Page 99 of Sins and Secrets

Two men rush in, though neither of them are men I recognize. They grin as Paolo gets on top of me, his hands wrapping around my neck. He starts to squeeze as Alessio rushes into the room.

“Get your fucking hands off her!” He aims his gun and pulls the trigger.

The gunshot cracks through the room, followed by two more. The last thing I see before Paolo’s dead body slumps on me is Christian rushing into the room behind Alessio.

I scream and shove at his body, terror racing through me. I need him off of me now. It feels like the room is closing in around me. I can’t breathe.

I’m still going to die here.

Just when I think that I’m running out of air, the body is lifted away and I’m pulled into a tight embrace. My throat aches and my head is throbbing. I don’t feel like I can see straight as I look up at Alessio.

“Are you crying?” I ask, my voice soft as I reach up to wipe a tear away from his cheek.

“Yes.” He cups my face gently and kisses me, the salt of his tears mixing with the tangling of our tongues. “I was so scared that I wasn’t going to get here in time. I thought I was going to lose you.”

“I knew you were going to come.” I wrap my arms around his waist, clinging to him as tears stream down my cheeks. “I knew you would get here in time.”

‘I’m sorry,” he says, his voice raspy. He kisses the top of my head. “I should have apologized to you. I let you think that I was going to let you be killed. I never would have let that happen, Billie. I love you so damn much. I was angry and trying to teach you a lesson and this happened because of it.”

Shaking my head, I pull back to look at him. “No. This wasn’t your fault. He got to me because I went out alone. This isn’t your fault, do you hear me?”

He nods, but there is still a distant look in his eyes. More shooting erupts from outside the building. Alessio stands up, putting himself between me and the door.

“It’s time to get out of here,” Christian says, reaching down to help me to my feet. “Can you walk?”

“Yeah. It just feels like I’ve been shot in the head a dozen times.” I give the men a small smile before taking a deep breath.

I grit my teeth and breathe my way through the pain as the three of us leave the room. Christian leads the way, shooting down two men who rush at us. The second we’re outside the warehouse, we take off sprinting across the street.

“This way,” Christian says as he turns a corner. We follow behind him, Alessio covering us as we approach the car. “There are men from Jovan’s cartel here to help. Davide is sending more men. You two need to get out of here. I will stay and make sure that this gets dealt with properly.”

“Emilia was part of this,” I say, looking at Alessio. “She helped Paolo set this all up.”

“I’ll send Davide after her,” Alessio says, pulling out his phone and typing out a message. “Now, get in the car, Billie. It’s time to go home. That is, if you still want your home to be with me. You’re free to leave if you still want to give up the mafia life. I won’t hold you back. You can take the car and get to safety and carry on with your life.”

I put my hands on either side of his face and gently force him to look down at me. “With you is where I want to be. Every single day for the rest of our lives together. I love you, Alessio, and I’m not going anywhere.”

“I love you, Billie.” He smiles and leans down to kiss me. The kiss is soft and slow, soothing away all the aches, pains, and fears in my body. “Now let’s go home.”

Home. Finally.

34

ALESSIO

By the time we finally get back to Atlanta, I’m still angry at myself. I should have been there to protect Billie and I wasn’t. We drove back home after she was cleared by a doctor to travel, but the entire drive I was wondering whether she was going to leave me once we got back to the house.

“Come on,” I say as I open the passenger door and hold out my hand to help Billie out. “Let’s go inside and get you cleaned up.”

“Can we take a bath?” Billie asks, her eyes drooping shut slightly. She winces as she moves too quickly to get up, one hand flying to her head.

“Of course. I’m going to call my doctor too. I want him to take a second look at you. Make sure that everything is alright.”

She rolls her eyes as I help her up the front steps and into the house. “I don’t need another doctor to look at me. I just need some painkillers and the longest nap of my life.”

“Bath, then doctor, then we can talk about painkillers.”

“Actually, fuck the painkillers.” She leans on me as we head for the bathroom. “I need a bath and then a stiff drink. Alcohol numbs the pain better than anything else.”

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