Page 259 of Roberto

“That’s brilliant,” I said in amazement.

“You might not get it all back, though,” she warned me.

“As long as I go back withsomething,it’s fine. But…”

“But what?”

“If even a single part of this plan doesn’t work, we could die.”

“If the plan doesn’t work and wedon’tdie,” she said gravely, “you have to promise to kill me.”

I stared at her in horror. “What?!”

“If I help you and we don’t pull it off, Lau will torture me to death. He won’t let me off the hook this time. If we fail… I need you to promise to kill me.”

I stared at her in shock. “…I…”

She cupped my face in her hands. “I can’t let him control me anymore. I’m not willing to live like that. I’d rather die quickly than for it to take hours – ordays. Will you promise me?”

I hated it, but I promised. “If it doesn’t work, we’ll go out together in a blaze of glory.”

“And if itdoeswork – you’ll still take me to Italy?”

“Yes, of course.”

She looked relieved. “Thank you.”

“You thought I’dleaveyou here?”

Shame filled her face. “I was afraid… after everything that happened… that…”

I wrapped my arms around her and kissed her deeply.

She kissed me back passionately – then broke away.

“There’s a lot to do – we should leave now – ”

“If we walk outtooearly, Tweedledum and Tweedledee won’t believe we had sex,” I said. “They might get suspicious.”

She grinned. “What did you have in mind?”

“I’m sure I’ll think of something,” I joked.

“Well, since it might be the last time… make it good.”

I reared my head back in surprise to look at her –

And as I stared her in the eyes, I realized she was right.

So we fucked with the wild abandon of two lovers about to embark on a suicide mission.

92

It was quick –

But it washot.

I pinned her arms above her head, pressing them against the shower wall.

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