Page 3 of Sinfully Owned

"We can ask questions afterwards," I reminded him.

I inhaled and exhaled before taking the ultimate step, closing the distance that had previously existed between the woman and me.

"You're nuts," Natale muttered, but I ignored him.

Death stopped scaring me a long time ago, and I lived for the adrenaline that was whipping through my veins at that moment.

"Buonasera, Gia," I murmured with a wry grin, looking down at her from above. She looked up at me through her long, dark lashes. Tears glued them together, and I didn't think they would dry up soon.

"Okay, we're going to do something crazy. I know nothing about bombs or anything related, but it's always better to try than not." I spoke in a calm tone of voice. We could as well have been having lunch somewhere in a small café in the middle of Naples.

She nodded. I felt her body's trembling vibrate through my own. Gia swayed, barely able to hold herself upright. Fear had to have a firm grip on her.

"Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths for me, will you? If this goes wrong, at least you won't die alone." I heard Natale and Emilio discussing in the background.

I made an affirmative sound when she closed her eyes and followed my orders. "That's it. I'll take your jacket off first thing, okay?"

Gia nodded again.

"Can you tell me if there are any additional triggers?"

"I I don't think so. Otherwise, I don't think I could have driven here unharmed. I couldn’t keep it together." A mirthless laugh was on her lips. Gia was still shaking and I could see in the neckline of her shirt how hard her heart was beating.

In one fluid motion, I turned Gia around so that she was standing with her back against my chest. Carefully, I stroked her long, black hair to the side. My fingers slid over her neck until I reached the collar of the rain jacket and pushed it aside.

It took me a while to free her arm and a few minutes longer to free the second arm as well. Once the jacket had fallen to the floor, I took a proper look at the device attached to her upper body.

At the back ran the straps, the front was full of cables, a small package and an apparatus that had to be the power and connection source.Fantastico.

I didn't let my concern be shown as I pulled out my knife.

"Should this go wrong who should my brother inform?" I asked, the blade slid under one strap.

Gia shook her head. "There is no one else."

I bit my tongue to hold back the curse. "Then we'll just pray that you have good guardian angels."

Instead of taking what might be the last look at Emilio and Natale, I closed my eyes and made the first cut. Blindly, I searched for the next strap, held my breath and cut that one, too.

Clever bastard. He had gambled that we would either hand over the money to her because we felt sorry, or blow up for the same reason. As soon as I caught him, I would subject him to the same ordeal.

"I always thought it was sad to never have done anything criminal just for fun," she murmured. That was the first time I heard anything like amusement in her voice. Was she smiling, faced with death?

"It never gets boring. I can assure you."

Before fear set in, I grabbed one strap so I could hold the whole contraption in place and cut the last part.

Gia was still standing in front of me, as if rooted to the spot.

"I don't want to ruin the intimate moment, but you should put as much distance between you and me as possible." Since I had already freed her from the explosive belt, she shouldn’t challenge the gods by staying close to me.

Instead of waiting for her to respond, I started moving myself. Carefully and very slowly I backed towards the exit that led outside onto the pier.

The water may be deep enough to contain the explosion.

I gulped. "Tell me, what time were you supposed to be at the meeting place?"

She flinched in panic as Emilio held out his smartphone for her to read the current time. All the color drained from her face.

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