Good. I really liked his wife and didn’t want to insult her with what I was about to do. But I had a feeling even if I did, she would understand. I’m sure she would have gone to the same lengths to save her husband too.
In her own way, I knew Scarlett was trying to guide me through this life as much as she possibly could. The last time we’d gone out to dinner, she told me a story of how her and a few of the wives had escaped their husband’s clutches to go out in New York one night. They had gone to The Club, a nightclub rumored to be owned by Vittorio Scarpone, who was a ghost, if the rumors of his dad killing him were true.
Where and who they ran to was really beside the point, though. She was giving me direction. And so was Naomi when she’d given me a medicine bottle filled with big animal tranquilizers the night I’d found out Nazzareno was engaged to Elettra Buratti. After the other woman had gone, including the one who had accidentally told me, Naomi had dug in her small clutch and set them in my hand, not letting go until I acknowledged what she’d done.
Given me freedom if I wanted it.
She knew how these men could be.
Control, even the freedom to fly, was an illusion with them, because they knew how powerful their love was. It never felt like a cage, because our bars were made from their arms, and our world from a perspective we loved to see from their laps.
Desperate times called for desperate measures, though. And I was so fucking desperate to saveusfrom this.
A small note folded inside the bottle said:1 pill can fell a lion. That should work on your lion.
I was too anxious to give him that much, so I took one out and grounded it up with parmesan cheese when Carlotta wasn’t looking. Then I sprinkled it over the steaks and every man devoured it.
An hour later, their eyes started to droop, and one by one, each fell asleep at his place at the table.
I grabbed my already packed bag and set it by the door. I told the guard standing outside that I thought something had happened, because every man had fallen asleep at the same time. This was the same thing Scarlett and friends did for their night out, but it had involved a taser gun. The soldier rushed inside and, snatching my bag, I hustled toward Nazzareno’s garage.
Once inside, my fingerprint popped the lock to all the keys, and I snatched a random set from the hanger. I hit the button and the lights flashed as the horn beeped.
Fuck me.
The car was pearl white with black trim, and looked fast enough to fly, but at least it was automatic. Maybe because it was a Ferrari SUV.
Automatic or not, though, I was a New Yorker. I didn’t drive.
I’d learn fast, though.
I just hoped this car was fast enough to outfly a furious lion after he woke up from a nap and realized his wild bird was gone.
FORTY-ONE
AVA
Once I gotthe hang of this driving thing, and I wasn’t hitting the gas and then the brakes constantly, I found a steady speed and stuck to it, even if my eyes were constantly checking all the mirrors. I felt like I was being hunted. My breath came fast, my heart pounded, and I kept strangling the steering wheel.
Maybe the men would be knocked out for four hours—if I was lucky, eight.
An extra four hours wouldn’t go amiss. I needed it.
I called Scarlett, since she’d been in touch with me since not long after Nazzareno had given me the phone. I sighed when she picked up and told me she and Brando were staying at Luca’s place in Florence. Luca was there.
His place was about three or so hours from Rome from the directions she’d given me, and I knew Brando was going to be there by the time I arrived. He’d left not too long before me, but I was sure he was going to get there much faster.
All the Fausti men seemed to know how to handle a fast car. Luca had even been a racer in his younger days.
Women. Fast cars. Swords. Horses. Even fucking camels.
Life in general.
They handled it with a powerful smoothness that made it seem easy, when the rest of the world knew damn well life felt impossible at times.
I slowed when the GPS on my phone told me I’d arrived.
Guards stepped out of two security check points as my car approached the towering gates. I gave them my name, they took a picture of me, and what seemed like hours later but only had been minutes, they allowed me through.
