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“As soon as he is home from work,” she beamed.
I squeezed her arm in mine as the elevator descended, Finn and Guido standing protectively in front of us. The doors pinged, indicating we had reached the lower ground car park and the men stepped out first with us following behind. I was so consumed by Liv rambling on about exactly how she was going to break the news to my fratello that I didn’t notice what was happening until it was too late.
We had walked a few metres into the bleak, grey car park when the elevator door shut behind us and everything escalated at the speed of light. I felt Finn’s hand on my upper arm as he dragged me down to the cement floor, causing me to pull Liv down with me. His booming voice was hard and fierce as he ordered us both to stay low and don’t move. And that’s when the most deafening sounds rocketed around the echoing walls. Gunshots. Bullets being fired at rampant speed. Liv screamed as I instinctively covered my ears, my heart thundering in my chest. Oh my fucking god.
We were sheltered behind the rear of a parked car, huddled on the floor. I looked up to see Guido standing to the side of the car, firing his gun at whoever was attacking us. Finn was crouched next to us, his back against the bumper of the car and his gun in his hand as he sheltered himself from the onslaught of bullets. There was a break in the mayhem and he stood up suddenly, opening fire in their direction. I squeezed my eyes shut and grabbed onto Liv as I prayed that we made it out of here alive. The last time I had been in this amount of danger, I was ten years old and I had to hide in the trunk of a car from an open-fire attack on my papi in a shopping mall. I thought I was going to die. The darkness. The feeling of suffocation in such a small space. The sound of bullets bouncing off the car. It had saved my life, but it had also given me a severe case of claustrophobia ever since.
Finn dropped down again and I opened my eyes wide with fear. I saw the sweat beading on his forehead and the concern in his eyes. This wasn’t good.
“Guido, how many?” He shouted in Italian, as Guido ducked behind a different car to get a better angle. Now that I was paying attention, all I could hear between the bullets whizzing through the air and hitting the steel of car exteriors were male voices. Thick, deep Italian voices shouting aggressively at each other.
“Too many,” Guido replied.
“Who is it?” I shouted, my voice shaking as much as Liv’s body was shaking under my arm. She hadn’t looked up once. She had her head buried in her hands.
“No idea. I don’t recognize the plates or the men,” Guido answered. “We need to get them to safety.”
Finn looked around, contemplating our very limited choices. I knew a few of Gio’s men, who were waiting for us down here, were still in a fierce battle with our attackers and moving towards them was a terrible idea. Finn looked over our heads and towards the way we came.
“Elle, you and Olivia need to crawl back to the elevator. I will shield you,” he ordered. I looked over my shoulder and saw we were at least six metres away. It felt too far. Suddenly, Guido groaned in agony and dropped to the floor. I slammed my hand over my mouth to stop me from screaming at the gunshot wound in his chest that was seeping out a puddle of blood on the concrete floor around him.
“Cazzo!” Finn cursed, angry and panicked as he reached out and grabbed Guido’s gun. He shoved it in my hand and I started shaking my head at him, my lip trembling. “Go. Now. If you have to use it, use it. Exactly how I taught you.”
“No, Finn,” I begged, knowing already what he was going to do. He was going to distract them to give Liv and I a chance to get back to the elevator. He gave me a small smile before he dove out from behind the car and started shooting openly, dashing and weaving between cars while yelling in Italian. I dropped my head and whimpered. It was suicide.
And that’s when I noticed them from under the cars. All the bodies of Gio’s men on the floor on the other side of the parking lot. Finn was alone. And so were we.
“Liv! We have to move,” I yanked her arm and she looked up, her green eyes wide with terror. I raced behind the rear of the next car, the gun heavy and foreign in my hand. I had only ever shot at the shooting range with Finn. And my aim was questionable, but I couldn’t worry about that now. We managed to get halfway when bullets started hitting the car we were behind. Cazzo. They had clocked our movement.
Suddenly, everything went silent. Only our erratic breathing could be heard. We stared into each other’s eyes, not knowing what this meant.
“Olivia Buccini!”
Liv’s eyes widened as panic struck across them and I put my finger to my lips to motion to stay quiet.
“We know you are there. We don’t want to hurt you. We just want to talk.”
I shook my head at her as her nostrils flared. I glanced over her shoulder at the metal elevator door. It was too far. We would never make it without being shot at. I glanced down as Liv placed her hand on her stomach and her eyes filled with tears. The baby.
“She’s gone!”
My heart flipped at that voice. Finn. He was still alive. I stealthily stole a glance around the side of the car and saw him, arms up in surrender. He was dragging his right leg behind him, blood leaving a trail in his wake. I bit my lip as I realised he was giving us another distraction. I had to make sure Liv and this baby made it out of here. Reaching up to the button on the trunk of the BMW we were hiding behind, I tried my luck. A man was shouting at Finn in rushed Italian as the trunk clicked open and I squeezed my eyes shut with a rush of relief, but also fear that they might have heard it. Liv grabbed my arm, and I opened my eyes to see her frowning at what I was doing.
I lifted the trunk door just enough for her to be able to crawl in without them noticing.
“You have to get inside, Liv,” I whispered.
“No. What about you?” she argued with disbelief.
“They know you are here. But they don’t know I am,” I responded and her plucked eyebrows pulled down in confusion. “Get in. Think of the baby, Liv. As soon as they have gone, you ring Gio. You do not come out until Gio opens this trunk. Here, take this.”
I forced the gun in her hand. She shook her head. “Elle, no.”
“You must. It’s not just you anymore.”
Determination mixed with her fear as she took the gun and carefully climbed into the trunk. I glanced around the side of the car to see a man had Finn on his knees and was inches from his face, shouting aggressively about how he was about to die.
I looked at Liv curled up in the small, dark space with the gun in her hand, pressed up against her chest.
