Page 163 of Sin & Sapphire

By the time I shoved my way to the site of the bomb, it was a smoking crater, the front of the church destroyed, men and women picking themselves off the ground, tending to each other’s wounds and sobbing with fear.

Where the fuck was she?

My vision swam as I searched the area, barely able to stand but desperate for a sign of her white dress. I imagined her laying on the ground, her neck broken, her spine crooked, her limbs—fucking hell, where was she?

Please.

I stumbled through the rubble, moving aside debris with superhuman strength, frantic in my terror that she hadn’t made it.

Please.

I begged the same god who’d introduced us, who’d saved both of my sisters, who’d saved my father, who’d given meeverything—I promised him whatever he wanted if he would only save Ana.

Please.

Seconds later. Minutes. Hours. A hand on my shoulder brought me back to the present and out of my panicked search.

“Russo,” Enzo said quietly, sweat and blood dripping down his brow. “Enough.” His clothes were filthy, covered in blood that clearly wasn’t his.

“She’s not here,” I gasped. “Where the fuck is she?”

“Check your phone,” he said softly.

What?I pulled my phone out of my pocket, the screen only slightly cracked. Sofia found me and wrapped her arms around me, Lorenzo, one of her husbands and an old friend, waiting watchfully behind her. “Luca?”

I hugged her back, squeezing her tight. “Are you okay?”

She nodded, and relief swept through me.

I opened the tracking app that showed where we were.

Valentin was in southern France.

Angelo in Italy.

I stood in this godforsaken churchyard.

Ana’s red dot was missing. Fuck.

“Luca?” Sofia asked. “Are you okay?”

No. I wasn’t fucking okay. I’d lost the woman I loved. I stepped out of Sofia’s embrace to glare at Enzo and almost fell over as dizziness swept through me. Sofia adjusted her grip so that I could lean at her.

“What the fuck do you mean check my phone?” I snapped. “Find her!”

Enzo’s face was sympathetic. “She’s not yours,” he murmured. “Not anymore.”

“The hell she’s not,” I exploded, stepping out of Sofia’s hold.

He drew a gun and held it to my forehead, his hands steady despite his injuries. “She doesn’t want you to follow her.”

My eyes shot to his, devastating pain breaking my heart open all over again.

He didn’t give me a chance to question him.

“She was willing to give up everything to save two strangers. She’s free, Russo. And so are they. And that’s something you could never give her. You and those two assholes that spent the summer playing with her instead of doing their fucking jobs and taking care of the people who built the Costa empire.”

I swayed on my feet, and Enzo swore. My vision faded to black.

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