Page 47 of Light Me Up

He saw her beautiful eyes in his mind as they pitchedover the edge.

Chapter 16

Noah hung by one arm from the balcony railing. The wrought iron bar burned his clamped hand as he struggled to break Lella’s death grip.

The other man dangled below him, clinging desperately to Noah’s wrist with one huge, meaty hand. His single eye rolled wildly up to Noah’s face, then down at his legs, which jerked and kicked a good forty feet above the cobblestone courtyard below.

Lella flung his head back, screaming and flailing. His brain implant, stabbing deep. Whoever was mind-fucking him was punishing him hard.

Lella jackknifed in the air, bellowing. He groped at his chest with his bloodied hand. Trying to pull the cord? Not gonna happen.

Noah swung the man’s body as hard as he could. Kicked him, shook him. Lella punched back, getting in a vicious jab to the groin before Noah managed to slam a kneeinto his face.

They dangled, struggled, and fought ferociously. Noah kicked him in the head, the neck, the face. Slammed his foot down on Lella’s shoulder and pushed down, hanging on desperately to the balcony railing. Yelling at the pain, the effort.

Screaming agony in his shoulder.One…more…kick…

He broke Lella’s grip. The man fell with a hoarse scream of terror as Noah pulled himself swiftly up and over the railing. He dove headfirst inside the smashed, splintered French doors and hit the floor, handsover his ears—

Boom.

The Palazzo shook to its very foundations. Every window in the building shattered.

Noah lay there, deafened and stunned. He heard screaming. It sounded far away.

Caro.

He rolled over onto his side. Broken glass crunched as he got to his knees and then staggered out onto the balcony to look down intothe courtyard.

Blast marks gave off an acrid, hell-dark smoke. Lella lay in the center. Partsof him, anyway.

A low grunt came from inside. He turned. Stefano Morelli was struggling up onto his knees in the frame of the French doors, his face bloodied from the flying shattered glass.

Noah stumbled toward him, glass crunching under his feet. He sank down and seized Morelliby his lapels.

“Stefano,” he said. “It was you who threw Lella off the balcony.Sei stato tu.Caro and I were never here. We were never on your guest list. Never even metyou. Got that?”

“Che?”Morelli stared at him wide-eyed, shocked and uncomprehending.

Noah gave him a quick shake. “I can’t handle the publicity. It would get my group killed. I need you to cover for me. You figured it all out, Stefano. You threw Lella over the balcony before he could detonate his vest inside. You’re a fucking hero. You got that?” He waited, and shook the guy again. “Please!”

“But I saw—”

“You saw nothing. I was never here. I have to go find Caro now. Tell me you fuckingunderstand me!”

“Capisco,”Morelli forced out.“I understand.”

“And you’ll do it? You’ll be the hero?”

“Sì.”Morelli’s voice shook.

“Great,” Noah said. “Then I’m out of here. I was never here to begin with. Good luck, and thanks.I owe you one.”

Noah stepped over Morelli, clambered over the toppled panels, and ran for doors, still searching for Caro. Several people were crumpled on the floor, groaning. Others yelled for help. One woman hunched, sobbing, over an old lady in a glittering diamond collar who lay curled on her side, not breathing, eyes empty. A man dragged himself toward the door leaving a thick streak of blood on the marble floor behind him. A woman in a gold evening gown crawled on her hands and knees while a man crouched next to her, trying to calm her down in a voice that shookuncontrollably.

No Caro. Not anywhere.

He got out into the corridor. His heart almost exploded with relief when he saw the swiftly revolving blaze of Caro’s sig reflected off the walls, even before she emerged from between two statues andran toward him.

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