Page 42 of Light Me Up

That was all the thinking he got to do before Vilardi spun around and whipped a blackjack down at his head.

Noah swerved and blocked, slamming the guy’s arm upward with enough force to shatter the bones in Vilardi’s forearm. The man let out a harsh, startled sound and the blackjack flew, cracking against the carved stone mantel of abig fireplace.

Vilardi came at him again, grimacing. A knife was now inhis left hand.

Noah moved, keeping the other man dancing around him. Didn’t take long to find an opening. A front kick to the guy’s broken arm and Noah darted forward as his opponent grunted in agony, got in close, and seized the guy’s knife hand. Crushing, twisting.

Noah barely heard Vilardi’s hoarse shriek as more bones splintered and tendons tore. He wasted no time, picking up lethal momentum on a savage rush across the room.

He slammed Vilardi’s head into the wall. A sharpcrack—and Noah let the man’s limp body drop to the floor. Vilardi’s forehead was a bloody mess that matched the gory red splotch on the cream-colored marble.

He was still breathing, but he was out of the game. No need to bother killing him.

Noah picked up Vilardi’s knife. Crashing applause was still coming from the Sala dell’Annunziata. No one had heard the noise, not through these thick stone walls.

Caro had texted him a bunch of question marks. He was about to text back, confirm that she’d gone out to the garden when he caught the murmur of agitated male voices coming from downstairs with his augmented hearing. He filtered them out of the general roar and hum emanatingfrom the Sala.

Two men talking in English as they ran up the stairs. “…Vilardi?” one muttered into his earbud. “Where the fuck are you? Answer me!”

Great. Vilardi’s pals, come to lenda helping hand.

Noah darted into the next doorway just as they reached the top of the stairs. He could have simply flattened them on principle, but screw it. All he wanted was to find Caro and get the hell out ofthis nuthouse.

He waited until they were inside the room and focused on their fucked-up friend before he sped silently past that door. He took the stairs with flying leaps.

A sense of desperate urgency grew inside him by the second. If someone was prepared to kill him just for sounding the alarm about the fake cross, then something was about to happen in the Sala. Right now.

Which was a goddamn deathtrap with all those clueless peoplepacked into it.

Sheep in a pen, ready forthe slaughter.

And Caro right in the middle of it.

Chapter 12

It took a while for Caro to weave through the crush of guests, particularly now that they were excited and straining forward for a better look at the famous cross. It was even worse at the doors, which were still jammed with people tryingto get inside.

Three minutes passed…then four. She texted. Several times. Still no response. He should have signaled her by now.

Somethingwas very wrong.

She had to know where the hell they’d taken him. He’d be furious, but she didn’t care. Hide outside in the garden, her ass. Asfuckingif.

There was Morelli making his way through the crowd, looking grim and stressed. He would know where they’d taken Noah. She locked eyes with him and beckoned.

He changed course to intersect with her. As soon as he reached her, he took her arm, steered her deftly through the crowd and around a velvet rope blocking a security area, a blessedly clear space behind the panels that backed the cross. The oppressive noise level was rising by the second as those close to the dais roared with laughter at some cute thing the scholar said.

Caro stood on her tiptoes and hissed into Morelli’s ear. “Whereis my husband?”

Morelli murmured in Italian and tapped his earbud, waiting for a reply. His frown deepened when it didn’t come. He spoke again, but not to her, repeating aname: Vilardi.

“Noah wouldn’t just walk away and not respond to me,” Caro said. “Tell me where he is.”

“Why are you not with him?” Morelli’s voice sounded accusatory.

“He thought itwas dangerous.”

“No harm would come to you with anyone onLella’s team!”

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