Page 51 of Run

Seventeen

Vincent

I looked backat Giovanna and saw that she stared at me over her shoulder. I also saw that she was still, heeding what I’d said, so I focused on what was ahead of me, certain that she would not follow.

Then I focused on the threat that lay ahead. I’d been lost in the pleasure of holding her again, the heartbreak of knowing she would leave, but I’d heard a faint sound and had given my attention to it.

The sound was barely there, but I’d long ago learned to trust my instincts, and every one of them told me there was trouble.

I’d expected a response, knew that killing Gage couldn’t go without reaction, but I hadn’t expected the consequences so soon.

Still, as I made my way down the hall into my living room, I was half focused on what was happening, half focused on what was going through Giovanna’s mind. For a little while, I’d let myself think that maybe she would change her mind, but after this, I knew there was no way.

But for now it was my responsibility to see that she was okay, and half focus was a way to fuck up one hundred percent of the time, so instead of thinking about Gia and the fact that this reunion would be so short-lived, I turned my mind to what lay ahead.

The window in the front room was the easiest point of access, and as I suspected, someone had split and removed the pane and was quickly making his way inside.

I moved to my left, settled in the shadowed alcove and watched them. If there were more than two, I’d get Gia and go, but when the second man climbed in and then gingerly pulled the curtains, an attempt not to wake me, I knew these were the only two. I knew what to do.

So fucking stupid.

First to come into my home and then to use such an obvious entry. I sometimes forgot that not everyone was as well trained or smart as I was, but witnessing it was something different altogether.

If this invasion was the result of some business misunderstanding, I might have felt sorry for them, but I knew what they had come here for—who—so there was no room for anything like pity. Or mercy.

Instead, I watched them, my heart beating smoothly, my mind calm, as they took stock of the place.

Another amateur move.

Coming here before they even knew what was inside was foolish. They’d probably thought they could play it by ear. Suspected I was working alone or that the stories of the Syndicate were overblown. A couple of years ago I’d thought the same thing myself, but I hadn’t been nearly as foolish as these two, and I had learned my lesson much, much easier.

They approached the mouth of the hallway where I stood, moving with relative assurance. When the first got close I reached out quickly, and before he could even think to scream I had broken his neck.

His companion noticed and then lunged toward me but I sidestepped him and then quickly wrestled him to the ground. I found the zip ties he had in his pocket and tied his arms behind him then secured his legs.

In less than two minutes the threat was neutralized.

I paused for a moment, calmed my heart, which had started to beat a little bit faster with the adrenaline of the moment. Then I went back to the room.

Giovanna sat on the edge of the bed, her clothes haphazard in a way that told me she had thrown them on quickly.

I walked over and put on my pants, and without looking at her again I reached for my phone and made the call. After the call, I hung up the phone, paused a moment, and then finally turned to look at Giovanna.

The expression on her face was exactly as I’d expected, a mix of understanding and disappointment.

“You had visitors?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

“But not anymore?”

“You know how much I hate it when people drop by unannounced,” I said. The lame joke was the only thing I could manage to say in the grimness of the moment, one where I was again losing Gia.

She didn’t laugh, didn’t give any reaction at all, but instead stepped into her shoes.

“I’d like to see Daniela,” she said.

“I figured you would. Your ride is on the way,” I said.

Then I walked out of the bedroom and only paused long enough to close the door behind me.

---