Page 138 of Assassin's Obsession

Severu says, "Heard."

"Got it," Miceli acknowledges.

"We reach her before they do." I lift my fist, signalgoand start sprinting toward the location Candi's locator dot says she is.

The men chasing her are yelling shit at her in Italian I'm glad she can't understand. Some are shouting her name.

Do they think she's going to stop because they're yelling for her?

I hear her before I see her. Branches crackle then a heavy thump and Candi's voice. "Damn it!"

She fell.

Changing my trajectory slightly, I run toward the sound of her voice. Then I see her. She's still running, but she's limping.

Fuck.

I say her name just before I reach her. "Candi.Amate, it's me."

"Hot stuff?" She looks up and around, but the moon hasn't risen and the dark is nearly impenetrable without night vision goggles.

No wonder she tripped and fell.

When I reach her, I touch her lightly with my hand.

Gasping, she grabs my arm in a hard grip. "Angelo. I knew you'd come for me."

"If you knew I'd come for you what the fuck are you doing out here in the forest? You could've broken something running in the dark." I need to find out what's making her limp.

Behind me, Miceli laughs.

"From what Derian told us about how she responded in the alley, are you really that surprised?" Severu asks.

My men need to stop gossiping with my boss.

"Get over yourself, babe. I wasn't about to let them use me as leverage against you."

"I prefer beloved," I inform her.

She huffs a slightly hysterical laugh. "It's a little old fashioned, isn't it?"

"What do you thinkamatemeans?"

"You've been calling me beloved? I thought it was sweetheart, or something."

"No."

"Now you really can't make me believe you wouldn't have given yourself up for me."

"They don't want me," I inform her. "They want me to kill Severu."

She clutches more tightly to me. "That's stupid. Don't they realize how loyal you are? Not to mention superhero resourceful. How did they not realize you were never going to choose Option A?"

"Yeah, his birth family lost the lottery in the intelligence department," Miceli drawls. "Not to mention that whole cray-cray thing."

"You're telling me?" Candi sounds about as impressed with my mother and grandfather as I am.

"They don't know me like you do." The sound of the soldiers getting closer reminds me we have a job to do. "I need you to go with Derian."

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