Matteo and Mariano flanked Scarlett on each side. Evelina stood close to me.
By the time we made it back to the stage area of the theater, it was well lit up. Candles were burning so hot that the air felt thick with it. A trail of Mia’s blood ran along the floor.
Mostly everyone had left, except for my men. Some of them were sitting down, out of sight, nursing wounds, while others were still looking around for threats. I motioned for a few of them to follow us.
“No one shall know about this!” someone from the theater was saying. “No one!” His eyes widened as he noticed Scarlett. It looked like he’d just seen royalty walk past.
“Get Scarlett out of here,” I told Matteo and Mariano once we were outside. “Bykov’s men probably had orders. Get in and get out. Too much exposure. That’s why they flipped the lights. They’ll be out here, if any are left alive.”
“That’s why they did that to Mia’s feet.” Scarlett squeezed the fabric of her shiny dress, blood staining her hands. “They wanted to cripple her so she couldn’t run or fight. And it’s something that’s been done before. Ballerinas have done it to other ballerinas out of malice.”
“Symbolic,” Evelina said. “Cerise not only used it to keep Mia stuck in place, but as a message to you.”
We split up. Matteo and Mariano got into a waiting car with their mamma, half of the men walking with them. Evelina and I started walking toward where we had to meet Brando, more men with me.
“I need to get the car, Saverio,” Evelina said. “I’ll meet you there.” She took her glasses off and handed them to me. “Brando knows he has steps to find. They’ll lead him out of the tank. Shine the light so he knows you’re there. By the way, I had two of those on me tonight. Brando has the other pair. He can swim in those conditions, but a little light always helps.”
“Should we go with her?” one of my men asked in Italian.
“No,” I said.
She didn’t fully trust them either. Plus, she would be more conspicuous with a group of men. I had them walk halfway with me, enough time for Evelina to get to her car, then I ordered them to go back to the theater and regroup with the other men.
I slowed when I came close to where the storm drain was. My eyes narrowed against the slick night. It had rained sometime during the day, and the streets were glistening with it. Two figures stood in a position that was unmistakable. They were taking aim at the drain. A second later, what sounded like fireworks went off. They were using silencers.
A high-pitched whistle slid from my lips, and their hands froze. I withdrew my gun from my waistband and starting shooting. I couldn’t use it in the theater because it was a game of cat and mouse in the dark. But outside, it was like the fucking Wild West.
Bullets were pinging off buildings and streetlights. I’d taken shelter behind a tree, and the bark had taken a beating. But my aim was sharp, and both targets went down before either could reload.
“Put the gun down, Italian scum,” a Russian voice breathed hot in my ear. “Or I will make you watch as I lick the glass and blood off that bitch’s feet before I kill her. Our orders are simple: waste no time, just kill. But I do not see the harm in having a little fun.”
He wasn’t getting my fucking gun to kill me with.
Maybe he realized this.
A second later, he shot me in the shoulder.
Chapter18
Saverio
Another whistle sounded in the air, and a second later, another shot rang out. I braced for the impact, for the explosion of flesh, for the burn of muscle being severed, but it never came. The pain was contained to one central area. My shoulder.
Behind me, a body crumpled. For a brief second, I wondered if it was mine, my soul stuck in limbo because my heart was. Then I took a breath of air, smelled gunpowder and blood in it, and realized it wasn’t me.
Fedor, the Russian who held me a gunpoint, was down. By my feet.
He wouldn’t be making deals anytime soon.
Rocco, Vincenzo, and a man known only as Lev stood on the other side of me. Semi-close, but far enough that it was a risky shot. One of them had whistled and captured Fedor’s attention. He went down a second later with a bullet through the temple.
Lev shrugged. “He never pays debts.”
Lev was Russian. From what I had heard, he truly didn’t exist. He was an assassin who was a part of the government game. He knew Mia’s mamma from childhood. Scarlett Fausti ran in an interesting circle for a ballerina. Which was probably why Brando had a habit of sticking his hand to his chest. Stress.
I was starting to understand it like never before.
Lev lifted an empty needle. “This is a new drug in Russia. It is just hitting the streets.” He gave me the name in Russian and then told me we needed to get Mia to the hospital to stop it before it spread too “deep into her veins.” “It is potent. It has hallucinatory properties, a psychoactive drug. It will make you feel good at first, but then it will create demons from the asphalt if the mind imagines it. It will also cause physical discomfort. It has many side effects, blood clots one of them. If this happens and is not treated quickly—”
