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“Because you like me better than you do him.”
She shakes her head. “I don’t. Not at all. You humiliated me in front of everyone.”
“Yes, I did.”
“You tattooed my body and made me sleep in your bed. You could’ve just taken everything from Gio and called in a hit on him.”
“You slept with him, then?” Gio asks.
I smile. “She was fun.”
He fists his hands. “You’ll answer for this, Cristina.”
I’m going to survive if only so he can never touch her with his fists.
“You’re not good men, and if either of you dies today, people will rejoice. Including me.”
I better survive now. The stakes just went up. If I die, Gio will beat her or end her altogether. It bothers me more than it should, mainly because she’s a helpless bird I never wanted to hurt.
Cristina hands me the vial, her soft fingers brushing across my palm.
“You were fun.” I pop the cap and chug the contents down my throat. A few seconds go by. Cristina’s on the edge of her seat, staring at me.
My hand flies to my throat, and I open my mouth as if I’m choking.
“Oh my God!” Cristina screams. “Call an ambulance! Ambulance!” She’s at my side and fussing over me, but she doesn’t know what to do. I hold my throat and make choking noises. When she starts to pray in earnest, laughter escapes me, giving my antics away.
Cristina’s expression goes from concerned to angry in a second. She swings, and I let her slap me.
I deserve it. I really do.
What she does next shocks me even more. She picks up the last vial, uncaps it, and spills it on the terrace floor. Once done, she wipes her hands as if dusting off flour after kneading bread and looks directly at me, daring me to punish her.
“I brought another box,” I tell her. “Jace,” I call the guard who’s stepped outside the villa.
“You can bring yourself another girl.”
“Gio picked you. You’re it.”
She opens her mouth, no doubt to answer me, but then looks out over the terrace. She covers her eyes from the sun. “What is that?”
I cast my gaze into the distance and spot a drone at the same time that Gordon starts shouting for us to get inside.
Gio vaults out of his chair.
Cristina’s frozen.
Bullets whistle past my head.
I tackle her to the ground, my body covering hers. Cristina is screaming herself hoarse. Gordon is shouting that someone’s hit.
A bullet hits my calf. Another, my upper thigh.
My niece better be far, far away from here.
9
ARE YOU HIT?
