Page 5 of Matteo
“Mom’s going to lose it. I almost hope she hasn’t heard about this. And Dad…” She gripped her blonde strands. “There’s no way he’ll let Arianna stay on the Yale campus now.”
She was right about that, and the same was true for my sister.
“I’m in.” Nikola’s voice broke through the tension following Hannah’s anxious ramblings. “I’ve located them. They’re both in the main library. Crouched under a desk, but alive.”
A collective sigh filled the car’s interior. “Can you find the best way to get to the library?”
Hannah leaned over his shoulder, watching him tap furiously on his phone, when she muttered, “Fuck…”
“What?”
“The cops are on campus and starting to set a perimeter around the school,” Nikola answered.
“Did they eliminate the shooter?”
“No,” Nikola grumbled, while a glance at the rearview mirror showed Hannah chewing on her fingernails.
“What are the cops saying?” Hannah asked while Nikola listened to the audio from a police scanner.
“It doesn’t sound like the SWAT team even has his position,” he muttered, flicking me a worried look.
I slammed on the brakes as a driver two lengths ahead of us skidded out of control and came to a complete stop, their car engine smoking. I veered into the other lane and then pushed the gas pedal to the floor, passing it without a second glance.
Nikola twisted around and whistled. “Not bad, bro.”
I raced down the road, charging through traffic at an alarming speed.
“Who in the fuck taught you how to drive?” Hannah asked, and I knew without having to look at her that her nails were digging into the leather seats. “The point is to get there alive, Matt…” I shot her a glare in the rearview, and, seemingly remembering where we were and what we were on our way to do, she quickly corrected herself, “Matteo.”
Ignoring her, I focused on the road ahead. My sole objective was to get to Yale, where my baby sister was in danger. Where Ari was in danger.
When I said nothing, she continued, “She can’t—nothing can happen to her. She’s my other half.” She choked a sob. “Thiscan’t be happening. She’s supposed to be my maid of honor and?—”
“What? Scared your wedding board on Pinterest will need altering?” Nikola mocked, sarcasm lacing his tone. “Have you picked out your best man yet, Matteo?”
I wasn’t in the mood to listen to anything marriage-related. Hannah and I… We had never been a thing, and we would neverbea thing. Ignoring his jab, I diverted the focus away from Hannah’s favorite subject.
“Anything on the CCTV yet?”
“Pizda… Yebanaya suka…”Nikola let out a long string of curses in Russian and alarm shot through me.
“What?” I barked. “What the fuck is going on?”
He lifted his blond head and his arctic blue eyes met mine before he answered. “The gunman was just spotted in the Sterling Memorial Library building on the same floor as Arianna and Francesca. The police are on their way there.”
Hannah let out a whimper, her usual resting bitch face twisted with agony. I couldn’t blame her—my fear was like a hot iron piercing my skin.
“How in the fuck was he able to get in there undetected by the cops?”
“It’s a huge campus,” Hannah grumbled. “And police resources are stretched thin, so it makes sense that their efficiency would suffer.”
I hated to admit it, but that actually made sense.
“Or he could be a Yale student. Which means…” Nikola stopped short. “He knows how to get from building to building undetected.”
I hit the wheel in frustration once more.Thiswas the reason we didn’t want to let Francesca attend a college far from home, from me. I wanted her close to me at Jean D’Arc, but my sister, being the independent woman she was, insisted on spreadingher wings. So she clung to Arianna, using her as a means to escape and have more freedom.
“They justhadto take summer classes,” Hannah hissed. “And now?—”
