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He pulls up and looks down at me, and I realize what I said out loud. I pull away from him, but he grabs me back and I land on his lap again in the water.
“You speak Italian?”
I nod because I can’t lie to him, but I can’t give him the words.
“You can’t have children? Ever?”
This time I shrug.
“Talk to me,” he demands.
“I can’t.” I lean into him and just hold him, knowing it’s the end. He doesn’t tell me to go, but he will. So I decide to leave him myself. I move away, and I’m standing at the side of the spa.
“I need to know. Please, Luna.” He stands up, the water sluicing off his naked body. I’ll never see him like this again. I’ll never be with him. I have to leave to protect him from those that seek to destroy him and his father.
I turn away, breaking the connection as I slip my dress over my head. When I look back at him as I zip my dress up, I make the decision I should have before. I shouldn’t have grown this close to him.
“No.” I grab my sandals and take off running, knowing he won’t chase me naked.
“Luna,” he yells my name, but I don’t stop.
I’m down the driveway, feeling the gravel and sticks cut my feet, when I hear the car approaching. Taking off into the fields, I hide from him. I don’t have a phone on me because I left the burner at the hotel. I left the cellular that the agency gave me at the original hotel along with the tracker.
I’ve officially gone against them. They’ll be sending a hit squad after me, but I’d rather face them than kill Dario or hurt him by killing his family. Now I’m on the run from Dario too.
Hours later I’m exhausted as I make it into my hotel through a back entrance. I saw Dario out front, but I’m not going to let him get his hands on me. I need to get away from here and him.
I’m marked for death. A hit squad will have already been issued for me. The only hope I have is to get away from those I care about before they are casualties of my past.
* * *
As I sit in the bottom of the tub after cleaning myself up from the run to town and through the vineyards, I try to figure out how to get out of here without Dario seeing me. The water beats down on my body, and I’m hunched over my knees. My heart is breaking because for once in my life, at least I think, I want to be with someone. I want to see what happens with him. Where we can go.
So far, he hasn’t realized I’m in my room. I’m fairly sure he took off and left me for dead or just left because I’m too much. My tears flow because I’ll never see Dario again. I can’t give him what he wants. I don’t know if I can ever have children. I don’t even know my past, just the few bits and pieces.
A sound that doesn’t sound right hits my ears and my brain clicks into fight mode. I know the exact pace count from the door to the bathroom. It’s a trick I was taught years ago about learning my space. I could maneuver in the dark if I had to. I wouldn’t hit a single piece of furniture as I got away from anyone. But that sound wasn’t a normal hotel sound.
I know every sound hotels make, and I definitely know the sound of a gun cocking. No matter how hard they try to cover it. I also know the sound of a silencer being screwed onto a barrel. I’ve done it enough times. I hear that telltale sliding sound of a gun again. Another shooter. This is the hit team I was waiting for. I don’t know how they found me so easily. I hear an AK-47 racking in preparation to be shot. I reach over the side of the tub and behind the toilet, where I secured one of my backup guns and some knives when I first checked in while Dario was talking on the phone. I slink low into the tub, sure that they will aim high because I have the showerhead on. They most likely think I’m standing, which is an assumption that will get them killed. They’re just a hit squad; they don’t care about finesse and style. They think only of getting in, killing, and getting out. Me, on the other hand, I will kill them all without having to reload my gun.
Just as I predicted, the bullets hit where my body would have been. The door is shredded as it’s riddled from the overkill of firepower. I wait under the rain of water as glass from the enclosure and stone shards from the walls fall around me. Sharp pieces slice into my skin, but I don’t care about the pain. I’m trained not to feel it. I determine from the number of guns and the sounds that there is only a team of four of them.
From my inclined position with my legs pulled up under me, I shoot a burst of bullets, controlled and aimed, at the gunmen who had the AKs. I hear both of their bodies fall as I rush out of the tub naked. Gun in one hand and long-blade knife in the other, I exit the bathroom through the useless door. I slash out with my blade and nearly take the head off the third guy. He falls with his gun in his hand and his eyes still focused on me. The fourth realizes he’s the last one left, and I’m on him before he turns his back to run. I shove my gun into his chest and shoot him twice in the heart while also driving my knife into his abdomen. It may be a little overkill, but the deputy chief should have known that four men wouldn’t be enough, and I’m making a statement now.
Adrenaline is pumping through my system as I hear someone enter the room. I swing around and register it’s Dario before I pull the trigger. He has a gun out but drops his arm when he takes in the scene.
“Luna.” His voice trembles with fear as he looks at the four bodies lying on the floor around me. I look too and see them for the first time as humans. My legs give out, and Dario catches me.
“I’m sorry. I was sent to kill you,” I say before I fall into unconsciousness from the bullets that hit me.
ChapterSeven
DARIO
I’m not waiting anymore and make my way to her room. The elevator door opens to the sound of gunfire. I’m out and running with my gun in my hand, knowing it’s coming from her room. I burst through the door of her suite and round the corner to the bedroom and see her standing there naked. She’s got a gun perfectly aimed at me, her arm not quivering in the least. A military style knife is in her other hand. Her body is poised to kill whoever comes in next.
No hesitancy. No fear.
Her body is perfectly still. The knife has blood dripping from the blade. There is blood on her arm too. Across her face and chest is more along with wounds and her scars. But what causes me to pause are the fresh gunshots to her body. One in her side and the other in her thigh. She doesn’t seem to realize she’s hit as she’s ready to battle some more.
