“You’re not marrying that motherfucker,” I said.
“It’s done,” she whispered.
“Nothing’s ever final,” I said, “until the last breath.”
“You can’t kill him, Saverio,” she whispered. “It’ll start a war between our families. You love your family too much for that.”
Ah, that was how she thought she’d stop me. My family.
“You underestimate my love for you,” I said.
I called for one of my men to walk her the rest of the way down while I went ahead of her. As expected, the speed prick tried to outdo me on the steps.
That wasn’t going to fly. The sound of his body barreling down each step echoed inside of my head. Even hours later, the more I thought about it, the more pleasure I took in it. As I watched the beginning of the show from the side of the stage, my usual spot, an unusual grin rested easily on my face.
He wanted everyone to know how fast he was. He fucking flew down those steps.
He stood next to me, giving me the evil eye when he wasn’t staring at Mia. Probably pissed at my grin.
Matteo looked between the two of us, shaking his head.
I looked down at the old Panerai watch my old man gave me when I turned eighteen. He’d made a modern upgrade to it over the years: it reacted to light. If I stepped out into the darkness, coming from some place with a light source, the screen would light up. The feature didn’t turn on automatically. I had to do it myself. Earlier, I’d done it. I’d set a timer on it as well. The watch would only light up for a second before it would fade to darkness again.
Mia ran off the stage—a second’s break while she changed into another costume. She quickly switched out her pointes for another pair, sewing herself back into them in record time. She stood, paused for a second, shook her head, then ran back on the stage.
The music set the atmosphere while a tense scene played out.Bum. Bum. Bum.With a lot of symphony-like notes strewn between.
I took a step closer to the stage. The look on her face. I didn’t fucking like it. My foot was a step away from rushing it, but then Mia went up on her toes. At the same time, all the lights went out. The orchestra lingered for a few seconds before all went quiet.
“Rio!” Mia screamed my name before she let out a cry that turned my blood to fucking ice.
My watch lit up, then went dark.
Chapter17
Saverio
Mia’s scream faded into the panicked sounds of the crowd. Maybe because most of them had heard her, or were afraid of what the dark meant, the sound of chaos was a wild beast running loose in the theater.
An arm shot out to stop me when I took off toward the stage. The crunch of my elbow meeting his bone couldn’t be heard over the frantic noises, but I felt it reverberate up my arm. Elio Ascari would have to get that fixed.
“Fuck you, Macchiavello!” he roared, the sound nasally.
Without having to see, I knew exactly where Mia was on stage. I scooped her up like she weighed nothing and kept her close. She wrapped her arms around my neck, burying her face in my chest. She cried softly, but it was a pained sound.
“Mia,” I said in a rush.
We were well past the crowd, in the back of the theater. I was heading toward a secured exit. The lights should have already been back on. The only lights I noticed were a few flashlights.
She made a strangled noise in her throat. “G—lass,” she barely got out.
That stopped me. “Glass? What are you talking about, baby?”
“Glass!” she almost screamed at me. “In my slippers, Saverio!”
“Someone put glass in your shoes,” I said, trying to make sense of what she was saying.
“Yes! Shards. So many shards. They’re—deep in my skin, in my feet. When I went up—” She shook her head. “And I think someone stuck me with a needle. When I was down. They were with me and then you came and—”
