Page 17 of Cutting Ties
Chapter 9
Anthony
“I don’t think this day could get any better. I’ve never felt so free. Does that make sense?” Valentina asked. She was truly beaming as we strode hand in hand down the street of Cartagena. The expression she carried on her face reflected how I felt. We were down to three days now. The time was going way too quickly.
I hadn’t a final idea of how I was going to do it, but in the tiny pocket that lay beneath the front left pocket of my jeans lay her ring. Even though there was no plan in place on exactly how I was going to pop the question, I was confident that the right time would show itself.
“It does.” Leaning down, I placed a brief kiss on the top of her head. “I barely even notice our shadows.” I gave her a wink and jerked my head toward Emiliano, who I’d come to discover was her favorite. He’d been guarding her from when she was a child. I didn’t know the whole back story of the large ponytail-wearing older man, but knew she considered him as something of a second father.
“Oh. Over there.” She pointed to a little café just ahead of us. “Let’s stop for a quick bite and something to drink.”
“We just had supper.”
“That was nearly an hour ago!” She leaned into me, lowering her voice. “Besides, we worked up quite an appetite this morning and again this afternoon.”
Just the thought of the morning wake-up put my dick on alert. She could wake me up like that any day of the week. “Fair enough.” Keeping an eye on the traffic, we waited for a break before dashing across the street. The buildings lining the streets had such character, each one a different pastel color.
Reaching the café, we seated ourselves at one of the two-person metal tables and ordered a light snack. My hand reached into my jeans pocket and I fingered the ring. It was a beautiful evening with perfect scenery, and even though her family wasn’t here, the man she considered as close as family was – so that was something at least.
I was about to pull the ring from my pocket when I heard the first gunshot, and then another. It took the span of a couple beats for my mind to even register what was going on. My gaze darted across the table to Valentina, who screamed and began to stand. As she stood, I sprang into action, heading straight for her, and pushing the table to the side with such force it went sailing onto the road. Staying low, I threw myself at her and we both went tumbling to the ground, with my body covering most of hers.
Emiliano came out of nowhere, like a scene out of a fucking action movie, covering our bodies with his own like we were playing a game of football and Valentina had the ball. “Stay down!” he screamed.
His words ended abruptly as I felt blood drip onto me and heard him groan. Pushing him from my body, I kept low while examining Emiliano for damage. The first bullet seemed to have hit his back on the armor plate, while the second one had hit his shoulder. Blood was saturating through the layers of clothing.
“Stay down,” I commanded Valentina as I set to work on her guard. The sound of gunfire still ringing out around us was barely noticeable at this point; my only focus was the dying man below me.
Valentina
It happened so quickly. One moment I was sitting across from Anthony, smiling and suspecting he was contemplating proposing, and the next I was feeling the weight of his large body covering mine as loose rocks dug into my palms and cheek.
The gunfire slowed and then stopped, and moments later Anthony’s weight was lifted off me. Scurrying out from under him, I looked around me. The street was completely clear and our two SUVs were pulled to the curb.
A groan drew my attention next. Looking over, I watched as Anthony removed my guard’s bullet-proof vest and then tore the sleeve from his shirt to reveal a bullet wound. “Ohmygod! Is he okay?” I crawled over to them, ignoring Anthony’s command for me to stay away.
Without looking at me, Anthony replied. “The bullet hit an artery! He needs to get to the hospital. I’m keeping pressure on it so he doesn’t bleed out. He’s already lost a lot of blood.”
“Come now.” Grabbing my arm one of the guards pulled me away from my lover and Emiliano and forcefully threw me in the car. “Stay,” he commanded.
I didn’t object but watched from inside the car as Emiliano was carried from the sidewalk and loaded into the vehicle with me. Scooting over I gave them room to lay Emiliano on the seat with Anthony kneeling beside him on the floor, keeping pressure on his wound.
Emiliano was groaning softly, going in and out of consciousness.
“Were you hurt?” Anthony asked, still not looking at me.
I shook my head even though he couldn’t see. “No. I’m fine. Some scrapes. Will he be okay?”
“He should be. I was able to get to him quickly. Arteries bleed out fast, but since I was there, I should have gotten to him in time to save him.”
The door was closed and the car jolted forward. Holding onto the back of the seat, tears filled my eyes as I looked down at the man who’d protected me all my life. If it hadn’t been for him, we’d be dead now.
“He’ll be okay,” Anthony assured me, looking up for a moment and giving me a forced smile.
I nodded, trying to return his smile, but failing miserably. “Thank you.”
Looking back over to me, he shrugged. “It’s what I do. No thanks necessary. If it wasn’t for Emiliano, we’d both be dead now. We owe him a lot.”
Nodding, I willed the hospital to appear. The quicker we got there the quicker the better.
