by Avery Hawkes
Fumbling, I took the car key out of my pocket and clicked the unlock button, looking out on the parking lot. At the far end of the lot, I saw tail lights flash.
My ride was waiting for me.
I grinned.
Here I come, Piper.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Piper
I was shivering from the cold, staring out of a window into the darkness beyond. I was terrified that so much time had passed since my text to Luca. If I was correct, we were closer to Florence than I realized, nestled in the Tuscan countryside.
Robert watched me like a hawk, only leaving to have loud conversation with what had to be the Milan Mafia.
It wasn’t looking good for either of them.
From what I had gathered over the last day of him yelling into his smartphone, a full on war was starting up between factions. There had been tensions for a while between the two, and this was the spark that would light the fire.
There had already been another shoot out but in Naples this time. A few of Franco’s men had died. They planned for more fighting and eventually wanted to make their way to the big man himself.
I felt sick to my stomach as I listened to his conversations. Whenever I was offered food or wine, I declined it.
Was this going to be my new life?
Was I forever cursed to be stuck with my ex, trapped in a Tuscan prison?
While it was beautiful in Tuscany, I could see cracks in the foundation of the place. The men eyed me like I was some sort of meat and all of the women were submissive. One even used a lot of foundation to try and cover a bruise on her face. The guards had guns and waved them around gesturing while talking.
Someone would get killed in this house if they hadn’t already, whether that be from an accident or on purpose.
I just hoped that it was Robert.
He had let me sit in the living room for the evening as I paged through book after book that were only in Italian. Luckily, I could understand most of what they had to say, but not everything.
“Looks like you’re having fun over here,” Robert said, walking in from one of his heated calls. I could tell by the look on his face that he wanted to take it out on someone, but it wasn’t going to be me.
I shrugged. “I guess you could put it that way.”
The man walked over and sat next to me, too close. It was like he still believed that we were a couple. The fact that he thought we could still be a couple after what he had done was sickening at best.
I tried to scoot away from him, but he had snaked his arm around me and pulled me in even more.
“You look tired. Don’t worry, soon we’ll be out of this mess.”
“What?” I asked, trying not to show that I was panicking inside.
“It’s getting dangerous around here. We’ll be leaving for Milan in the morning. You’ll love it there.”
“So, I’m just supposed to go with you?”
“Where else would you go?” his voice was like ice. That was a good question. If I wanted to go anywhere, I would probably pick a small, warm, island. Far away from all of the drama and violence that the Mafia had caused me. I couldn’t tell Robert that, though. The worst place I could possibly be was on a deserted island alone with him.
“Home, I guess?”
“New York? Why would you want to go back to that trash heap when you could live in Europe? The food, the culture, the people! They’re all better!” He was waving his free arm, trying to get me excited about Milan, no doubt. But I wouldn’t take the bait. There was no way in hell I was going to follow him into a Mafia den.
“I’m a bit over Europe after what happened at the club,” I sighed. “What’s so wrong with home? I thought you loved it back there?”
“They didn’t understand my potential back in the United States.” Rob said, bringing me closer. “Here, they appreciate me.”
Rob motioned to the entire room, “Look, they gave me this house as a bonus. Right in the heart of Tuscany. It even has its own winery!”
“You must be very proud of yourself,” my voice dripped with sarcasm. Rob didn’t like that. The sarcasm wasn’t something I used much of when we were in a relationship. Once I was born again into the Mafia, it was probably the only way I survived.
“Are you disrespecting me?” Rob took a handful of my hair and pulled so that I was looking straight into his eyes. There was no one home behind them. The man he used to be back when we first started dating was gone and had been replaced by darkness. Terror filled the pit of my stomach. I stayed silent, lips sealed as we stared each other down.
He shook me, pulling harder at my scalp.
“You used to fucking disrespect me all the time in New York.” He was yelling so loud that I could feel spit hit my face.
“I-I didn’t mean to,” I said quietly.
“You didn’t fucking mean to? Really? Come on, I wasn’t born yesterday. You threw a fucking glass of wine at my face!”
His rage wasn’t going to stop. I could feel his grip get tighter and his face get redder. Just when I thought he was going to hit me, he let me go.
Rob heaved a great big sigh, running a hand through his own hair to smooth it back.
“But …” he said, closing his eyes in a calming fashion, “...I forgive you.”
I stared at him like he was a crazy person. He WAS a crazy person. His mood switched from complete and total rage to calm and collected another second. Robert had really flown off the deep end in the last two years.
“T-Thank you,” I had to say something. Anything to keep him from flying off again. Next time, he probably would do more than grab my hair.
After a few deep breaths, Rob finally turned to me.
“We should talk about us,” he leaned forward to touch my hand, as though I hadn’t just experienced him physically abusing me. I wanted to slap him, but instead I just twitched.
“What about us, Rob?”
“I know it’s been a long time, Piper, but I really missed you.”
“You missed me? What did you miss about our relationship? Hm? Did you miss being able to use me to kill—no, MURDER people?”
