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“How did you manage to survive?” Antonio asks. “How?”
“It was you? You caused the bomb?”
“With Enrico’s help, I made the bomb. He rigged it to the club.”
“Put the gun down, and we can talk,” Matteo advises, shifting his body in front of me, even though he can’t even stand up yet.
His men are scattered around the courtyard, all looking worried. No one moves, or their leader may get hit with a bullet.
“No!” Antonio screams. “You don’t get to talk down to me any longer. You’re such a patronizing asshole. I’ve come to you repeatedly with plans and ideas, and you always shut themdown. Whenever I reach out to help you, you act like I’m an inconvenience. But a good leader is supposed to do just that. Lead his people. Instead, you’ve treated me like a nuisance you’d rather not have around. Now, how do you think that makes me feel?”
“Bad enough to blow up the club,” Matteo replies flatly.
“I wanted you to know it was me before I killed you.” He pulls the trigger.
I can’t let Matteo die for real. I’ve finally found love, and I can’t lose it.
I throw my body in front of Matteo’s on instinct and gasp when the bullet hits me. The force of it is so strong that it knocks me onto my back. Pain radiates through my body. I can barely breathe; I’m gasping so hard.
“Adelina!” Matteo shouts, turning to me. “What did you do?”
I can just barely lift my finger to point beyond Matteo toward Antonio, who’s lining up his next shot. Matteo turns to face him, raw anger written across his face.
Matteo stands up and starts to run right at Antonio. I hate this. He’s going to die, and what I did will be in vain. I wanted to save him since he’s saved me so many times, and I couldn’t even do that right.
A loud shot rings out.
I stop breathing for a second as I look at Matteo, waiting for him to drop dead.
But he doesn’t.
Instead, he stops running and looks at Antonio in confusion. I wonder why. Then I turn and see that Antonio has a bullet through his head. He falls over, completely dead.
Standing behind him is my brother. So I guess Dario did come to check on Matteo after all. He lowers his gun, breathing heavily.
Matteo runs back to me and scoops me into his arms. “Adelina? You’ll be all right. I’ll get you to the hospital. Dario! I need to use your car again.”
Dario runs over and looks at me with concern. “Of course. Come on.”
I’m shaking now. The bullet went through my upper arm, and I’m bleeding a lot.
“Matteo?” I whisper. “Am I dying?”
“No,” he says roughly. “You’re not dying. I got you, you hear me? I’ve always promised to keep you safe, and this is no different.” He places me gently into Dario’s car before getting in beside me. Dario gets into the driver’s seat and takes off.
It’s a little funny to me, watching the same scene play out as it did earlier this week when I hit my head on the pool. But back then, my injury wasn’t serious. Now, I know I’m slowly dying.
Matteo clutches me to him as we head to the hospital. He murmurs words I can’t hear as blackness edges at the corner of my vision. But there’s one phrase that slips out I do understand.
“I love you.”
I gasp harder as I struggle to breathe. Matteo loves me. So maybe sacrificing myself for him wasn’t completely in vain after all.
Despite everything we’ve been through in this past week alone, we’ve managed to find love between us. I never thought that would be possible, yet it happened. It’s honestly a miracle.
I’m just glad I hear it before the darkness takes over, and all I see is black.
CHAPTER 20
