“What is it?” Rafaela calls out from the kitchen.
“Cazzo,” Giovanni says under his breath. He reaches out and yanks me to my feet, pushing me behind him and gesturing for me to get out of the way. “Run! Hide!” he hisses.
I take off for the kitchen, grab Rafaela around the waist, and the two of us bolt for her bedroom. “I think they’ve found us,” I whisper, hastily locking the bedroom door before we run into the en suite bathroom and lock ourselves in there.
“Mierda,” she mumbles, her face going ashen gray. “What are we gonna do?”
“Be quiet and hide and hope Giovanni can keep them out, I guess,” I reply, feeling totally helpless. Out of the corner of my eye I see my jacket lying on the bathroom counter and I reach for it to take the knife out of its pocket. Rafaela looks at it wide-eyed.
“What the fuck are you planning to do with that?” she mutters, clearly terrified.
“Whatever’s necessary,” I answer shortly. “Now hush.”
We climb into the tub and pull the shower curtain closed, sitting in the dark, waiting for the inevitable battle to ensue. There’s a short silence, and then several earsplitting bangs. Rafaela starts to scream and I clap a hand over her mouth, shielding her with my arms as we huddle in the bathtub. There’s the unmistakable crack of the front door being kicked in, and the shouts of angry male voices out in the apartment. Next we hear the sound of breaking glass, the grunts and thumps of men fighting, and my heart aches for Giovanni, worrying that he might already be dead by now. From the sound of it, he’s definitely outnumbered, and it’s only a matter of time.
Suddenly, more silence.
All I can hear is Rafaela’s shallow, panicked breathing beside me in the darkness. And then a horrible voice cracking across the apartment, a familiar one I hoped to never hear again.
“Miss De Laurentis!” Lorenzo calls out, his heavy footsteps thumping the floor as he approaches the bedroom. I can hear him clearly, even through the two locked entrances. “I did tell you I’d be back to see you again, didn’t I? I have to admit, it hurts to see that you’re shacking up with other men, having a real party here tonight. Maybe my invitation got lost in the mail. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt one more time, bella. But my patience is wearing very, very thin. Come out and see me.”
Tears pulse down Rafaela’s cheeks as she struggles to keep quiet. My heart sinks. This can’t be how this goes down. It can’t happen like this. Where is Bruno? What happened to Giovanni?
“Knock, knock!” Lorenzo shouts, banging on the bedroom door. “Come out and play!”
He tries the lock for a moment and then I hear him bark an order in Italian. A moment later, there’s a resounding crash and I just know they’ve kicked the bedroom door down.
Lorenzo laughs, a terrible, nasally sound. “Oh, these cheap apartments in the city are so shoddily made. Just fall apart all over the place. Now, those houses out in Riverdale are much better quality, aren’t they, Serena? Your daddy kept you up there in that damn mansion of his, guarding you just like all the good fortune that didn’t rightly belong to him.”
There’s a sharp rap at the bathroom door and Rafaela squeals in fear, burrowing into my side and sobbing. Lorenzo laughs again. “I wonder what your daddy would think now, hmm? His precious virginal little daughter caught up in the same shit that killed him. I doubt he’d be very proud.”
I grit my teeth, closing my eyes and tightening my grip on the knife. He’s wrong. Maybe I have made some big mistakes, but I’ll be damned if I go down without a battle. My father would’ve wanted me to fight for my life. I’ve always had to fight, ever since the day he died, and I won’t stop now.
“Last chance,” Lorenzo continues, his voice sharp and low. “Open the door and we won’t kill your Costa side piece here. We’re not after him or your little friend in there. I want you. I think we both know it’s in everybody’s best interest if you just come quietly.”
I sit there for a moment, soaking in his words. On the one hand, I don’t want to give up. It goes against my nature entirely to just surrender now. It’s what Lorenzo wants, and I would hate to ever give him the satisfaction of beating me down. And I don’t trust him to just completely let Rafaela and Giovanni go free. Lorenzo is a lying, scamming, treacherous piece of shit. I can’t take his word.
On the other hand, maybe if I give myself up without a fight he’ll take pity on me. I don’t want to risk pissing him off further and putting Rafaela and Giovanni in any more danger than they’re already in. My heart thumps away in my chest as my mind races in every direction. What the hell can I do? I’m caged here, cornered like a wild animal.
“I’m giving you a chance here, Miss De Laurentis. Give yourself up and save your friends. Or my associate here can kick the door down and kill both of them. It’s up to you. Will you sell out your friends to benefit yourself? Like your good-for-nothing daddy did?” Lorenzo snarls.
Sneering, I sit up and pull the shower curtain to one side.
“No,” Rafaela breathes. “Don’t.”
“I have to. If it gives you any chance of survival, I have to,” I reply simply, climbing out of the tub to unlock the door and deliver myself to the devil. I turn the lock and open the door, letting the light stream into the darkened bathroom. Lorenzo takes me by my knife arm and pulls me close, looking me up and down with rakish glee. One of his henchmen runs into the bathroom and grabs hold of Rafaela. Giovanni is slumped over the combined shoulders of two henchmen, looking void of life.
“You said you wouldn’t hurt them!” I shout, slapping Lorenzo across the face. He grabs my hand and wrenches it behind my back, his eyes flashing with fury.
“No, I said I would not kill them. Your guard dog here will catch a nice ransom from the Costa family. And as for you and your pretty friend, I have my own plans,” he says, smirking cruelly. Remembering my training, I manage to quickly wiggle free of Lorenzo’s grasp, using his own weight against him to pin him in the doorway with my knife pressed against his throat. I can tell the only reason I’m able to get the upper hand is by the element of surprise, but regardless I’m grateful. Two henchmen come barreling toward us to presumably free Lorenzo from me, but he shakes his head ever so slightly.
He raises an eyebrow and says, “No, no, boys. Leave us be. Miss Serena, if you kill me it will be your friend’s blood on your hands.”
I glance over to see a man holding the barrel of a gun to Rafaela’s head and my stomach turns.
Shit.
There’s nothing I can do.