Why the fuck won’t she listen to me?
“Why are you being so cold?”she hisses.
“Why are you being so obtuse?”I counter, finally turning toward her.Lucky me.I’m in time to watch her face crumple.
“Listen…” I don’t make it any farther than that.The sight of a slow-moving van robs me of whatever I was about to say.A van whose front passenger window lowers as it approaches.
And I know.
Time slows to a crawl.My body takes action before my brain catches up.I lunge, throwing myself in front of her while the barrel of a semiautomatic emerges from the van’s window.Her beautiful, precious face becomes a mask of stunned horror as I knock her to the ground, my body on top of hers, in time with the ear-splitting crack of gunfire.
And then the sudden, sharp explosion of pain that follows it.
19
GIULIA
Ican’t breathe.
I can’t hear anything over the high-pitched whine in my ears.
It feels like something is on my chest, pinning me to the cold, wet ground.
When I open my eyes, I understand why.Someone is lying on top of me.Someone in a black suit.The jacket is soft against my cheek.My memory stirs at the familiar scent that clings to it.
It’s Alessandro.His cologne.He’s what’s crushing me.
Someone shot at us.
And now it all comes rushing back, landing on me with a sickening thud, the way Alessandro landed on me and knocked me to the ground.The look on his face when he threw himself at me.The gunshots.Feet race all around us, but a few stop close to my head.I can’t see who they are.He’s blocking my view.
He’s not moving.
“Giulia?Giulia!”It’s Dante shouting my name, but the sound is muffled by the whining still filling my head.He and Luca help Alessandro off me—oh, thank God, I can breathe.I pull in a deep breath of chilly air that goes a long way toward clearing my head while staring up at the maroon awning overhead, then sit up with Dante’s help.
My head is spinning, but I’m not in pain.I don’t feel much of anything.Not even my brother’s hands running over my arms and legs, up and down my back like he’s searching for wounds.
That’s not what I care about, anyway.Right now, it’s an afterthought.
“Forget me!”I shout, scrambling from him on my hands and knees to where Alessandro lies on his back a few feet away.Luca and some of the other men who were inside hover over him.Someone barks orders into a phone.People are starting to gather on the sidewalk, whispering, taking videos.Men in suits push them back, arms spread.
It all goes by in a flash, images making impressions on my horrified mind like the scenery outside a speeding train.
“Are you all right?”Luca asks me, almost shouting in my face.
“I’m fine.”Only nothing could be further from the truth because Alessandro’s eyelids are fluttering, and his mouth is moving, but there’s no sound coming out.And oh, God, there’s blood on the ground.It’s starting to spread from under him.
“Alessandro?”Leaning over him, I take his head in my hands, staring down into his eyes.“Look at me.Can you hear me?Please, tell me you can hear me.”
“We need to get you inside.”Luca tugs my arm, but I barely feel it.He’s a mosquito buzzing around my head right now, easy to swat away, while I never break eye contact with Alessandro.
“Did somebody call an ambulance?”I ask, still stroking hair away from his forehead.
“They’re on the way.”Dante crouches next to me, his hands on my arms.“Mama is hysterical.Please.Come inside.You can wait for the ambulance in there.”
“Get off me!”I scream, high-pitched and desperate.This can’t be happening.He’s slipping away, I feel it.I’m supposed to wait inside?“I’m not leaving him!”
Dante’s face sags, his eyes close, and he mutters something under his breath.
