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“Says the chick who’s getting dicked down by a mafia boss,” he says, laughing. He aims the gun at me as if about to shoot. “Excuse me if I don’t take your moral lectures seriously, ADA. I’m just trying to cover my ass is all. I fell into a lot of debt in gambling rings. The Belinis bailed me out on the condition I’d do some insider favors for them.”
Panic rises up my chest, filling me to the point I can feel another mini attack coming. I urge myself to calm down and remain as composed as possible. Even as he casually points his gun at me.
Keep him talking. Ask more questions. Just hang on.
“So was it you?” I ask. “You attacked me that night outside my apartment? You had Azeria break into my place a few weeks after? It happened the same night as Doukas’ murder.”
Galecki’s bushy brows connect. “What the fuck are you talking about? Attack you when? Ijusttold you I haven’t been able to get anywhere near you off duty.”
“My rapist—”
“I didn’t rape nobody!” he interjects loudly. “And who the fuck is Azeria? Are you crazy? This is about the Belini organization. This is about getting you off their back. Offmyback.”
I’m not so sure I believe him. At this point, I don’t know what to think. Regardless of what the truth is, I just need to hold on. Stitches must be growing impatient. Hopefully, he’ll come up to check on me like he did when he made Chadwick leave earlier.
“Get up,” Galecki says suddenly. “We’ve wasted enough time. You’re coming with me. I’ve got to get rid of you. Boss says I shouldn’t... but his boss is my boss too. And I’m not trying to piss him off when you bring up new charges. He’ll be grateful in the end.”
“What... you don’t have to do this...”
“No, actually, I really, really have to. I ain’t getting beat to a pulp like the other insiders who failed, and I ain’t going away to prison. The only way to cover my ass is to off you. Problem solved. I’ll make it real convincing. Sort of like Doukas. Perk of being a police officer. I said get up!”
He snatches me off the sofa by the upper arm. I twist to resist his hold, but he’s serious. He’s about to haul me off somewhere. He’s about to finish me off.
I steady my breath and prepare myself to do what I must do to survive. I can’t let him take me away. I’m going to have to fight tooth and nail.
No matter what, I won’t give up. He’s going to have to kill me on the spot. Right inside my office at city hall, because I’mnotleaving with him.
I wait for my opening. As he walks me toward the door, I catch him off guard. I jam my elbow into his ribs as hard as I can, and then grab his arm holding the gun. He stumbles trying to retain control of it, the barrel pointed up at the ceiling. We’re wrestling for it when I knee him in the groin and thrust the base of my palm into his face.
“ARGH!” he screams at the combo hits. He drops the gun, falling back against the wall. Our fast-moving feet kick it by mistake.
It tumbles several feet away, out of reach. I scurry for it.
“Not so fast!”
As I dive for the gun, Galecki dives for me. We crash down on the ground. Both of us land on our stomachs. My arm outstretched in front of me. Him clutching my legs. He drags me away from the gun, crawling up my body to pin me down.
I scream. I let my voice ring through the air of the empty government building in hopes somebody somewhere has come by on a day off to check their emails. Maybe a cleaning crew passing through to vacuum and wipe down toilets. Stitches, who said he’d come up if I took too long.
Just hang on... just a little bit longer... just hang on...
I struggle against Galecki as he holds me down with his body weight. He’s breathless and dripping sweat, releasing guttural sounds of pain.
“Stop fucking screaming!” He backhands me across the face. His hand clinches shut on my throat. “Oh, so you’re one of those. Youwantme to rough you up. Is that what that rape talk was about?”
I’m reeling from the hard hit. The pain prickles across my cheek. It’ll most likely bruise in the coming hours. But I don’t give him the satisfaction of knowing how deeply it hurts. As the dizziness clears, my gaze refocuses on him, as fearless as I can make it.
“You’re going to have to kill me here!” I spit out. My voice sounds more hoarse the tighter he throttles me. “I’m not going to make it easy on you. You’re going to have to take me out with a fight.”
“Shut the fuck up!”
“Do you really think you’re going to murder an ADA in cold blood in her office and get away with it?”
His face twists with rage, his second hand joining his first on my throat. “I told you to shut the fuck up! It doesn’t matter—if I’ve got to choke you out right here on the floor. I’ll figure something out.”
My throat burns as he chokes the life out of me. I claw at his hands and then his face. Salvatore’s advice was to go for the eyes. If someone ever had me pinned like this, he said to concentrate on gouging their eyes out. No one can withstand that level of torment. They’ll be forced to release you.
As the air leaves my lungs, I focus on digging my fingers into his eyeballs. Galecki howls in pain and lets go of my throat. His hands fly up to cover mine and pry them away from his face. I only sink my nails in deeper.
