AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Although Lucia specified all three of us, the gun is pointed at me. I meet her gaze calmly and smile.
“Do you want the rational reasons, or the emotional ones?” I ask. Neither Angelo nor Santino say anything, frozen in place only a few steps away from me. I have no doubt that Angelo could easily incapacitate Lucia before she fires a shot—or at least, before she fires a deadly one. She still chose to aim her gun at me rather than the more immediate threat.
And Angelo doesn’t move to subdue her despite the very real danger we seem to be in.
It’s deja vu, but I don’t think she’ll be so easily talked down this time. I can see the hardness in her face, the way her time with Pavone—her time with us—has turned her into something even more alluring. The idea of having such a dangerous woman under my foot is an appealing one, though I’m in no position to subjugate her at the moment.
“Surprise me,” she says tightly.
I point to Angelo and Santino. “Supposing you manage a deadly shot on me, the two of them might find they value their lives a bit. Even if Angelo decides he doesn’t care about me, I’d like to believe Santino would.”
“Fuck you, Corvi,” Angelo says, voice full of amusement. “Please don’t shoot Victor, Lucia, he’s apparently thousands of times more bearable than other mob bosses.”
“I said I’d shoot all three of you,” Lucia snaps.
“Don’t be silly, kitten,” Santino says. “You want us alive. If you didn’t, you’d have just started shooting. So let’s lower the gun and talk about what we’re going to do now that Pavone is out of the way.”
She glares at him, but the gun doesn’t waver from where she has it trained on me. “I can do a lot of things without all of you fucking men pawing at me.”
“Rational reason number two.” I point toward the mess that is Pavone’s corpse. “We can help make Pavone disappear. We can’t makeourbodies disappear. And do you have connections with the cops, to have a case against you dropped?”
“I could disappear,” she points out. “Get me and Vanessa out of the country before anyone realizes there are bodies down here.”
Santino makes a small sound. “But…”
I hold up my hand to stop him. “You could, depending on how much money you have squirreled away. But even if you have that money… Where’s Vanessa, Lucia?”
Lucia goes still at that, and her hand trembles slightly. “I can find her,” she says, but she no longer sounds as sure of herself.
“You can find her, while also dodging the cops? While wondering if one of my men, or Pavone’s men, is going to exact revenge on you?” I give her a condescending look. “That sounds difficult, even for somebody with my connections. But the good thing is, you don’t need to find her. I know where she is.”
“So I take it you aren’t going to tell me unless I agree to let you walk away from this in one piece,” she says, scowling.
“No, I’ll tell you right now. Giulio Pavone and Damien Rossi took her.” I sigh. “I did try to stop them, but they were a bit too happy to threaten her life. I didn’t want to risk her getting hurt.”
“Because you’re such a fucking saint,” Lucia mutters.
But I have her. She knows she can’t do everything alone. She might be learning, but she doesn’t have the connections I do. She would need to dodge the police while looking for her sister, all the while knowing Giulio and Damien have her and that they aren’t likely to give her up.
“I’m no saint, Lucia. I know who I am, and what I want. I don’t care what happens to Vanessa. But I know you do.” I take a step closer to Lucia, my arms spread out. “I tried to stop them from taking her because she’s your sister.”
Her arms are trembling from the strain of keeping the gun aimed at me. It’s a very large gamble, getting this close to her while she’s armed, but she hasn’t shot me yet.
She didn’t shoot me a few months ago, either.
“Stop!” Lucia shouts. “I don’t believe you! You’re lying to me just to get out of this!”
I step through Pavone’s blood, leaving a trail of bloody footprints behind as I close the rest of the distance between us. Lucia’s expensive wedding gown is steeped in red, creating a remarkable gradient as the blood travels up the fabric. With her disheveled hair and pained expression, she truly is the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on.
And still, she doesn’t shoot me.
“Did you enjoy it?” I ask her quietly when the gun is directly against my chest. “Did you have just a little bit of fun, torturing Pavone with Angelo? Listening to Santino’s recording? Knowing that you’d fully fooled one of the most powerful men on this side of the country?”
Lucia stares at me, as though uncomprehending of what I’m saying. For a long moment, all I can hear is her ragged breathing. Finally, she tips her head in a slight semblance of a nod, but she doesn’t speak.
“When did you feel the strongest, love? When you were on your own? When did you feel the most alive? While living in complete safety?” I keep my voice steady, although I can’t deny I feel some fear of my own, with a gun pressed directly against my chest.
I’m not usually much for gambling, but Lucia has changed quite a few things in my life.
