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Her body was shaking against me violently and when I pulled my head back from her neck to look at her, my heart shattered like glass in my chest. She was crying. She looked away from me as I slowly slid out of her and lowered her to the floor. I reached my hand up to wipe her tears but she moved away from me quickly.
I stood, confused and not able to comprehend what was happening as she grabbed her suitcase and raced to the door.
“Liv?” I pleaded, genuinely not caring how pathetic I sounded.
She turned and looked back at me with so much sorrow. “I love you too, Giovanni. So much. But I will destroy everything you have. That is why I have to let you go. I'm sorry.”
She ran out the door, suitcase in tow, and I stood frozen by her words. No. She thinks she will be the death of me. She thinks I would be better off without her. She couldn’t be more wrong. Grabbing my shirt from the floor, I raced out after her as I threw it on and started to do up the buttons. My eyes darted around the lobby. I saw her walking out through the revolving doors and sprinted through the luxury hotel lobby to get to her.
The cool evening breeze hit me as I ran as fast as I could towards her. She rushed down the stone steps towards a taxi. “Olivia!” I shouted.
She turned as she reached the pavement and that’s when my acute senses took over. Something wasn’t right. Her teary eyes locked with mine and her face creased with confusion when she saw the genuine panic on my face. Everything that happened next was as if the world stopped spinning and time slowed right down. I glanced to her right and saw a homeless man who had been sitting on the floor, dropping his handmade, cardboard sign, hand delving into his layers of clothing and producing a gun. Her gaze followed mine as she turned and saw the man charging towards her, the gun rising up from his extended arm.
I charged down the stairs and dived through the air as I saw him take his aim. The trigger clicked, the fire shot. I grabbed Liv’s body against mine as I turned my back to the hitman and shielded her with my frame. The sudden pain was excruciating as I felt the bullet pierce my skin and lodge inside my body. My eyes widened as I looked down at Liv who was beneath me on the floor. I saw her mouth open and I knew she was screaming, but I couldn’t hear a thing, with the ear-splitting ringing in my ears. I raised my hand to her face and stroked her cheekbone with my thumb as the darkness crept upon me.
The last thing I saw were those terrified green eyes with gold speckles that I loved so much.
Bit Of An A-hole
Olivia
“Olivia!”
I turned to see Giovanni racing towards me but he paused momentarily as if he could sense danger. His gorgeous features frowned deeply with worry as his eyes moved from me to my right. I followed his gaze and saw a shabby looking homeless man dropping his sign and my eyes widened when I saw he was holding a long, silver gun. His determined expression was fixed on me and I knew I was his target. He stood up quickly, his arm extending as he pointed the barrel directly at me.
My body froze and my heart stopped when I saw his finger on the trigger. I screwed my eyes shut and braced myself for the impact of that metal bullet lodging itself in my flesh. But it never came. Instead, I gasped because the air was compressed from my lungs by the weight of a large, incredibly heavy man caging me to the stone floor. I opened my eyes and peered up into Giovanni’s wide chocolate pupils that had dilated with pain. My heart felt like it had been torn out of my chest as I realised that he had been shot. I screamed as I watched his eyelids droop. He brushed my cheek with his thumb before his eyes closed fully and his head fell onto my chest. Other gunshots were fired, and people were screaming and running, but all I could do was cry out as the shock and despair rushed over me. I tried to roll him off me to the floor as I cradled his head in my hands. I looked up and saw another body on the floor. The homeless man. Angelo was racing towards us with his gun in his hand.
“Help him! Angelo! Help!” I screamed as my tears fell on Gio’s lifeless face. Angelo rolled his body to the side to look at the gunshot wound in his back and his face creased with concern. He whipped off his suit jacket and pushed it against Gio’s back as I stroked his face in my lap. Whimpering and pleading for him to wake up, I didn’t even hear the police and ambulance sirens that came to the scene. As the paramedics came to his aid, I was pulled away to give them space by Angelo’s muscular arms. I sobbed into his chest. He couldn't die. This is happening again. I looked up when I heard a deafening wail of intense pain. There, being held back by police officers was Cecilia and Elle, clawing to get to Gio’s body, which was being lifted onto a stretcher, an oxygen mask over his face.
“Questo è mio figlio! Fammi passare!” Cecilia screamed again and again before the police finally let her pass as Gio was lifted into the back of an ambulance. She climbed in and they shut the door, before speeding away, the sirens blaring into the night.
“Olivia…Olivia what happened?” I glanced up and saw Maximus’ concerned and angry face as his hands were on my shoulders. I looked down in a daze at my own hands and dress that was covered in Gio’s blood and sunk to my knees on the stone floor.
I felt soft arms around my shoulders as Angelo spoke quickly in Italian to Maximus above me. I moved my head to the side and saw the stunning face of Giovanni’s fiancé. Her blue eyes were looking into mine with worry as she spoke to me, but I couldn’t hear anything she said.
Maximus kneeled down next to her and I tried to focus on his lips that were moving. He was talking to me.
“Liv. I know you are in shock but the police are going to come and talk to you in a minute. I am going to ring our family lawyer. Don’t say a word until he gets there, okay? Do you understand?”
“Giovanni…” I whimpered. “Is he…?” I couldn’t bring myself to say the words.
“No. He’s gone to the hospital. The doctors will do everything they can.”
“The man…” I looked over at the body that was now covered on the floor and police were taping the crime scene off from the public. “Angelo shot him. He’s dead. When you speak to the police you tell them that Angelo is Giovanni’s bodyguard. He has a licence for his gun.”
“Scusate? Signorina? We will give you a ride to the hospital once you have been checked by a paramedic. We will need a statement from you.”
Max and Camilla helped me to my feet as the police officer blinked at me with a kind expression. My body trembled as I nodded slowly. Maximus shrugged off his suit jacket and placed it over my shoulders before Angelo and I followed the officer and climbed into the police car.
∞∞∞
Sitting at a table in the warm but depressing meeting room in the hospital, I shivered as I stared at my hands on the table. Even Max’s jacket was doing nothing to provide warmth to my numb body. I recognised it as shock. It was how I felt five years ago, when I was dealing with the aftermath of Nate’s death. Giovanni wasn’t dead. I kept repeating it over and over in my head. I had no idea if it was true or not, but I couldn’t allow myself to think the worst. I wouldn’t survive it.
The door opened and an older, short and stout Italian man in a stripy navy suit walked into the room. His oval glasses perched on his bulbous nose and he gave me a small, reassuring smile. “Miss Jones? My name is Alonzo and I am Buccini's lawyer. I am here to help you.”
I blinked twice. “Am I in trouble? Am I being arrested?” I panicked. I knew that was absurd. I hadn’t done anything wrong, but just being here like this makes you feel guilty.
“No, no. They just want a statement. But don’t worry. I have requested a certain police officer to interview you. That is why it is taking them longer to arrive. He knows the Buccini family very well,” he gave me a knowing look and I nodded my head. So, they were all corrupt. I had never been so relieved.
