No.
I struggle harder, I need to break free.
Now!
As Lombardi talks to the two other men in the room, he keeps breaking into a deep cough, barely able to speak at times. Wheezing and gasping as if there is no air in his lungs.
I wish there wasn’t.
I look around the room, what do I do? How can I get out of here?
A gunshot rings out, the room falls silent.
Lombardi holds his hand out toward me. “Gag her.”
Another shot is fired.
Someone’s out there.
“I’m in here,” I yell.
Suddenly I feel duct tape go around the circumference of my head and over my mouth. I struggle to try to stop them. “Help. Help,” I cry in a muffled voice as I fight, I rock the chair as I try to get away. “I’m in here.”
Another round of bullets rings out, a man screams, and my eyes widen.
Someone’s been shot.
Lombardi calmly plays with my hair, completely unfazed. “I told you he would come.”
A text pings on a phone that sits on the table, Lombardi picks it up and then after reading it, smiles and his eyes rise to meet mine. “Carlo has succeeded. Giuliano Ferrara is no more.” He rubs his hand over my hair. “I would offer my condolences, Miss Ferrara…if I cared.”
No.
The earth shatters beneath, my vision blurs.
No.
He can’t be dead…. He can’t leave me here alone.
I get a vision of his beautiful face, us laughing and rolling around together in bed.
That can’t be it.
This can’t be where our love story ends.
It’s not finished yet.
I stare into space through tears as a million memories run through my mind. I see us kissing in the library when we were kids. Dancing in the kitchen, loving in the dark.
The tenderness, the passion.
The way he loves me with his whole heart.
Loved.
The air leaves my lungs.
“I have to say.” Lombardi smirks. “That was easier than I anticipated.” He shrugs. “Weak. Carlo will make a much better leader.”
No.
This can’t be happening.
Automatic guns sound from outside and the windows smash, everyone dives to the floor. A piece of the broken glass flies at speed and hits my upper arm and my chair is knocked over to its side, I fall heavily onto the floor.
“Oww.” I screw up my face in pain. To the sound of crazed gunfire, I feel something warm under my face and drag my eyes open to see that it’s a puddle of blood. The cut in my arm is deep…I feel the pulse in my shoulder as I bleed.
Giuliano’s beautiful face comes into my mind and my heart hurts.
He can’t be gone…no, I can’t do this. I can’t live in a world without him.
Did he suffer?
Tears roll down my face and drip to the floor, heartbreak and blood blend together to make a red river of devastation.
I hope I die.
Would they bury us together?
The guns fall silent, and in the distance, I hear a man cry, “He’s down.”
Giuliano
His face falls. “What are you doing?”
I click the trigger as I pull it back. “Where the fuck is she?” I growl.
“I don’t know, I just woke up. I swear,” he stammers. “It’s me…Giuliano.”
“What are you doing?” Alex snaps. “Giuliano, stop it.”
“Take his guns and his phone,” I demand.
Valentino leans down and takes his gun from his pocket.
“And the other ones,” I say.
He pats him down and finds another gun strapped to his shin, along with a large knife.
Val’s brow furrows and his eyes meet mine.
“Get him up,” I demand as I snatch his phone from Val. “Take him down to the car.” I begin to walk off.
“What are you doing?” Carlo cries. “I don’t know what’s happening, one minute I’m skiing, the next I wake up on a mountain.”
Something snaps deep inside of me, and I march back and grab Carlo by the throat. “One person was dragged to that helicopter. One,” I cry as I stare at his lying face. My nostrils flare as I struggle for control, I’ve never wanted to kill someone so bad in all my life. “And the person who dragged her there had a size fourteen foot.”
His face drops and I know that I’m right.
“It was you!”
“It wasn’t…I swear.”
“Liar,” I scream in his face. “They had inside information, what country we were in, what ski lodge we were at, what mountain she was on.” I step back from him, disgust filling my every cell.
“You’ve got the wrong man.”
“Tie him up and put him in the trunk of my car.”
“This wasn’t me!” he cries. “Come on, Giuliano. You’re my best friend.”
“She’d better be alive….” I turn and march off.
“Or what?” he calls from behind me.
I turn, adrenaline surging through my bloodstream, Val puts his hand over my chest to hold me back, knowing I’m about to lose my living shit and kill him right here, right now.
“Or…your death is not only imminent…I’m going to cut you up alive.”
Our eyes are locked.
“Tie him up.” I reach into my jacket and pass over a bag of cable ties.
I’ve come prepared.
Val takes them and ties his hands and feet together and they load him onto the back of the skimobile, we drive down the mountain in silence.
We haven’t had a close friend betray us before. This is new territory, another level of fucked up.
“Take him to the main road on the ski, Val and I will pick him up in the car. We can’t transfer him here, someone will see.”
They keep driving down the hill and Val and I go up to the room and grab the keys to the car and go down into the basement parking lot, Val gets into the driver seat and we pull out, it’s snowing again.
We drive in silence.
“Are you sure about this?” he mutters.
“Yep.”
His eyes flick over to me. “What if you’ve got it wrong?”
“I haven’t.” I dig Carlo’s phone out of my pocket and turn it on, I punch in his passcode.
Val frowns as he watches. “You know his code?”
“I’m with him every day, of course I see what his passcode is.”
“Do you know mine?”
“Eleven sixty-five.”
Val smirks. “Not bad.”
I go through his messages until I get to the last one sent.
Bring the chopper, she’ll be on top of the mountain in thirty minutes.
Three guards tops
I close my eyes, the blinding betrayal hurting more than it should.
Val’s eyes flick between me and the road. “What does it say?”
I read it out. “Bring the chopper, she’ll be on top of the mountain in thirty minutes. Three guards tops.”
“Fuck.” Val runs his hand through his hair and then snaps and punches the steering wheel with force.
We see the skimobile on the side of the road and we pull over, I pop the trunk and they throw him in. Val goes behind the car and I hear him connect some punches as he loses control.
He gets back in the car and I pull out in silence, Val open and closes his hand as he tries to get some feeling back into it.
We drive in silence for a few minutes. “What now?” Val sighs.
“I’m going through the call register now.” I go through the calls made and incoming and one number keeps coming up.
I call my men who are already trying to track Francesca’s phone from the tower.