Page 245 of Massimo

Clink.

“There he is, hiding behind the bush,” Zoller purred as he adjusted his aim. “Auf wiedersehen, Herr Roso– ”

Suddenly, the hunter’s hat blew off his head –

Along with the top half of his skull.

Blood sprayed the inside of the bell tower.

My white dress – and Aurelio’s fancy suit – were flecked with spots of red as a distant crack reverberated over the island.

Zollner slumped onto his side as a pool of red gushed out across the balcony.

I should have been traumatized.

I should have thought of my parents –

Or the man I’d shot in the barn.

Instead, a white-hot surge of triumph raced through me, unlike anything I’d ever felt before.

“FUCK YEAH!” I screamed.

Then I leaned forward in my chair and shrieked at Zollner’s corpse. “FUCK YOU, MOTHERFUCKER!”

I turned to Aurelio standing next to me.

His face had gone paler than fallen snow.

“You’re next, asshole,” I spat.

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Massimo

“I think I got him,” Lars said in my ear.

A split second later, I heard the voice of the woman I loved screaming from the bell tower:

“FUCK YEAH! FUCK YOU, MOTHERFUCKER!”

“You got him,” I said, my heart soaring.

Then I turned to the men behind me and shouted, “LET’S GO!”

I charged into the courtyard, bellowing at the top of my lungs, my shield held out in front of me as I fired my gun.

All of my men charged into the courtyard behind me, guns blazing.

Adriano leaped up from his hiding place, firing and screaming like a madman.

Two, three, four mercenaries went down –

But two of our men went down, too.

I felt a burst of pain on my right side.

I turned and fired at a mercenary in the shadows and took him down with one shot.

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