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The wind whistled through the broken windows, bringing with it the suffocating summer heat. Behind her, Gio continued to breathe shallowly, clutching her protectively.
“W-what?” Antonio’s voice broke. Devastation on his face. He turned desperately to Ana, begging her to restate it or correct it, but when she could not, he ran an agitated hand through his hair. Shell-shocked. “Gabi’s accident…”
His words trailed off.
But the truth would not ebb.
Every ruinous thing that had happened to Gabriella and Gio’s family had been at his mother’s hands, because of her unquenching need to rise to the top and secure the Mancini family’s position.
Tony wiped his face, which was sweating under the sweltering heat, as Auntie tried to protest. She tried to defend herself, but he didn’t seem to hear any of it.
“How–I don’t–” His eyes flared, looking so lost. “Are you actually going to kill them?” he said hoarsely, watching the guards with their guns drawn.
There was no denial.
Maybe her aunt would save Ana, but even that seemed unlikely now with Ana crouched in front of Gio, shielding him from their fire.
“Tell them to leave.”
Silence.
“Mom, tell the guards to leave!”
When her aunt refused, he yanked out a gun from his back pocket and pointed it at one of the guards, his arms shaking violently.
“Tony!”
“Both of you leave!”
“Tony, stop that–”
Bang!
One of the guards who had started to aim at Gio’s head instantly dropped to the floor with a loud grunt, a bullet ripping through his right hand. His gun clattered onto the carpet.
Ana covered her mouth, shocked. Her cousin had actually done it. He’d fired at one of his mom’s guards. She hadn’t even realized that he’d been carrying a gun when he’d entered, or that he knew how to operate one. But he must have prepared himself after Ana’s cryptic call.
Her dazed eyes slid over to the fallen body.
If he’d fired one second later, the guard’s bullet would have ripped straight through Gio.
The second guard scrambled away, rushing to the door when Tony swung his gun over to him. “I’m leaving. I–”
Bang!
He frantically ripped open the door and fled out into the hall.
Tony breathed heavily, his chest pumping with adrenaline.
Everything was eerily quiet and vacant in the aftermath of the guard’s flight. The housekeeper was also nowhere in sight. Only Auntie remained, appalled by the staff deserting her.
She lifted her gaze to her son, stunned.
Tony seemed in a daze himself, almost unnerved by his own actions. Sweat continued pouring down his face.
Not wanting to lose this opportunity, Ana quickly scrambled to her feet, tugging Gio up. “Tony–please, help.”
Her husband’s eyelids were fluttering close. His pulse was growing fainter. But he couldn’t look away from the older woman in front of them. “D-don’t let…her…go.”
