As much as I used to relish that sentence falling from her lips, I had a feeling I’d been very wrong lately. Ellie’s comment about guns was only one reason.
“Johnny’s a bad guy.” Although she was recovering, her blank stare betrayed her state of shock.
The hustle of men carrying guns in and out of the house was the only noise for a long time.
Unspoken was a judgment on the men surrounding us. Instead, she finally started with “So… you’re married?”
“I should have waited, right? Maybe get your lawyer to check him out?” I braced for her ‘What were you thinking’ tirade.
But it didn’t come.
Ellie stared out the window. Through it, I could see the profile of the man she’d been with. He was that same good-looking rogue who’d vowed to kill Mario for stealing my ride share. Yet, I knew those bullets bouncing off the patio came from the slope above, not the paths from the ocean. But I had to be sure. “You hiked up the hill?”
“Oh my fucking God, yes. That was a killer. You were right about the tourist shoes, too. Damn you.”
“How far up the slope were you?”
“It felt like miles, but probably only halfway up. My thighs are killing me. How did you get in this mess, Allie?”
“I got married.”
Ellie’s face soured. “That’s not like you at all.”
No, it wasn’t. Nothing had been like me since walking into that wedding chapel.
“Mom and Dad were watching the live feed,” I mused.
Ellie bit her lip. She did that when she didn’t want to admit she was at fault for something.
“They would have loved your wedding to that…man. Probably not the divorce, but…”
“Are you going to divorce him?” Her eyes nudged toward the slope where Mario and his men hunted down whoever had been shooting at us.
That was a good question. I should. I should run for the hills, tuck tail, and fly home. I should do a lot of things. But mainly, I didn’t want to. Call me foolish, or just plain brainwashed, but I liked the people around Mario.
Well, maybe not his father, or that witch, Dianora, or her cousin. And definitely not whoever was shooting at him. And the jury was still a month or more out on Ringo because he’d hurt his best friend. But overall, these people were… intense, protective, warm, humble… I smiled. They were a family. I wanted that. Probably since Mom and Dad fled to Arizona.
But I should divorce him. It would be the smart thing to do. Mario was a very dangerous man.
My sister asked the most important question of all. One I’d carefully avoided. “You’re in love with him, aren’t you?”
Yes. I was.
15
Mario
We found the body of a man near the top of the hill. Firenze spotted the muzzle flash during the exchange and had finally located where he had landed inside a small grove of scrubby strawberry trees.
He’d been dead before he finished falling.
And the bullet hole between his eyes wasn’t from one of my men’s guns.
No, this had Ringo’s signature all over it. “Dispose of this.”
Firenze nodded and picked two men to carry the corpse away. Meanwhile Loppa complained. Maybe it was the pain, or the close call. But it was likely because I’d insisted on joining the search.
I had to. I couldn’t face Ringo without the murderous urge to destroy him eating at my chest.
