Amaranthe was already bent over. Her arms dropped toward her ankles. She didn’t hesitate or stop, fingers manipulating the cuffs locking her feet to the floor, not even when Stefano cleared his throat to remind her he held a gun on her.
Before she could move toward the nearest shadow, Geno was on her, tackling her, knocking her from the chair, taking her to the floor. She was even tinier than he realized. He felt as if he had crushed every bone in her body. The moment she was under him, the defiance was gone. The fight was gone. She knew it was impossible to get away from him.
Geno felt the instant resolve in her. The movement in her jaw. Subtle. Her tongue sliding along the roof of her mouth,working to uncover a flat wafer hidden there. Alarm skittered through him.
He levered his body up and with both hands caught her jaw, his mouth coming down on hers, forcing her lips apart. One hand wrapped around her throat, making certain she couldn’t swallow if she tried. His tongue sought the wafer. He was far larger than she was. If the poison, or whatever compound it was, was precisely made for her size, he had a better chance of survival than she did.
Geno clamped his tongue over the tablet, dug it away from the roof of her mouth and took it into his own. It was dissolving fast.
No.She fought him, trying to twist out of his grasp, turning her head.Spit it out. You can’t touch that. Spit it out, Geno. It’s poison. Spit it out.
He obeyed, turning his head to try to rid himself of the tablet, but most had absorbed into the tissues of his mouth.
Call in the Archambaults, Amaranthe. Don’t trust anyone but Stefano and the Archambaults.Geno tried to warn her. He knew he wasn’t going to make it. Hopefully, he had ensured that she would. She wasn’t guilty of the crimes committed. Whatever she was doing in his territory, she hadn’t been a party to the murders.
Amaranthe’s heart rate accelerated to such a rate that the others in the room could hear it. Geno’s did as well. Then abruptly her heart ceased beating. Geno swept his tongue through her mouth to try to clear the contents and spat several times to rid both of whatever compound she had tried to ingest. He rolled her onto her back and began doing CPR.
It’s beginning to work on me as well, Stefano. Get the defibrillator. Call for a doc. I’m going to crash. Anyone breathing for us can’t put their mouth on ours.
Stefano issued the commands and eased his cousin to the floor. “You ingested even more than she did.” He started CPR on Amaranthe.
Call in the Archambaults, Stefano. You can’t do thisalone. Someone is working to kill all of us or turn us against one another. She didn’t do this.
“Shut the fuck up and breathe, Geno,” Stefano snapped. “You die on me and I’m going to be so pissed I’ll follow you to hell and bring you back.”
Valentino caught up the defibrillator and hastily attached the electrodes and turned on the machine. “Get clear. Everyone needs to be clear.” The machine began to analyze Amaranthe’s condition.
The poison had to be absorbed through membranes. She tried to stop me. I’m not feeling so good, Stefano. I’m a lot bigger than she is. Hopefully, the tablet was designed for her size.
“Stay with me, Geno. Why would she try to stop you from absorbing the poison? Why wouldn’t she want to kill you? You were about to torture her. Think, Geno. Keep your heart beating. Concentrate on the questions.”
The machine told them Amaranthe had no heartbeat and began to count down to shock her heart. Geno nearly stopped breathing. Waiting. Nothing mattered to him but that machine and shocking life back into Amaranthe.
“Breathe, Geno. Don’t you fucking die on me,” Stefano snapped.
The machine shocked Amaranthe’s heart. Once. Twice. The doctor rushed in with two of his aides. Her heart began to beat, but the rhythm wasn’t steady.
“Poison,” Valentino explained tersely.
“I’ll need the compound.”
Dario handed the aide two swabs. “Best we could do.”
The aide took off running, presumably for a laboratory.
Geno’s heart suddenly stopped beating. Immediately, Amaranthe’s eyelashes fluttered. She turned her head toward him, then to Stefano. Clearly, she tried to form words.
“Tell me what kind of poison,” Stefano demanded.
Valentino was doing chest compressions as Dario began hooking the defibrillator to Geno.
Stefano swore at her. “Tell me.”
“He took most of it.” She mouthed the words rather than voiced them, then tried again, murmuring. She sounded slurred. Disoriented. Her lashes fell. “Why? I tried to stop him. He isn’t part of this, is he?”
“No. Fucking tell the doc what kind of poison,” Stefano demanded. “Right now, Amaranthe.”
She mumbled something again. Stefano leaned down in an effort to catch every word. Stefano related what she said to the doctor as she crashed again. Dario swore and began CPR.
