Page 320 of Valentino

“Heavenly Father, please protect us.”

3:03 p.m.

VALENTINO

“That guy’s a fucking idiot,” I whisper as we walk out onto the street. “I’m not having a bar of that shit.”

“You don’t think it’s a good idea?” Giuliano frowns.

“No way in hell that return on investment is guaranteed. He’s spitting complete bullshit.”

“I don’t know,” Enrico replies as we begin to walk back to the car. “I looked into it and….”

Dtttt dtttt. A semiautomatic weapon sounds.

We all dive behind a car and draw our guns. “Get down,” I call to our guards. “Take cover.”

Enrico points to a building opposite us and then up. We take aim from our place on the street curb behind a parked car.

People run and scream. Windows smash, cars screech.

“Who?” Giuliano whispers as we sit up against a car.

My heart races. “What the fuck is going on here?”

Dtttt dtttt.

“Mine,” Enrico whispers calmly, he takes aim and shoots a single shot.

“Arghhh.” A man falls over the edge of a building, he thuds hard onto the concrete.

Dead.

Dtttt dtttt sounds again, another round. Echoing off the surrounding building. It’s coming from another balcony, one floor up. This is no accident, they knew we were here.

“We were set up.”

Windows smash, more screaming. Enrico takes aim again, he misses.

Tomasso takes aim,

Dtttt dtttt. Tomasso falls to the ground.

No.

Enrico fires again.

“Arghhh.”

The shooter plunges to his death….

The street falls silent, we sit, panting, still sitting up against the car. In shock. That was close.

Fuck.

My phone vibrates in my pocket and I dig it out.

Anna.