Page 90 of Salvatore

He takes a step back and drops his eyes when I face him. No. This man hasn’t killed. But he thinks I can. “If I’m not back by morning, get my people out of the country by any means necessary.”

“I will, sir,” he says. “And if you wish, there are men who can protect them for a price. You want them here?”

“No,” I say, cutting him off before he can continue. “Just you.”

“Very well, sir,” he says. He seems to understand what I’m telling him, that I don’t trust anyone and that my family needs to stay safe at all costs. For everything he’s doing and how easily he agrees, Vin must have dropped ten to twenty grand in his lap.

I tilt my chin and start the navigation system. From Aedry’s side to the time it takes me to pull onto the dirt road is maybe three minutes tops. Each of those minutes is long and I change my mind about grabbing Aedry and finding my brothers about half a dozen times. But once more, I have to do what Vin says.

Except, as far as I’m concerned, this friendship is long over.

My debt will be paid in blood tonight.

The drive to Bianchi’s estate should only take thirty minutes. With the rain causing mudslides all over the island, it’s been an hour and change, and I still don’t know how close I am. I swerve all over hell, working out a plan. Lucca should be calling me and he’s not. Either he’s dead, hurt, or running for his life. I find out which it is as I round the bend.

My lights strike Lucca staggering down the road, illuminating his pale face and the blood streaming down his body. He lifts his piece and fires. I swerve out of the way, narrowly missing a tree as I skid off the road.

I roll the window down when I catch sight of Lucca in the side view mirror. He stumbles forward, his gun out.

I crouch low. “It’s S!” I call to him, careful not to reveal names. “I’m here to get you out!”

The other family probably knows who he is by now. That doesn’t mean I need to announce him. And as much as I think his head’s not clear in the condition he’s in, I’m hoping he can recognize my voice and hear it through the rain.

When he doesn’t answer, I ease up in my seat in time to watch him collapse. Every instinct tells me to get out and haul ass?that he’s done. But Lucca, he’s young, smart, and, to some extent, a friend. I can’t leave him.

I throw the door open, my feet kicking back the mud as cold rain comes down on me in waves. I roll Lucca over from where his face is buried in a puddle. He coughs up a bunch of brown shit as I haul him into a fireman’s carry.

“God damn,” he groans.

He’s hurt and I’m making it worse. I don’t care. I move fast, the rain pelting me hard in the face as I rush back to the jeep. I throw open the rear door and toss him in the back seat, shoving him forward. He crawls across, swearing until he slumps onto his back.

I jump into the driver’s seat, ready to stomp on the gas and get my family out of the country. But there’s a job to do and I need to finish it.

How the hell am I going to get us through this?

“Who’s left?” I yell.

Lucca speaks through his teeth. “No one. Me and Carlo got the last three.” His breath hitches. “Carlo didn’t make it.”

I grip the back of the seat. “You sure?”

His face is pinched tight, blood seeping through the fingers pressing against his shoulder. “No one’s left. No one.”

This should give me some relief, but if Lucca is this messed up, the whole thing was a bloodbath. “What about the staff?”

“No one will be here until the morning,” he says, his breath releasing fast.

Based on what he’s telling me, there must have been a plan. But that plan was blown to shit, given Lucca’s condition. “We have to get out of here,” he slurs. “Tonight. There’s a plane at the airport ready to take us.”

I crank the engine and peel out. “Not without my family,” I tell him. We skid back onto the road, the navigation system spouting directions. As I straighten the wheel, I take the ring I’d planned to give Aedry and fling it out the window.

I spend the next thirty minutes hydroplaning through the mud smeared roads, almost crashing twice and barely able to see more than a foot in front of me. I was a fool for thinking I could ask Aedry to marry me. How could I give her a good life when my own life has turned to hell?

I barrel across the villa’s front lawn, plowing over a couple of bushes when I lose control.

Lucca’s in the back, quiet. Too quiet. I need to stop wherever he’s bleeding from or he’s never going to make it. I drag him out, throwing his arm over my shoulders. The moment I heave him onto the porch, the front doors fly open and we’re hit with a wash of light.

“Sal?” Gianno’s voice cuts off when he sees me carrying Lucca. “Holy shit!” he yells.

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