Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 85490 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 427(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85490 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 427(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
“We love you too.” I hold her, bury her mouth with mine, hating myself and this situation with everything I have, but she’s right. If I go in there, there’s no guarantee the Biancos won’t do something stupid. I don’t know what Angelo told his brothers after I warned him about this attack, and even if they know I’m the one that tipped them off that something might happen, they could still blame me anyway. Right now, things are too volatile. “I love you, Laura. I’ll come back.”
She yanks herself away, crying, and hurries to the door. I hate this, I hate it, but it’s her family in there. It’s always been her family. I watch her disappear back inside and a piece of me dies in that moment, withers away, rots into nothing, and I force myself to disappear into the crowd of terrified onlookers.
Chapter 40
Laura
Ihead back inside, numb. I want to turn around and go with Marco, but if I leave right now when my brothers could be lying dead, I’ll never forgive myself. The rest of my family would never forgive me, and I couldn’t even blame them.
The room’s quieter. There’s talking, a few shouted orders, but there’s no more gunfire. The big dead man near the back hall is still lying in a pool of his own blood, his sunglasses cracked and broken, askew on his face. I step over him, but leave red, sticky footprints, as I stare around the space until I spot Angelo.
He’s kneeling beside two unmoving bodies.
“No,” I whisper, feeling sick. I stumble toward him. “No, no, no.” I stare in horror, numb and ugly horror, as he reaches up to touch Simon’s mask.
The face behind it isn’t right.
I open my mouth, not sure what I’m seeing. Angelo removes Davide’s mask, and that face is all wrong too. Then I realize:
Body doubles.
They were body doubles.
I force myself to move over to Angelo. He looks exhausted, his head hanging forward, and doesn’t look up as I crouch next to him. “We knew it was coming,” he says softly. “I warned these two. I told them they’d be the target, but they were loyal. Peter and Vincenzo. Good men, both of them. I’ll make sure their families are taken care of.”
“Marco told you, didn’t he?”
Angelo nods, exhausted. “Warned me yesterday. I told Simon something was coming down and this plan came together. He didn’t like it, but it worked, right?” He gestures at the bullet-riddled room.
There are other bodies. Some injured guests, though none look dead. A few men in sunglasses are still and staring at the ceiling. But from what I can tell, none of the Bianco soldiers that flooded in after them were hurt.
“They were bait.” I remember wondering where the girls were and realize they must’ve been hidden away before this went down. “This was a trap.”
“Marco told me a few of the smaller families were coming together to take us down. Simon had gotten some similar information recently, and I guess that was enough to do something drastic.” He looks up at me, head cocked to the side. “Where is your boyfriend, anyway?”
“Left. We thought it was best.”
“Good call.” He sighs and pushes himself to his feet. He holds a hand out for me with a slight smirk. “Glad you stuck around.”
I let him help me up. “I thought Simon and Davide were dead.”
“They’re okay. Simon’s outside making sure everyone’s okay and Davide’s taking point on the clean-up and capture.” He laughs a little, his voice shaky. “Honestly, I was the only one in real danger. Aside from poor Peter and Vincenzo.”
“You’re an idiot. You should’ve had a double too.”
He shrugs and grins bigger. “I mean, hard to pull that off, considering my mask only covered half my face.”
I roll my eyes as relief floods through me.
Simon and Davide aren’t dead. They’re okay, they’re all okay. My family knew this was coming and while they took a risk, arguably a very stupid risk, it worked out. The attack was mostly stopped. The men responsible are either dead or running away. Their plan worked.
So why do I still feel so wrong?
“I was right there,” I say to him as we walk through the crowd of soldiers together toward the front of the building where everyone is gathered. “I could’ve walked away.”
“Yeah, true, but I suspect after this, Simon is going to be a bit more willing to let you see your boyfriend, considering he saved all our asses.”
“I don’t know. Simon’s kind of a bastard.”
Angelo laughs long and loud, his head tilted back, and I grin at him. Once we’re outside, I spot Claudia standing with Mom, Elena, Stefania, and Emily in the shadow of an armored car with half a dozen guards lurking around them. Elena waves at me, looking happy and like a huge weight is suddenly gone from her shoulders, and I find myself waving back. I take a step toward her and wonder if maybe I don’t belong, if maybe I should slink away and hide in my basement, but then I’m marching in her direction and everyone else is turning to greet me, and then Mom’s hugging me, and so is Elena, followed by Stefania, Emily, even Claudia, and this is right. This was right all along.