“We must find a tree.”
My eyes darted around, but the only trees were encircling us, and none seemed easy to climb. No low hanging branches.
“Sway” by Dean Martin echoed in the night. I almost felt like I was swaying. I wasn’t sure what to do. I’d never encountered anything but robbers and violent criminals in New Orleans. On another level, that was exactly what a possessed boar like this was, but…we couldn’t outrun it. Its tusks looked deadly, and maybe it was my imagination, but it seemed like they were glinting in the darkness, the tiny lights making them seem sharper.
The night seemed to explode around us when thecinghialecharged with another squeal.
In a move Ermanno didn’t expect, I turned my back to the beast, settinghim in front of me, so I’d get the brunt of it from behind. I closed my eyes, bracing for it, my entire body seizing more like, and at the same time, a loud blast from in front of me made my ear drums feel like they exploded and were bleeding out. It was my imagination, but I could’ve sworn the beast behind me made the ground tremble beneath my feet when it fell.
A male figure in the distance made a motion for Ermanno to, basically, take a hike. Ermanno’s eyes widened before he took off like the witch was chasing him. My eyes kept blinking to bring the man into focus. I wanted to run to him because he was so familiar, but something stopped me—he wasn’t mine.
Massimo, with a smoking gun in his hand, met my eyes. Nothing but coldness stared back at me. No emotion. Hiseyes were two dark pools that showed nothing behind them. I thought he’d stop and stare at me, but when I didn’t move out of his way, he knocked into me so hard, I fell to the ground. He had the audacity to stare at me then.
Right away, I knew what he was doing.
He was daring me.
Daring me to tell my husband, his father, about our encounter.
Our moment was broken when Rocco began to shout for me. My hearing was slowly returning, and it sounded like he was in a tunnel. I heard my name from his mouth, though. It was crazed. I took one last look at Massimo, who was dragging the boar behind him as he made his dramatic exit in the fog.
When Rocco found me barely standing, my knees knocking from the voices, from the boar, and from his son, he frantically looked me over, his eyes wild. When he found me whole, he pulled me to him so hard, I lost my breath.
Then the world went dark for a few seconds, because I was already short of breath from the panic, and when he pulled me to him, my safe space, the last of my adrenaline rushed through me, then faded.
I blacked out.
Rocco had me cradled in his arms and was carrying me back toNel Cielowhen I came to. He was calling for Uncle Tito. Maestro rolled Uncle Tito over at a speed that would have seemed comical if there was anything to laugh about. Uncle Tito was holding onto the arms like his life depended on it. Rocco took a seat on a chair, and Uncle Tito took my hand, feeling for my pulse.
I assured him, probably screaming a bit, that I was okay, just frightened from the boar encounter. Rocco still demanded that I be looked over, even though I kept fighting it. While he andUncle Tito spoke in rapid Italian, and a group of people circled us, mortifying me, Ermanno squeezed through the wall.
Our eyes locked.
“Massimo?” I mouthed.
Ermanno shook his head.No.He hadn’t said anything about him. He made a rolling motion around his temple. I understood right away. He was telling me in his own way that Massimo waspazzo, and he wasn’t saying anything about him being there, maybe in fear that Massimo would finish what the boar hadn’t. Even though this family couldn’t lie, this seemed like an omission. Fair enough to me.
I nodded at him and put a finger to my mouth.
“Shhh,” I whispered, before I closed my eyes and took a deep, deep breath, and asked my husband who shot thecinghiale.He looked around, but no man in this circle would lie, so no one came forward, which I knew would be the case.
If Massimo Fausti thought that I would cause more problems between him and his father by telling him he pushed me down on purpose or not, he was sadly mistaken.
He’d saved my life.
I’d do the same for him.
Chapter 18
A Hunting We Will Go
Rocco
The day was overcast, shadows dancing along the walls in our bedroom as thick, silvery fog cloaked our home. My wife lay beside me, one arm on the pillow, her face resting next to her hand.
She had the face of an angel.
The most beautiful woman I had ever seen.
