Chapter 14 - The Man I Married
Emergency lights flickered red.
David stood ten feet away.
He looked terrible.
Bruise across his jaw.
Blood on his collar.
Gun shaking in his hand.
Alessandro stepped in front of me.
David laughed.
“Of course.”
“Drop the weapon,” Enzo said.
“If I drop it, Adrian kills me.”
“If you keep pointing it at her,” Alessandro said quietly, “I do.”
David’s hand shook harder.
I moved around Alessandro.
“Mara.”
“I need to see him.”
David’s eyes met mine.
For one awful second, I remembered the man I married.
The man who made pancakes on Sundays.
The man who kissed my forehead when my grandmother died.
Before gambling hollowed him out.
Before lies replaced everything else.
“You stole from me.”
“I know.”
“You put me at Lumina.”
“Yes.”
“You knew Leo was in danger.”
“No.”
His voice broke.
“I swear.”
“What did you know?”
“They wanted the ring.”
“They told me to get you hired.”
“They said if you started wearing it again, Julian would photograph it.”
“Why not just take me?”
“Because they didn’t know what Sofia told you.”
“She told me nothing.”
“I know that now.”
Alessandro’s voice cut through.
“Who is the traitor?”
David looked at him.
“You really don’t know?”
“No.”
David laughed bitterly.
“Your whole empire is built on people lying to you.”
“Name him.”
David’s gaze moved to the ledger.
“Not him.”
“Her.”
The door behind us exploded inward.
Gunfire cracked.
Enzo shoved me behind the chest.
Alessandro returned fire.
David dropped.
I screamed his name.
Smoke filled the unit.
Men rushed the doorway.
Then everything became motion.
Enzo pulled me toward the back wall.
Alessandro dragged David behind cover.
Within seconds, the attackers retreated.
One lay wounded in the corridor.
Another escaped.
David gasped.
Blood spread across his side.
I pressed my hands against the wound.
“You idiot.”
He laughed weakly.
“You always said that.”
“Who is she?”
His face tightened.
“The traitor.”
“Who?”
He looked at Alessandro.
“Ask Rosa.”
Silence.
Alessandro’s face became deadly.
David grabbed my wrist.
“No.”
“Not like that.”
“Rosa isn’t working for Adrian.”
“Then what?”
“She knows who is.”
David coughed.
“Your mother never died when you think she did.”
Alessandro froze.
“What?”
“Lucia Vitale survived the house attack.”
“Impossible.”
“She survived.”
“She helped Sofia hide Matteo.”
“Then Vittorio found her.”
“Where?”
David’s eyes fluttered.
“Bellandi estate.”
Enzo crouched.
“David.”
“Stay awake.”
David smiled faintly at me.
“I’m sorry about the ring.”
My eyes burned.
“Tell me where it is.”
His smile became almost familiar.
“Where I should’ve put it the first time.”
May you like
“Back with your grandmother.”
Then his eyes closed.
