Page 6 of Burn for Me

I needed to get to my phone, but I’d already packed it in my case. Kicking off my heels, I raced toward the kitchen, hoping to send the chef to get help.

Chef was laying in a pool of crimson.

Backing out of the room, I dashed for the doors. I needed to get out. My feet slid on the tiled flooring as I raced for the door, but two men were visible through the frosted glass, guarding the exit.

Fuck.

A third shot cracked, and I crashed up the stairs, my heart beating as hard as my feet against the wood. Sobs wracking my body. Footsteps crashed behind me, and I glanced over my shoulder as I reached the top of the stairs. Massimo pursued, gaining on me. A bullet splintered the wall behind my head as I careened toward my bedroom.

Slamming the door closed, I locked it and grabbed my phone from my bag before going into the bathroom and locking that door, too.

My hands shook as I pressed my finger against the on button, waiting for my phone to kick into life. I heard my bedroom door crash open and Massimo tearing open my cupboards.

'Come on,' I pleaded with my phone. 'Please?'

A loud kick made the bathroom door shudder and tore another startled scream from my throat. At last, my phone's home screen lit up. I hastily punched in nine-nine-nine, my fingers slipping in my frantic rush to summon help.

The door gave way and Massimo burst into the room, a dark gun pointed directly at my forehead. Tears blurred my vision as I compressed myself back into the corner.

'P-please,' I choked on a sob.

Reaching down, he snatched the phone from my hand and hung up the call before dropping it to the floor and crashing his heel down on top of it.

'Please, Massimo. I had no idea.'

His breathing was hoarse as he let out a laugh. 'I don't doubt that.'

'Don't hurt me.'

'I don't have a choice. Your family is dead. I can hardly marry you tomorrow without raising some serious questions, can I?' Blood speckled his tanned skin, and the realisation that they were all dead hit me like a tonne-weight.

'I thought you loved me,' I whispered as he ran a hand through his blood-slicked hair.

'I don't even know you.'

'But the letters...'

He laughed again before shaking his head. 'Do you think I have time for penning love letters to stupid little English girls? Your mother arranged them to keep you sweet.'

'Don't kill me,' I begged, tears washing down over my cheeks. I'd gone from the promise of everything to pleading for my life in what felt like a matter of minutes. 'Please, I'll do anything.'

'You hardly had anything I wanted, even with everything your father offered me. Without it, you're barely worth the bullet.'

Before I could take a breath, pain bloomed in my chest as my ears rattled with the sound of the gunshot. Looking down, my pretty white dress had a hole above my left breast, red petals of blood growing out from the torn point.

'Massimo,' I whispered.

He was already gone by the time I hit the floor.

FOUR

Phoenix

I’d barely made it twenty miles along the motorway when a buzzing started in my pocket. With a groan, I pulled my bike over in the lay-by and tore my leather gloves off.

The screen lit up with a number I didn’t recognise.

Ignoring it was tempting. I could be back on the boat and tucked up in bed within the hour if I headed straight for the dock. My ass ached from the hours I’d spent on my bike throughout the day, and my clothes reeked of smoke. A hot shower called out to me like a siren.

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