I watched in fear as anger grew in him, about to send him into another uncontrollable rage, but then he forced it back down.
“I helped you use your talents. Do you think that the Air force would EVER let you serve on active duty as a sniper?”
Silence filled the room. Of course they wouldn’t, women couldn’t serve as snipers on active duty. However, he was missing the point of my training. It wasn’t based off of some twisted need to kill people, but out of the challenge to learn a skill and become the best I could at it.
It was something Robert would never be able to understand. All he did was take from other people. From me, from the Mafia, from Luca.
As I sat there, contemplating my situation, one of the guards entered the room.
“Excuse me sir, you’ll have to see this.”
Robert gave a long, exasperated sigh before getting up. Before he left to speak to the guard, he turned around to look at me.
“We’ll pick this up later,” he said then stomped over to grumble with the guard in the dining room. I stared into space, wondering if my new world was being Rob’s monkey. How long would I last until I crossed a line and he choked me to death? Probably not as long as I’d like to think. The closet in my room called me and I shook my head and returned to my reading.
I tapped my fingers against my book and then heard the crash. When I glanced into the dining room, I saw Rob throwing an expensive vase across the room.
“CUUUUNT!” he yelled at the top of his lungs. I froze in place, hoping to God that the cunt he spoke about was not me.
I was wrong.
His eyes were blazing with fury as he stomped into the room, ceramic chunks crunching under his feet. When he got into the room, he stood in front of me, then raised a phone up to show me.
“What the fuck is this?” he demanded.
It was my phon
e. Somehow, the guards had gotten ahold of it and charged it up. They had gotten through my security code and were looking at my recent texts.
No.
On the screen was the location I had sent Luca.
“What. The. Fuck. Is. This?” he repeated slowly, starting to walk forward toward me. I started shaking my head and moving away from him, standing up from the couch and slinking away. I saw in his eyes that he was a predator ready to strike at his prey.
“Please Rob, Please—you have to understand.”
He leapt forward, giving me little to no time to run away. He grabbed me by the forearms and I kicked at him. That made him even angrier.
“You told that man where we are?” he dug his hands into me, pulling me in until he had me pinned against his chest. I could feel his breath on the side of my neck, making my hairs stand on end.
My body thrashed from left to right, trying to get out of his vice-like grip. However, it was no use, he was lot larger and stronger than I was.
“You’ll pay for that,” he said, whispering in my ear before biting my earlobe. I screamed, wondering if anyone could help me to no avail. Soon, two guards were standing next to me, taking me from Robert’s arms. It was like a breath of fresh air not having to have his body against mine.
“Call for the cars,” Robert ordered one of them. “And take her upstairs.” He leaned in. “As soon as the cars come, we’re leaving for Milan. But, I’ll need a few minutes with her beforehand.” His smile told me everything about the nature of his pans with me.
I spit in his face.
Wiping the spit off, he raised his hand up and slapped me across the face. I took it without so much as a yelp. I would take whatever he dished out, but not without a fight first.
Bang.
Bang. Bang.
Shots rang out in the distance.
Everyone froze, listening in the darkness for the sound. Silence answered. For a few moments, I thought that we all had just heard an animal getting into the trash or a car backfiring.
Bang.
There was no doubt in anyone’s minds that the sound came from a gunshot. It was like Robert had forgotten all about me, pulling out his gun and motioning to the body guards to exit the house through the side doors.
I tried to fade into the wallpaper, slowly crouching down near the couches for cover. If it didn’t look like I was trying to get out of the house, perhaps they’d let me stay in the living area.
This was my chance to escape.
I had no idea who was out there, whether it was Franco’s men here to murder every man, woman and child, or Luca.
Rob hesitated with his firearm. He was a coward, letting other people do his dirty work. I could tell from where I was, he was shaking, listening for any sign of battle.
Suddenly, a flurry of gunshots rang out, ending in a surprised scream.
Someone had been hit.
“Don’t worry,” Rob said, turning to me. “If it’s that man they forced you to marry, I’ll protect you from him.”
He gave me a long creepy grin before booking it back toward the back entrance in the kitchens.
I was all alone, weaponless in the middle of a gunfight.
Oh goody.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Luca
The place was swanky; I could give Robert that. Yard lights lit up the front of the white
building, a stark contrast from the darkness that was the Tuscan countryside.
Robert might as well have put up a billboard saying, “PIPER IS HERE.”
All I had was Armento’s gun, which felt awkward in my hands. I parked the car down the road from the house, turning the engine and tail lights off so I wouldn’t be seen. The rest of the way I would have to go on foot.
There was only one thing on my mind and that was saving Piper. Whatever happened, I needed to make sure she got to safety. I left the keys inside of the ignition, just in case either of us had to make a quick getaway.
The house was located on top of a hill. While it wasn’t too high, the initial walk was steep. I kept to the side of the road, hoping to have trees and underbrush as cover.
