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“Why? Where’s Alessio? Shouldn’t we wait for him?” I asked, my voice starting to show my panic. Could I trust Stefano? After what happened with Este, I had my reservations. But Alessio had told me Stefano had been his bodyguard since he was a child. That he was basically his version of Marco.
“Boss will meet us when he is finished here. He insists that I take you back now,” he explained and I swallowed down my nerves. Something wasn’t right. I nodded and turned to Veronica.
“I have to go. It was nice to meet you,” I smiled, grabbing my purse off the back of the stool.
“You’re going? Already?” she pouted, annoyed she was losing her drinking buddy.
“Sorry. I really think you should let him get bored of you, Veronica. It would be for your own good,” I whispered quickly before leaving the restaurant. As soon as we were outside, a black car with blacked out windows came skidding round the corner with urgency.
“Cazzo!” Stefano hissed, grabbing my arm and yanking me around the side of the building.
“Più veloce,” he commanded as I tried to keep up with his run down the alleyway towards the harbour. I glanced over my shoulder to see three men had climbed out the car and were chasing after us.
“What’s going on?!” I shouted as we reached the wooden floating platform where all the boats were anchored.
Stefano shoved me forward, forcing a set of keys in my hand as he pointed towards the boat Alessio and I had spent the day on. “Go! Get in the boat! Don’t wait for me!”
Fear rippled through me when I saw the three men advancing down the port, looking like they were out for my blood. I spun on my heels and raced towards the boat as fast as I could. Climbing in, I looked back to see Stefano holding his own against the three men in a fierce fight, not letting them pass to get to me. My hands were shaking uncontrollably as I tried to put the key in the ignition and start up the engine. It roared to life, but I realised the ropes were still tied to the dock. Merda! Just at that moment, I glanced up and saw one of the men hit Stefano aggressively on the back of his head with the handle of their gun. He fell off the dock and into the water, his body floating on the surface. The men turned their attention to me as I dived forward and attempted to untie the ropes. They started to speed towards me and I screamed, knowing they would reach me before I could escape.
One man threw himself into the boat, tackling me onto the floor as I flung my arms at his face, trying to scratch his eyes out. He straddled my waist, pinning me down as the two other men untied the ropes and climbed in. I screamed for help again, but it was muffled by the man’s hand slamming over my mouth. The engine started and I felt the boat moving away from the port.
“Elenora!”
My heart flipped when I heard his enraged voice.
“Alessio!” I screamed against the man’s hand as I thrashed even harder to get him off me. A shot was fired and the man above me fell to my side with a gunshot wound in his head. I sat up and saw two of Alessio’s men shooting at the boat from the far end of the dock. That’s when I noticed him up ahead, sprinting along the stone wall that circled the harbour creating an entrance for boats travelling out to the open sea. My eyes widened when I realised he was about to catapult himself off it, right in front of us. He dived, his body disappearing under the darkness of the water as the man driving the boat swore loudly.
He tried to steer it to redirect us, but Alessio was already gripping the side and pulling himself up. I saw one of the men grab his gun to shoot him and I kicked his arm as hard as I could, causing the gun to fly into the air and land in the ocean. Alessio dove at the man, hammering his fists into his face and then grabbed his chest by his shirt, hauling him over the side of the boat. The last man standing and the driver turned to fight him, but Alessio pulled out a switchblade from his trouser pocket and stabbed the man in the stomach before throwing him overboard too. Dripping wet with his white shirt clinging to his skin, Alessio grabbed the steering wheel and threw down the throttle causing the front of the boat to lift into the air. I was flung back against the cushions as we sped out of the harbour and out to the open sea. The roar of the wind and sound of the engine made it impossible to hear anything else and I just stared at Alessio’s back as he drove the boat, as fast as it would go, away from the island. I closed my eyes, with my hand on my heart trying to calm its violent pounding. What the fuck just happened?
“Elenora! Are you hurt?” he shouted over his shoulder.
“No! I’m fine,” I bellowed back. He didn’t stop the insane speed we were travelling until another island came into sight. The looming structure of its dark, rocky outlines made me realise it was uninhabited. I was shivering uncontrollably against the chilly breeze and was grateful when he slowed the boat as we approached the shore. He circled the sheer cliffs, watching the waves crash against the jagged rocks. Suddenly, he turned the boat and cut the engine, letting the waves push us closer to a small cove at the bottom of a cliff. He steered us in carefully until we felt the bottom of the boat sink into the sand. I stared up at the damp cave all around us as Alessio jumped out and started tying one of the ropes to a tall rock inside. He was breathing heavily, his hands tying knot after knot in frustration.
“The boat ran out of fuel. We have to stay here tonight so they don’t find us,” he panted, his voice rough and aggressive.
“Alessio,” I said quietly, but he didn’t stop. I stepped forward and climbed out of the boat, my feet sinking into the soft sand and the gentle lapping shallows of the water tickling at my ankles. “Alessio!”
His hands paused and he closed his eyes, dropping his head to his chest.
“FUCK!” he suddenly roared, slamming his fist into the rock and then hissing at the pain it caused him. I gasped, running towards him, but he moved away, holding his hand up to me.
“Don’t. I can’t right now, Elle. I can’t.”
“You can’t do what? Come here, let me see your hand!” I stepped closer, but he turned his back on me, running his hand over his hair. “Alessio. What happened back there? Who were those men?”
I waited patiently until he turned around, those ocean eyes filled with so many emotions that I couldn’t tell which one he was struggling with the most.
“Galiz’s men. He knows who you are. Cazzo, I have just fucked everything! They nearly had you, Elle. They nearly took you from me. I can’t fucking do this. I can’t keep putting you in danger like this! Everything is fucked and you don’t deserve to live like this. You need to get away from me. I can’t—” he leaned over, gripping his knees as I dived forward and grabbed his shoulders, forcing him to sit down with his back against the cave wall. He looked broken. His eyes were scrunched up tightly and he was struggling to breathe through his stress. He was having some kind of panic attack or episode as his body trembled.
“Hey! Hey!” I grabbed his face in my hands. “Look at me!” He forced his eyes open and I held those stunning pools of blue until they focused and he could see me. Really see me. “I’m here. I’m not hurt. I’m not in danger. Everything is fine.”
“Nothing is fine, Elle!” he bellowed. “You are in danger just by wanting to be with me. I just fucked up the only deal that would have given me the North and any chance I had at persuading Diego to let us be together. Galiz wanted you and I couldn’t give you to him, Elle. And now he knows and so will everyone else. I might as well have held a fucking gun to my head and pulled the trigger.”
My eyes widened as I realised just how bad this situation was and my fingers covered my mouth. He lifted his hands and rubbed his face aggressively as I sat back between his legs.
“You’re better off without me in your life. We will fly back to Venice in the morning and I will give you back to Giovanni. He’ll protect you.”
Anger whipped through me like a hurricane as I glared at him.
