I turned to find Sistine behind me.
Holding the gun.
Chapter 5
Mariano
“My Annie,” the words slipped from my lips before I cleared my throat.
Sistine was still staring into the distance, ready to use the gun in her hand if necessary. I called her name, and it seemed to take her a second to blink back into reality. Reaching up, I lowered the gun. She wasn’t shaking. Yet. She was still determined to fight.
“That’s it,” I whispered to her, easing the weapon from her hand. “You can give it to me, Annie.”
Her eyes flew to mine. “Annie,” she repeated in a whisper, her Italian accent doing something special to the name. Something sweet.
I nodded. “Annie.”
“Annie…as in…Annie Oakley? Or Annie, as in…the orphan?”
“The first.” I grinned at her. “I knew it all along.”
Her mouth opened, words about to flow out, but we were suddenly surrounded by my men and men who served her family. Adone was shouting in the streets,this is what happens to thieves who attempt to steal from the Cappello family!He was being dramatic. Almost like a town crier. I had a feeling it was something the family did in times like these. And he knewfor Sistine’s sake it had to seem like her shooting at the man who was out to cause me harm was just a part of their security procedures.
Maybe it was. I got the feeling it was more than that in this instance.
Even though Sistine’s face was pinched, I’d seen it right after she hit Iggy. It was a look that was a mixture of anger, focus, and…relief when our eyes met. He hadn’t gotten me.
Adone took her by the shoulder and directed her to the equivalent of police in Italy who were starting to swarm the area.
“Annie,” I called after her.
She stopped, escaping Adone’s hold. She met my eyes.
“You saved my life.” My voice was rough, like I’d swallowed sandpaper, and it was grating against my throat.
She waved a hand at me. “You are full of holes. I could not allow another one to get through, or what would all the poor damsels do without their prince?”
“You saved my life.” I wasn’t fucking around, and she heard the seriousness in my tone.
She nodded. Her face almost solemn. “It is not something I wish to do again,” she said, but her throat seemed tight. It was like she had a hard time getting the words out.
I understood what she’d meant, even though the statement could be taken in a different way. My heart seemed to rise to my throat, the beats uncontrollable, at the truth.
She hadn’t meant she wouldn’t save me again. She’d meant that she didn’t want me in danger again.
Her shoulders fell as she turned and walked with Adone to the waiting police. Remo appeared next to me, and we watched as Adone spoke to the officers. After, we all walked back to the jewelry store together. While I’d had time to think about what she’d done—run after me, shoot at a cold-blooded killer, put herself in danger—my temperature started to rise.
It was a mixture of helplessness and despair. If something would have happened to her—I cut the fucking thought off. If someone would have finished that thought, I would have fucking killed them for even speaking it out loud. For giving life to it.
Sistine kept glancing at me from the side of her eye. Maybe she felt the fire coming from inside of me. I’d never felt anger so powerful before. Because it wasn’t regular anger. It was that helplessness and despair again. It wasn’t naturally inside of me, and I was fighting against it and all that just fucking happened. I wanted to stop time. Rewind it. Take her out of the picture and back to safety.
“Fuck,” I said, running a hand through my hair.
“You are making me sick.”
My feet stopped, and I concentrated on the voice that had cut through the smoke in my mind. Sistine was staring at me, hands on her hips. We were back inside the jewelry store. I was fucking pacing.
Fucking.
