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I creep out of the basement, clothes covered in blood that isn’t mine. The screwdriver is still in my hand. I haven’t let go of it since I killed Sal’s henchman.
Sal is in the living room, ducking behind an open window holding a gun. He’s yelling at someone outside, and another voice is yelling back.
Wait. That sounds familiar. Could it be? I crouch behind the doorframe leading to the living room, watching. There’s someone hiding behind a smashed-up black car in the driveway.
“Release Ava and you don’t have to die today!” calls the voice, and my heart leaps.
I’d know that voice anywhere.
That’s my husband.
I watch Sal from behind, trying to figure out my best move. Is there a back door I can use to escape? He doesn’t know I’m out of the basement. If I can leave the house, maybe Alessandro and I can get out of here in one piece.
And then, through one of the far windows on the other side of the living room, I see movement. Another of Sal’s soldiers, armed,creeping across the driveway. He’s trying to get behind Alessandro, who hasn’t noticed him.
And he’s almost there.
“Alessandro!” I scream at the top of my lungs, trying to project my voice so it carries outside. “Behind you!”
Chapter Sixty-Eight
Alessandro
I spin around at the sound of Ava’s voice. Behind me and to the right is one of Sal’s men, creeping in my direction to get the perfect shot. I blast him with my shotgun and miss, but the second shot creates a spray of blood. He falls, his own shot popping the Cadillac’s tire.
From the house, I hear Ava yell out in pain or fear. She sounds desperate. I jump out from my cover behind the car and sprint to the front door, ducking as best I can in case any bullets come my way.
They don’t. I slam through the door just in time to see Sal and Ava struggling on the ground. He’s on top of her, blood streaming from a wound in his chest, trying to wrestle a screwdriver out ofher hand. A pistol is on the floor next to them, almost within his reach.
The screwdriver clatters to the ground. Sal reaches for the gun. I run over and kick him in the head, my shin connecting with his jaw. He falls off of Ava, still scrambling for his weapon.
My “uncle” looks up just as I smash him in the face with the shotgun barrel, then point it down at him and fire from less than a foot away. The shot echoes through the room, reducing his head to chunks.
I rush back to my wife, who is picking herself off the floor, covered in blood.
“Ava! Ava, oh my god. Are you okay?”
“It’s not my blood,” she whispers, hugging me tightly. “I’m just bruised, that’s all. Oh fuck…” She sobs against my chest.
“I thought I’d lost you,” I rasp, choking up to feel her in my arms again. “Is there anyone else here? How many?”
“I don’t think so,” she gasps, body heaving. “Alessandro…”
I wrap myself around her, cuddling her head like nothing else exists.
“Alessandro… you’re bleeding through your shirt.”
I look down and see that my chest is soaked in red. “I’m okay,” I tell her. “Just a scratch.”
“You came back for me,” she whispers, still crying freely. “I thought you were dead.”
I wipe a tear from her cheek. “Of course I came back. I’ll always come for you. You’re my everything, Ava. My life. There’s nowhere you can go that I wouldn’t follow.”
“I’m sorry about your parents,” she sniffles. “My mom…”
“Shhh,” I say, kissing her forehead over and over again. “It doesn’t matter. It’s in the past. All that matters is that we’re together again. Fuck everything that happened before. Fuck literally all of it. The only thing I care about is our future together. I love you so fucking much.”
“I love youtoo,” says my wife, putting her forehead against mine. “But I also really care about getting you some first aid before you bleed out. Let’s find a medicine cabinet, huh?”
