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Holding my breath, I watch as Angelo goes to pull the trigger. The loud sound of a gunshot goes off before my mom and Angelo fall to the floor in a heap. Nothing but her cries echo in my ears.
It’s as if I’ve been caught in my own terrible version of the matrix, as everything slows to a near stop. I have no idea what’s going on when Fausto pulls me in front of him and moves the barrel of the gun from my ribs up to the side of my head as he frantically tries to reposition himself behind me. And that’s when another gunshot goes off, then we’re both falling.
I’m lying facedown on the hardwood floor with the weight of Fausto on me when I see blood drip down my shoulder.
I’ve been shot.
I can’t feel anything. My body is frozen. Muffled voices slowly come through before I hear another loud noise. I want to move. I want to get up. But I can’t. I just lie here as the blood continues to drip down, pooling on the floor beneath us.
49
MATTEO
Inever should’ve trusted Angelo Mancini. Once a snake, always a fucking snake. The signs were there, and I overlooked them like a damn idiot. My fucking guttold me, but I ignored it, and now my wife is in danger.
This is all my fault.
All my fucking fault.
My mind races as situation after situation play out in my head of what we could be driving up to as Gianni speeds along the windy road, following Lux’s tracker. If anything happens to my girl, I’ll dismember Mancini’s body limb by limb and anyone else who’s touched a hair on her head. I’ll fucking burn this city down for her.
I can’t lose her. I fucking can’t.
Enzo must feel my internal struggle from the driver’s seat because he says, “We’re going to get her back, Teo. You just have to hold it together a little bit longer. For her.”
The strain on my heart is still there. It’s painful, but I take a deep breath as I attempt to keep myself from losing my mind.
I can’t lose her. Iwon’tfucking lose her.
“Cut the lights,” I tell Enzo as we get closer. I look over my shoulder, and Rocco turns off his lights a few moments later, following our lead.
“Pull off over there,” I say, pointing to a turn-off on the road.
We jump out of the G-Wagon as Rocco comes to a stop behind us, then meet them at their car. Turning to my side, I point to the light shining a few hundred feet away. “See that light?” I ask in a hushed tone. “According to Lux’s tracker,that’swhere she is. We need to get closer before I make a plan. I need to see what we’re dealing with first.”
I give my guys a silent gesture, and we make our way toward the light, keeping our rifles up and ready to fire at any moment. I have no idea what we’re walking into, but we use the night vision mode on our scopes to scan the surrounding woods as we make our way up.
We’re still a couple hundred feet away from a wooden cabin when I raise my fist, halting my men immediately. We’re far enough away where the light doesn’t shine on us but close enough to get a better view of what we’re working with. The only car in the driveway is Mancini’s silver Bentley. The trunk is still open, and it makes me wonder if that’s because Lux put up a fight when she was taken out of it. My stomach churns thinking about her having to fight anyone.
I quickly scan the area, confirming no one else is in sight. There’s no guard, no other vehicles, no one. Pointing, I signal to my men to flank the sides of the house while Enzo and I approach the cabin. The only noise is the crunching gravel beneath our boots.
As we approach the cabin, a scream breaks through the night air, so loud and sharp it forces me to break out into a sprint, not even thinking about anything other than my wife and needing to get to her immediately.
I can’t be too late. I can’t be too fucking late!
As I race up to the cabin, I get a good enough view of the inside of the house through a window, then slide to a stop. Enzo skids next to me. My heart stops, but I don’t think, I just act on instinct and lift my rifle. Enzo, always being so in tune with what I’m doing, does the same thing. I locate Fausto who has his gun pointed at Lux, and Angelo with the barrel of his jammed into Lux’s mother’s temple.
“Fuck,” I hiss out.
I can tell the tension is high in the room when Angelo jams the gun into Lux’s mother’s head, and that’s when I make the decision.
I don’t give any orders to Enzo.
I can’t even breathe, let alone speak.
There’s no time.
I act on instinct, and I just shoot.
