlo out.
I hold the gun in my hand and start walking toward the back of the plane until I get to the door. I hesitate, but I don’t understand why. He’s already wounded. I don’t have to shoot him clearly in the heart. I just need to wound him again. The blood loss over the next few hours would do the rest. And then I could be free of at least one Carini. The worst of them anyway. The one who got me into this whole mess.
I throw the door open, shocked that he didn’t lock it, and see Arlo lounging on the bed. I glance at his shoulder and see the staples that he somehow placed there, already closing the wound I’d created. It’s no longer bleeding. The only risk of death now is an infection. And that could take weeks to kill him.
I aim the gun at him as he smirks.
“Come to kill me again?”
“Yes.”
“You’re never going to kill me, holding the gun like that. You can’t even tell what you are aiming at.”
“I shot you once. I can do it again. And again and again. For as many times as it takes to kill you.”
Arlo sits up just a little. “What’s this fascination with killing me? I know you don’t like me. I know I took you away from your true love or whatever. But, really, have I done anything that horrible to you other than give you the best sex of your life? Because I know Heath never fucked you like I did. I know that, even at his best, you still thought of me when you fucked him.”
I’m angry. My blood is boiling. My heart is racing as I point the gun at Arlo.
“You’re evil. You thi
nk I spent the last seven years just running and living in fear? No. I studied everything I could about your family. I read everything. I know exactly who you are, and I know exactly how to take you down. I’m not a naïve, obsessed girl anymore. I’m a woman scorned who will not be defeated.”
Arlo cocks his head to one side as he lies back. “And what are we? What makes us so bad that we deserve to be killed before we even lay a hand on you?”
“You are traffickers. You kidnap women and sell them as slaves. You are the worst kind of people.”
Arlo purses his lips as he nods. “You’re right. We are the worst kind of people. But we aren’t traffickers. We would never sell a person to another. What enjoyment would we get out of that?”
“You would get money.”
Arlo laughs. “And what would we do with the money? We already have more money than we know what to do with. We don’t need more money.”
I feel my hands drop a little, lowering the gun the tiniest bit, and then I quickly force my arms to rise again.
He raises an eyebrow. “You maybe should have worked on your arm strength a little more along with your shooting skills if your plan was to smuggle in a gun and shoot us all to death.”
I ignore his remark. I’m stronger than he thinks. That’s all that matters. Not his goading.
“You’re evil people who traffic women. You all deserve to die.”
“No, we are a powerful, ruthless family who has fought long and hard to earn the money and power that we control in Italy. We don’t always play by the rules. We don’t always fight fair. But, when it comes to taking someone’s life, we only take what is owed to us. We only take when a debt is owed.”
“And you saving my life means I have to give it up to you?”
“Yes. When we had to do what we did to save you, then yes. You have no idea how much you owe us.”
“Then, tell me.”
He laughs. “You’ll know plenty soon enough.”
My hands start shaking from holding the weight of the gun.
