Page 91 of Savage Prince

Flames engulf its fuselage, starting at the engines where a furious, fiery roar drowns out all other sounds. The fire quickly spreads, consuming the wings and licking up towards the tail, painting the sky in a horrifying spectacle of orange and black smoke.

My heart is a manic drumbeat pounding against my ribs as darkness edges into the corners of my vision. The familiar scene threatens to pull me under. The smoke, the destruction, all of it is much too similar.

“Alessandro!” Serena cries out again.

“There’s nothing you can do,” I murmur against her ear. Or at least that’s what it sounds like to me. I could be shouting forall I know. Still, she squirms beneath me, trying to shove me off. Pressing my body against hers, I scan the chaos, the flames erupting from the luggage cart, another burst racing across a line of jet fuel.

Squinting, I scan the wreckage for a body but it’s impossible to make anything out through the storm of brilliant orange and sooty black.Merda, there is no way Serena’s cousin survived that.

Who the fuck did this? And more importantly, who was their target, Serena or me?

The possibilities are few, and as far as probabilities go, it must be one of my enemies. Unless her cousin caused some shit I’m not aware of. The Rossi’s aren’t a family you’d want to mess with, but to my knowledge they have no business in Milano. There is always their affiliation with the Kings but?—

Sirens blare, and my muffled hearing goes in and out. In a second, the tarmac will be crawling withcarabinieri. We have to get out of here. The intense heat warps and blackens the metal of the jet, windows burst from the pressure, and what was once a symbol of the Rossi empire becomes a devastating inferno.

“We have to go.” I curl my arm around Serena’s middle and haul her off the tarmac. She’s still struggling against me, kicking and wriggling. “Please, Antonio, I need to find him.”

I glance at the wreckage again, and a pit of dread consumes my gut. “There’s no way he made it out of that alive,tesoro.”

“But he wasn’t inside the plane.” Her desperate gaze glances around the charred remains, the columns of thick black smoke making it impossible to see much around the jet. “He could have jumped out of the way like we did.”

I don’t mention the obvious, that he was much closer when the jet exploded. “Maybe,” I whisper against her ear. “But right now, we must go. If he survived and you don’t, then it will all have been for nothing.”

Tears glisten in her eyes, a few slipping free and gliding down her cheeks. And fuck, I hate this feeling of powerlessness.

“Please, Sere, we must go. Now.” I hold her tight against my body as the approaching sirens grow louder. “Whoever did this could still be here.” I only hope Valerio’s driver is still nearby and didn’t flee with the explosion.

I drag her a few feet, but her head remains twisted over her shoulder staring at the charred skeletal ruins of the sleek jet. Without thinking, I bend down and haul her into my arms. My wound screams from the tug of still-healing flesh, but I ignore it and race through the billowing smoke.

I blink quickly as the dark memories rise again, threatening to consume me. No. This is notPapà’s lifeless body I’m carrying today. It’s Serena and she’s so full of life and love, and I will not let her die today. Chasing away the darkness, I focus on the hangar only a few yards away and the bumper of the Mercedes peeking around the corner.

ThankDio, the driver hasn’t left yet.

“Wait!” Serena hisses as her gaze focuses on the black car. “What if he’s the one who sold us out?”

“Valerio? No way.”

“And his driver? Are you a thousand percent sure you can trust him?”

I pause, yards away from the car, my heart bashing a frenzied staccato against my ribcage. Serena’s not wrong. At this point, it could have been anyone to betray us. “Fine,” I growl. “This way.” I spin us around and take off toward the chain link fence surrounding the hangars.

The driver beeps his horn, throwing his hands up. I whirl around just quickly enough to wave him off, then sprint toward the fence. An employee parking lot stretches just beyond, the answer to our escape.

When I reach the chain link barrier, I lower Serena to her feet and hook my fingers around the metal post. “I’ll give you a leg up.”

“Or we can just go that way.” She signals toward a door a few yards away, a thick chain with a padlock around it. Then she pulls out the Beretta I gifted her this morning. “I think Toni can handle this.”

I can’t help the smile from curving my lips as she takes off toward the opening. With the sirens blaring and the pandemonium from the fire, no one is going to notice a gunshot. I watch as Serena points and shoots, the bullet ringing true and slicing the padlock in half. It hits the cement with a smack, and she’s already looping the chain through by the time I reach her.

Dio, this woman is incredible. That gaping hole in my chest, hollowed out from the idea of never seeing her again, feels full again.Cazzo… I am so fucked.

Serena jerks the gate open and another alarm blasts, but with the commotion, not a single member of the emergency crew spilling across the runway turns in our direction. “Come on, move it!” She holds the gate open, ushering me through.

I race toward her, grabbing her hand as I pass. Because I need to hold her, I need the feel of her flesh pressed against mine after almost losing her forever. And the second we’re out of this mess, I’ll admit what acoglioneI’ve been and beg for her forgiveness. Then I’ll sink my cock inside her, claim her as mine with each orgasm I steal until she forgets she ever wanted to leave me in the first place.

And this time, I will never let Serena go.

“This is a mistake,” I growl.

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