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“Gio!” Elle cried in relief when I stepped into view. My jaw clenched as I contemplated whether I could kill a woman. I never had before. But looking at the state of Marco and Elle, I wanted nothing more than to make her pay for this.
“Where is Alessio?” I growled at Isabelle as her back hit a table behind her.
“Meeting you in Palermo,” she stuttered, nervousness evident in her voice.
“Then what the fuck is this?” I roared, pointing at my family.
“Please… please don’t kill me,” she whimpered, tears now running down her cheeks in fear. She squeezed her eyes shut as she lifted her hands higher.
“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t?”
“Gio! She was going to give me to Galiz! The American mafia and he would sell me in his sex trafficking rings!” Elle shouted, struggling against the ropes on her body to get free.
My eyes narrowed on Isabelle, feeling fury that had me lifting my gun to her head.
“No! It wasn’t my idea! I swear! I was forced to do it! I had no choice! Please,” she whimpered.
As I stared at the blubbering mess of the woman, I knew I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t kill her. I raced towards Elle, cutting the ropes from her body with my knife and untying her hands as she glared straight ahead at Isabelle. Once Elle could manage the rest alone, I moved to Marco, who was in heavy chains, making it much harder to free him.
The next few seconds happened too fast to comprehend. I heard Elle’s scream first. I turned my head to see Isabelle holding up a gun, one I hadn’t even realised she had. She was directing it at me. I felt a tug on my belt as my own gun was removed with force by Elle behind me just as the shot was fired. The bullet skimmed my shoulder, taking a slice of my skin with it but not doing any real damage. And then, more shots were fired. I didn’t know how many. Two. Three. But I remained unharmed.
I looked up from my position to see Isabelle on the floor, blood pooling around her body as Elle stared down at her with my gun in her hand. She fell to her knees, dropping the weapon to the floor as she covered her mouth in shock at what she had just done.
Fuck. Elle had never killed anyone before. I wasn’t even sure if she had shot a gun before. And now she had just killed the wife of Lorenzo Leone and sister of Alessio Barbieri. I dived to my feet, racing over to her as I picked the gun up and placed it back in my belt. Holding her firmly by the shoulders, I shook her slightly to make her look at me in her dazed state.
“Elle. We need to get out of here. Right now. Do you hear me? We need to go!”
She stared into my eyes. The same deep chocolate brown irises as my own, but now laced with fear and guilt. I pulled her to her feet before she could fall apart. She couldn’t freak out here. I had to get her to safety. My men were already now pulling a deformed Marco out of the chair and into their arms as they carried him out. I lifted Elle in my own arms when I realised her legs were too jelly-like to walk. We raced down the road towards the cars and I opened the door, placing her on the seat next to mamma. She dived into her arms the moment she saw her and that’s when the tears started flowing.
“Go! Get us to the airport as quickly as you can,” I ordered my driver as he slammed his foot on the accelerator. I glanced over at Elle, crumbling in mamma’s arms, looking like a little girl as mamma stroked her hair and whispered how everything was going to be okay over and over. My heart constricted and my fists clenched in my lap at the state she was in. My little sorella.
The alliance was off. Barbieri was as good as dead.
Losing Game
I was pacing the floor of the hotel suite with my hands on my hips from the moment Giovanni hadn’t shown up at 10 a.m. The adrenaline was coursing through my body, mixed with the growing irritation that he would dare to be late, but also dread. What if he didn’t come? What if he changed his mind? What the fuck was I supposed to do then?
This was all for Elle. I needed an alliance with him. If he refused to even hear me out, I would be forced to fight him for the North. And Elle would never forgive me for it. But what choice was Giovanni giving me?
Fabi entered the suite after going down to check at the reception if they had arrived. The look on his face told me all I needed to know. He wasn’t coming.
“Fuck!” I roared as I stopped my pacing and stared out the window, overlooking the bustling city of Palermo. “He’s just made the biggest mistake of his fucking life.”
“Have you tried calling him?” Fabi asked, running his hand through his dark hair in stress. I confided in him this morning. Told him my plan to marry Elle and form an alliance with Giovanni to take the North but keep him in power.
“Of course, I have. Voicemail, every time,” I gritted. I slumped down in a brown, leather chair and ran my hand across my stumbled chin. “What the fuck am I supposed to tell Elle now? That her brother has too much pride to even come to a fucking meeting to discuss her future? She’s going to be devastated.”
“It really is a shitty move from Buccini,” Fabi agreed, sitting down in the chair next to me. “I say just marry her anyway. It’s not like you really need his permission. She is already yours.”
I bit into my bottom lip as I tried to think about this from Elle’s point of view. Fabi had a point. If she still wanted to marry me after this, then there was nothing stopping us. But I knew her. I knew how much she loved her family. And without their approval, this would be the ultimate betrayal to them.
I pulled out my phone and called Stefano to tell them to come up. The phone rang out with no answer. I frowned deeply and tried again. There was no reason why Stefano wouldn’t answer. He was ordered to wait for my call.
“What is it?” Fabi asked when I suddenly stood up because the phone disconnected again.
“Stefano. He’s not answering.”
My heart started pounding as I fought the instant panic down that something wasn’t right. I grabbed my jacket off the sofa and threw it on, storming to the door as Fabi followed. When we got outside, I marched down the side street to the location I had given Stefano to park and wait. There was no car.
