Gio’s gun swung around and fired in that direction, and again, it went wide. She clung to his arm, fighting with everything she had to disarm him.
And I couldn’t get a shot at him because she was in the way.
Another booming shot went off, and the world around me seemed to slow down. I had one second to look down at the blood bubbling from my chest, and then I fell forward.
“Matteo.” Sophia’s scream was agonized. Through my lashes, I watched as she tried to rush forward.
Gio caught her around the waist and dragged her back. “It’s over, little sister.” Grinning, he pressed his gun to her head again. “It’s all over. I’ve won and you…”
He was going to shoot her, right in front of my eyes. He was going to murder his own flesh and blood, and with me bleeding out on the floor, he would then go after my daughter.
Gritting my teeth against the pain, I tried to push myself up, but my hands slipped on my blood, and I fell down again.
It couldn’t end like this. Not now that I knew the truth. Not now that I had a chance to have her back. A chance to get both of them back in my life.
From my place prone on the floor, I met her eyes. “I love you,” I whispered.
Sophia’s smile was sad.
“I love you too.”
My heart sped up, pumping even more blood onto the floor. I only had seconds before I lost consciousness.
“Close your eyes, my love.”
She nodded once. She took a deep breath, almost like she was accepting her fate. And I had never seen anyone look so beautiful or so brave.
Sophia’s eyes closed, and the moment they did, I pulled the trigger.
Her brother's head snapped back, his eyes wide with shock, and fell backward without even a sound. A small, round hole was in the center of his forehead.
He hit the floor with a dull thump and didn’t move again.
Sophia stood. A look of pure confusion was on her blood-splattered face.
“Sophia,” I called her, even as my eyes closed. It was getting harder and harder to keep them open. “Sophia, it’s over…it’s…”
She fell to her knees and crawled through the blood toward me. “You killed him,” she sobbed over and over again, her voice rising in hysterics.
“I know.” Closing my eyes, I reached for her face, smoothing my fingers over it. If I was dying, I wanted the last thing I felt to be her skin.
“I’m sorry.”
More noise filled the room. Men, people trying to save me, but I couldn’t concentrate on anything but her face hovering above mine.
I was dying, and that was fine because she was safe.
She and Lily could have the life they deserved, and I would die seeing her face and knowing I had finally done the right thing.
There were worse ways to go.
“I love you.” Her voice was ragged. “I love you, Matteo.”
“I love you too,” I tried to say, but nothing but a gargle came out.Hot blood fell down my chin. No actual sound came out, just more wet, bloody sounds.
“Do something.” Even Sophia’s screams sounded like they were coming from far away. “Save him.” My cheek was slapped, but I didn’t feel that either.
“Don’t you dare leave me, Matteo. Don’t you dare.”
