“You are not going to get angry, right?”
I nodded.
So help me God, I would never be angry with her.
Allie took a deep breath. She let it out with a sharp, “Okay. When Ringo left me in that cave?—”
I growled, remembering how cold she was when we found her.
She leaned back and squared off against me. “You promised not to get angry.”
“I’m not angry with you.”
“Okay, new promise, you will not get angry at Ringo, got it?”
I refused to answer.
She stared me down until I begrudgingly agreed. “I won’t get angry-er.”
Allie pursed her lips and worked through my reply. “Fine. I’ll just rip this Band-Aid off. You can’t find Leandro because he is at the bottom of some pit in that cave that leads up the slope to Don Conti’s castle. Ringo snuck up there to save you, and Leandro found me. I kicked his ass.”
For a moment I couldn’t speak. Part of my gut fell into a dark place that was half horrified, and half stunned. The rest of it tried to rein in the emotion that goaded me to hunt Ringo down and gut him. “You kicked Leandro’s ass?” It came out as a whisper because my throat was not working right.
“Yes. Well, technically his head… and face… and I think I kicked him in the nuts. No wait, I hit him there. Got him good, too.”
If I hadn’t been sitting, I would have fallen.
Allie continued, oblivious to my turmoil.
“Remember when you caught Loppa and Firenze teaching me how to defend myself?”
I nodded, absently. They attacked her from behind.
And with a snap of realization, I knew. The scene played vividly in my mind. Leandro was more than twice her weight. He’d had to have been lower than her for her to be effective.
“You struck him?” I picked up her hands and searched for bruising. The dirt she wore earlier masked it, and the scrapes that marred her skin. I tugged the cuffs of her loose sleeves up and marked the long string of bruising that spanned from the heels of her hands to well beyond her elbows.
“You’re not getting angry, right?”
I breathed deeply. It leaked out slowly as I set aside murderous thoughts. “I’m not angry with you.”
“You can’t get angry at Ringo, remember?”
I did.
“Where is Leandro’s body?” I asked.
Allie frowned. “Ringo says it’s a secret entrance and that Don Conti would kill to keep it that way, so…should I tell you?”
I closed my eyes and opened them slowly so I could master the emotion that betrayed me. “I have no secrets from Ringo.” And that was damning. He held secrets from all of us. He could have told me about the secret entrance the night we planned.
But I wouldn’t listen to him. He hadn’t been against attacking the castle, only against me going in alone or through the front door. He knew how thick the office doors were. He’d been there before. And I hadn’t bothered to wonder how he knew.
“Should I tell you?” she asked.
I searched her face. The warmth in her eyes had crept back in, but it was wary. I didn’t blame her. “If you want to keep that secret, I can’t stop you.” Nor could I stop her from leaving me. My life was too violent for her gentle nature.
“I’m not going to keep secrets from you. Not now, not ever. I don’t want to live that way.” She stared at my face. “I love you.”
