“The fuck is wrong with this guy?” Lorenzo asks.
“Ah, stop!” Kidnapper points to Jenkins, who’s trying to make a move behind them. “Get over there. Now, everyone, put your weapons down, because I’m absolutely certain you don’t want me slicing into her like a fruit ninja. Back off. Me and Alice have unfinished business. Where is my money?”
“In hell. I got a one-way ticket for you, too,” I tell him, calculating in my mind how fast I need to move to get to him before Evelyn gets hurt. “Mio dolce, you okay?”
“Sono grande! I’m just great. Get me the fuck out of here,” she growls.
“Cops are going to be here about that alarm, Slick,” Lorenzo says, taking the kidnapper’s attention.
“Then we don’t have long. How about this? An oldie, but a goodie, seeing as I’m outnumbered. I’ll untie her, and we can fight.”
“You want to fight Evelyn?” I ask, blinking rapidly. “Don’t untie her. She has a thing about knives and will fuck you up.”
“HA! I don’t think so. She’s been pretty helpless so far.”
“Fuck you,” Evelyn snaps. “Untie me and see how fucking helpless I am.”
He thinks I’m fucking joking. I put my gun down and strip out of my vest. It’s a shitty distraction at best, but I’m willing to try anything.
“What are you doing, Alice-Andrew?”
“You showed me yours, it’s about time I show you mine,” I tell him, taking my shirt off to show him his handiwork. I barely turn to the side so I can keep my eye on Evelyn.
“Alessandro, don’t!” Evelyn shouts.
“Alice-Andrew, do,” he sings. “It’s marvelous. A masterpiece.”
As he stands up to get a better look, Evelyn swings up wildly, slamming her bound fists into the center of his face, right across the bridge of his nose, and sends him staggering backward.
Perfect.
My knife is faster than Jenkins as I fling it with deadly accuracy. The blade pierces him through the mouth and the back of his head. He falls back, coughing and gagging, tears streaming down his face and bleeding onto the cement floor.
Jenkins rushes over to untie Evelyn while Lorenzo and I approach the squirming body of her kidnapper.
“You want to punch his ticket to hell?” Lorenzo’s sarcasm is unmatched in moments like this.
I nod, and just to finish my handiwork, I plug two bullets into his face. Evelyn comes to my side, spitting at his feet.
“I said, I’m going to kill you if my husband doesn’t kill you first. Macchia di merda.” She curses the guy with my arm around her.
None of this should have happened, and it makes me sick to my stomach thinking that Oz had anything to do with it.
“I’m so sorry,” she tells me. “He killed your mother. He told me.”
“Don’t apologize for anything this psycho did. I’m just happy you’re okay. He’s dead now, and my mother, Rosalie De Luca, can finally rest in peace.”
30
ALESSANDRO
Lorenzo and Jenkins do a sweep of the warehouse to make sure we don’t leave anyone alive. Evelyn refuses to leave my side, and I won’t let her. We find ourselves looking at the guy who held us both hostage for far too long, and I nudge him with my foot.
“I think he’s dead this time, Alessandro,” she says quietly.
I bend down, patting down his pockets. There’s a phone in one and a wallet in another. Opening it up, there isn’t any ID, but I’m not expecting to find any.
“What are you looking for?” she asks.