As I got closer and closer to the building, I saw movement on the lawn. I stayed low, not moving for a second as I watched the men out in front of the house.
There was one in front, one on the side. I hoped that more weren’t lurking in the shadows. Slowly, I crept out of the roadway and toward the side of the building. It was difficult to see where I was going and what I was stepping on, but just waltzing up to the front door wasn’t an option.
As I walked, I came upon a small shed that I used for cover as I tried to come up with a plan.
I was closer to the house now and could see inside of the windows. There was movement and I could see someone who looked like Rob, holding someone shorter than him. The woman had a dark hair, cut into a bob.…
Piper.
Sneaky my ass. As soon as I saw Robert through the windows and Piper in distress, all of my desire to keep quiet in the yard left me.
The closest guard was only around fifty feet away. I stepped forward from the shed, aimed and fired like it was nothing.
The man crumpled to the ground, no sound escaping him other than faint gurgling. I knew the sound would draw out the others and I was correct.
Another guard fired a bullet my way, hitting the shed. I continued to step forward into the yard, returning fire. The bullet hit him in the forehead, sending him flying back.
Looking at my weapon, I couldn’t believe that I had ever doubted my shooting abilities. Perhaps some of Piper’s skill had rubbed off on me since we had been married.
I frowned, then realized I was there for a mission. I moved forward, grabbing the firearms out of the other men’s hands, tucking them into the waistband of my suit.
The front door wasn’t too far away, I started to run toward it when I saw movement from the side of my vision, I ducked behind one of the white pillars flanking the door just in time. Bullets sprayed the area around me. While the shooter took time to reload, I looked around the pillar and fired. The man screamed and fell to the ground, holding the wound in his chest.
I stayed at the door, listening. There was no guessing how many men there were inside of the house. From what I saw on the inside, there was at least one, but from my vantage point I hadn’t seen the entire room.
Perhaps it was too obvious to come in through the front door, so I stayed on the porch for a long while, waiting for my moment.
Finally, I turned the doorknob and opened it.
There didn’t seem to be anyone in the room, at least on first glance. I breathed a sigh of relief.
“Luca?” Piper’s voice was a squeak near the couches in the middle of the room. She rose up from the ground, pale as a sheet.
“Piper!” I rushed to her and wrapped my arms around her in an embrace. She hugged me back momentarily, burying her face in the crook of my neck.
“Did he hurt you?” I asked, looking her over after we separated.
No,” she replied. “Did you bring anyone with you?”
I shook my head, no. That seemed to make her panic, I could see it in the whites of her eyes.
Reaching behind me, I grabbed one of the guns I had taken from the guards, handing it to her carefully. She took it and examined the weapon, probably not one she was used to, but it would do.
“How many more men does he have here?” I asked.
“That depends, how many did you take out?”
“Three.”
“Then there’s two left. Everyone left out the back,” she motioned down the hallway.
“Let’s go,” I told her, keeping my face toward the hall. If they were to double back and find us, I didn’t want to be caught in fire.
“Um … Luca—”
Bullets hit the front window of the house, aiming for us inside. Shattered glass flew everywhere.
“Get down!” I said, pulling Piper with me to crouch under the table.
; There went using the front door.
“This way,” Piper whispered, creeping toward the back hallway as quickly as she could. When we got to the kitchen, a bullet whizzed by Piper’s head. One of the guards stood in the doorway to the back, gun ready.
Both of us raised our weapons and shot him, the man falling like a rock.
“Grab his gun,” I said, stepping over him to run into the yard. There were grapevines lining a large patch of land, the perfect cover. We could run into them, then turn south and probably hit the rental car eventually.
I sprinted, hoping to God that Robert didn’t see us. However, I heard a gunshot as we broke for the grapevines.
“You alright?” I asked Piper once we had found cover. She nodded, holding her side. My stomach dropped.
“Are you hit?”
“Oh, no,” she shook her head and grinned, “Side stitch.”
Relief washed over me, but we weren't out of the woods yet. We walked down the rows of wine grapes keeping an eye out for movement in the yard.
"Pipeeeerrrr!" Robert's sing-song voice called out. Instead of creeping me out, like the voice intended, he just filled me with rage. This was a man who would stop at nothing to get Piper, to put his hands on her. I would do anything I could to prevent that.
Motioning with my arm, I pointed toward where I left the car. "Go ahead. The rental car is that way. If I'm not there in 5 minutes, drive. "
"No," Piper said, "No, I'm not leaving you out here!"
I started walking toward the house, toward Robert's voice that grated on me.
"Go, Piper."
Turning away, I stepped quietly, weaving between rows. I wouldn't let him get a clear shot for very long. My eyes were on the yard, but I couldn't see him.
There was a flash and I felt a body hit me, sending me to the ground. Robert had been in the vines, lying in wait for me. I grunted as my bad side hit the ground and the pain was so great that I was temporarily unable to do anything other than grit my teeth.
Robert straddled me, pinning me to the ground then punched my face. Rather than shoot me, he wanted the pleasure of beating me to death.