They stood feet apart, pointing their guns at each other’s heads. Scrambling on the gravel behind her, she saw Nico’s eyes dart to her right.
“No, no, no,” Jess growled, shoving her gun closer to Nico’s head. “Eyes on me.”
Bewildered, Nico took two steps back, alarm opening his eyes and mouth.
“Get out,” Jess commanded. “Enzo isn’t coming. I killed him, and his men.” She took three steps toward Nico. “And I’ll kill you too.”
The ground shook, a low rumble shaking the walls of the castle, a cascade of dust and pebbles showering onto the courtyard around them.
The look on Nico’s face shifted, a storm of anger and frustration bringing his brows together. “You don’t know what you’re doing. His family, the Ruspolis, they killed our family,” he growled, his voice low and menacing. He shoved his gun at Jess. “Your family.”
“One more word, and I’ll put a bullet in your head,” Jess said in a flat voice, advancing toward him. “What’s one more dead in all this?”
He snarled, but scrambled back, toward the door in the wall. “You don’t know what you’re doing,” he repeated.
Jess stood her ground, her arm steady, her gun pointed at Nico’s head. “I know what I’m doing.”
Nico turned, unlatched the lock and opened the door.
“No,” he said, pausing to look Jess in the eye. “No, you do not.” He stepped through the door.
Jumping forward, Jess slammed her shoulder into the door and twisted the latch closed.
“Giovanni!” she yelled. “Go and check the other entrances. Make sure we’re locked down.” Her hand with the gun shook, the adrenaline flooding her bloodstream finally getting the better of her.
Giovanni nodded and scrambled off, limping, toward the stairs that led into the main building. Celeste held Hector, both of them crouching beside a large terracotta urn flowering with azaleas.
“It was Nico,” Jess explained, seeing the look of utter confusion on her mother’s face. “It was always Nico. I talked to Enzo. He said he was the one that emailed you on Facebook, but he lied when I said we exchanged mail. He barely understood what Facebook was. And Leone, when we arrived, said Nico and I looked like brother and sister, don’t you remember? And the security guards? Nico told us to take them. He hired them. He was behind it all.”
Celeste looked wide-eyed at Jess, still not understanding.
“There’s some kind of blood feud between Giovanni's and Nico’s families.” Jess pointed at her own chest. “Our family. Nico is our family. The Tosettis. That’s why he emailed you on Facebook. He wanted to get us here.”
The ground rumbled again, a distant thunder echoing beyond the walls.
“I’ll explain more later.” Jess looked up. A black cloud billowed high, obscuring the bending and patterning tendrils of light in the brightening sky. “We need to get underground.” She took a deep breath, gulping in air. “Where’s Dad? Did he get here?”
Celeste shook her head. “He never arrived.”
Jess sobbed, bringing one hand to her mouth. What happened to him? She had so much she wanted to say, but it was too late now. She held back her tears.
“JESSICA!”
It was Nico’s voice, yelling over the top of the walls.
She ignored it. “Come on, let’s get into the caves.”
“JESSICA!” screamed Nico again. “Your father wants to speak with you.”
Halfway across the courtyard, Jess froze, her face tingling. She turned to Celeste. “You never saw Dad?”
Celeste shook her head. “No.”
“You take Hector into the basement. I need to check.” Jess turned, sprinted to a stone staircase leading to the top of the portico gates, hopped up them as quickly as she could.
Reaching the top, the rising sun momentarily blinded her. She shielded her eyes. White tendrils snaked out of the sun, fiery spider legs spreading into the sky, enveloping the Earth.
A thudding detonation startled her and she glanced to her right. Red flame gorged from the top of Monterufoli volcano. Lightning crackled through thick black clouds billowing from its cauldron. The ground rumbled. Past Monterufoli, the plains stretched into the distance—to the Mediterranean—but in the brightening twilight, the water wasn’t on the horizon as it usually was. An undulating sheet of liquid had swallowed the entire plain and was churning into the foothills below.
“Quite the family reunion, no?” Nico stood in the gravel driveway, standing behind her father with his arm around Ben’s neck, a gun pointed at his head.
Jess squinted to see in the dim light.
“I’m sorry,” Ben croaked, his voice hoarse. “This is my fault—”
“Shhhh,” Nico hissed, tightening his grip around Ben’s neck, choking off his words. “We can have touching words later. A trade. The Baron for your father, and I will leave.”
Jess closed her eyes. “This is insane.” She gripped the gun. A tremor shook the castle walls, the sky blistering in yellows and reds.
“Throw the gun down,” Nico commanded. “And get the Baron out here. Then you can have your father.”