Page 58 of Vicious Impulses (The Capo and Ballerina)

We sit and stare for a while at the miles of vivid green surrounding us. Vineyards full of ripe grapes to make delicious wine I’d love to sample after our carriage ride. The horses clomp along the path we’ve taken and the tour guide continues his speech from up ahead, gripping the reins to steer us.

The air is so fresh even my fucked up lungs and twitchy heart are breathing clear.

It couldn’t be a more perfect outing.

“Do you do much traveling?” Nevaeh asks. “You live in such a remote location. It seems you prefer to be alone.”

“That’s true, Nevi. I prefer solitude. It’s easier for me.”

“Why do you say that?”

I think on it a second. “Most people… they don’t understand a man like me. I have certain proclivities and urges. I behave certain ways. My condition takes its toll on me other times. It’s easier to remain far away from others.”

“You said you understood me when I told you I’ve never fit in.”

“That’s true. You can say I never have either. If you compare me to the others in my family, the othercaposunder my father, you’d see I’m different.”

“Because you’re withdrawn?”

“Yes. But also, I don’t fuck around like they do. They’re all about the glitz and perks our lifestyle brings them. The flashy cars and fuckable women. Make no mistake, I sate my appetite when it arises, but otherwise… I care for none of that.”

“Will I be sating your appetite from now on?” she asks.

I glance over at her in mild surprise. The concern’s returned. So has her frown. I understand what she’s asking—she wants to know if she’ll be my only woman. Many men in my lifestyle, even the married ones, fuck whoever they want, whenever they want.

Her tone, her frown, the extinguished playful vibe, all tell me she doesn’t like the idea of other women.

Mia bella ballerinawants to be my only.

I clench her hand tighter within mine and lean over to drop a kiss on the tip of her nose. “Bella, you’re more than enough. I haven’t spent years dreaming of you, searching for you, to disregard that now. You’re the woman I sought for a reason.”

This seems to calm her fears.

We go back to enjoying the sights and sounds of our carriage tour across the vineyards.

“This vineyard up ahead is one of our most famous,” the tour guide recites over theclomp-clomp-clompof the horses. “It was established in the year of 1939, which as I’m sure you’re aware, was the start of the second war. But, fortunately for Switzerland, we remained neutral through—”

There’s a subdued bang that interrupts him. It’s the firing of a long-range weapon that sends a bullet straight through his skull. The rest are immediately to follow. Our carriage ride goes from peaceful to bullet-ridden within a second.

The tour guide slumps forward. His grip on the reins loosens. The carriage immediately loses control with no one to guide the horses. They whinny and speed up in a wild panic at the bullets whizzing through the air.

Nevaeh screams at my side. I grit my teeth, one hand shoving her down and the other fast at work withdrawing my pistol.

Somebody’s trying to take us out.

SEVENTEEN

Caelian

“Stay down, Nevaeh!”I yell above the chaos.

I twist around, frantically scanning the green hills around us. Nothing off meets the eye. We’re surrounded by the same rolling hills and fields of leafy vines. The occasional cottages stacked along the slopes. Who could possibly be shooting at us?

I duck as more bullets hail toward us.

The carriage lurches precariously from side to side. The horses only gain speed. They gallop faster down the dirt pathway. With no one to guide them, they go off trail, dragging us along with them in a direction too close to the edge of the hill we’re on.

“Cael!” Nevaeh screams from the floor of the carriage. “We have to course correct, or we’ll go flying off the hill!”

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