Giuliano carefully places me in and climbs into the back seat alongside of me. “Worry about him later, just get us to a hospital.”
The boys lift Enrico into the front seat and he winces. Giuliano reaches over and punches him in the back of the shoulder. “What the fuck where you thinking going in there alone? I should kill you myself for being so fucking stupid.”
Val starts it with an urgent rev of the engine and takes off fast. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”
We drive up the track at speed and I can feel the panic coming out of Valentino as he looks around in the darkness.
“Where the fuck is he?” he cries as he punches the steering wheel.
“Calm down. He’s injured, he’s going to be in hiding,” Giuliano says as he wraps his coat around my shoulders. He leans in and kisses my temple. “Thank God,” he whispers as he holds me tight. “I thought I lost you.” He screws up his face in tears as he holds me. “Thank you. Thank you.” He kisses my face all over. “We’ll get you to the hospital. Hold on baby,” he whispers. “It’s okay now, I’m here.”
“There’s no blood,” Val mutters under his breath as if thinking out loud.
“What do you mean?” Giuliano asks.
“There’s no fucking blood in the trunk,” he cries.
“Where did you shoot him?”
My eyes widen, dear God. Valentino shot Carlo and he didn’t die.
Where is he?
Now the panic is making sense, I begin to look around at the forest as it flies by too.
What if he’s coming back?
“In the chest.”
“Fuck,” Giuliano mutters. “He was wearing a vest. Why wouldn’t you check that?”
Valentino punches the steering wheel again and again as he completely loses his shit. “This is just the fucking beginning,” he cries. “He will come back again and again.”
“Just drive the fucking car,” Giuliano screams. He takes out his phone and dials a number. “We’ve got her.”
“They’ve got her,” I hear Lorenzo scream, I hear cheers in the background.
“We’ve got Enrico too. He’s shot, we’re on our way to hospital. Listen to me and listen carefully,” he says in a rush. “Carlo is the new head of Lombardi.”
“What?”
I can hear every word they are saying.
“Just as you heard me. Carlo is the mole. Carlo is the one who organized this. You need to get on the computer and change every fucking password. He has had access to everything for a long, long time.”
“Dear God,” I hear Lorenzo whisper. “Carlo?”
The car takes the corner at speed and we slide to the left. “Ahhhh,” I cry.
“Slow the fuck down,” Enrico growls as he grips the dashboard.
“What’s happening?” I hear Anna say. “Is Carlo alright?”
Giuliano’s and my eyes meet and my heart constricts.
Poor Anna.
“Change the security codes to every Ferrara building and put a public ten-million- dollar bounty on his head.”
Enrico looks over to the back seat. “Twenty million.”
“Twenty million,” Giuliano snaps. “Did you hear me? Twenty-million-dollar bounty to whoever kills him, Lombardi’s men and all.”
“Yes, yes,” Lorenzo stammers. “Is Francesca alright?”
I take the phone from him. “Dad?”
“Oh, dear God.” He sobs.
I get a lump in my throat, hearing his voice brings me to my knees, I thought I was never going to hear it again. I didn’t realize how much I loved him until I thought it was too late.
“Francesca…are you alright, my darling?” Lorenzo asks.
“I am.” I smile up at my beautiful protector as he stares down at me. “Giuliano saved me.”
“What about me?” Enrico says from the front, half joking.
Giuliano reaches forward and punches his shoulder again. “You got shot, you dumb fuck.”
Val begins to feel under the dash as he drives.
“What are you doing?” Enrico barks as his eyes flick between him and the track. “Concentrate on the road.”
Val keeps going and then reaches over and feels some more. “Son of a fucking bitch,” he cries as he pulls something out and holds it in his hands. It’s black and small.
The car falls deathly silent.
“What is it?” I stammer as I look between them. “What’s wrong?”
Valentino holds it to his mouth. “You listen here, Carlo Bernetti,” he growls. “I’m going to tear you limb from fucking limb!” he screams. “Do you hear me!” he’s completely losing control.
My eyes widen.
A bug.
Valentino opens the car window and hurls the bug out into the snow.
Giuliano puffs air into his cheeks, he’s completely rattled.
“What’s happening?” Lorenzo’s voice snaps through the phone.
“There was a bug in the car,” Giuliano snarls through gritted teeth. “Sweep everything, he’s listening to every fucking thing we say.”
“Dear God,” I hear Lorenzo whisper again. “But how….”
“Trust nobody!” Giuliano screams. “There are bugs…probably in every fucking office we own. We have no idea who is on his payroll.”
“Fuck…” Enrico mutters under his breath in the front seat.
Val drags his hand through his hair in frustration.
God…this isn’t over.
We arrive out on to the main road, Val slows and then pulls out. The road is tar here and the car falls silent.
Giuliano wraps his jacket around me and holds me close, he kisses my temple as he stares out the window.
But he’s not here in the moment with me.
He’s plotting Carlo’s death.
*
Giuliano sits at the side of my hospital bed, holding my hand in his, he’s quiet and pensive, he hasn’t left my side for even a moment.
I’ve been kept in overnight for a concussion from when I hit my head on the rock and was knocked unconscious.
I drag open my heavy eyelids and he smiles softly as he brushes the hair back from my forehead. “There she is,” he whispers.
I frown, was that all a nightmare?
A collage of horror images filling my memory bank. “Giovanna?”
He leans down and kisses my forehead softly.
“Where is she?”
He gives a subtle shake of his head. “I’m sorry, baby.”
What?
“She’s….” My voice cracks.
“Yes.”
Then I remember who’s responsible and I go to sit up onto my elbows. “Where’s Anna?” I stammer as I look around. “He said he was going to come back for her.”
“In a safe place.” He kisses my forehead.
“But….”
“But nothing.” He lays me down and brushes the hair back from my forehead. “Anna has returned home to Milan with Val last night after we got you safely to the hospital. Valentino had to get Giovanna’s body home to her parents. Bruno home to his family too.”
I get a vision of Giovanna and Bruno being loaded onto the plane in coffins and my eyes well with tears.
“It’s okay, you’re safe now,” he says.
I glance out the window in the door and see men standing guard in the corridor.
“Where’s Enrico?” I ask.
“He had surgery last night and is recovering downstairs in the orthopedic ward.”
“So…he’s okay?”
“For now.” He raises his eyebrow as if unimpressed.
“What does that mean?” I frown.
“I haven’t had a chance to kill him yet,” he mutters dryly.
“Oh.” I smile softly. “Remember when he threw you down the stairs at the library?”
“How could I ever forget?”