“That thing belong to the family?”I ask, meaning the yacht.
He looks at me sideways, an annoyed look on his face.Maybe because I interrupted his daydreaming, maybe simply because he neither likes me nor trusts me very much.“What do you think?”
“They ever go sailing at night?”I ask.“I used to love doing that back in LA.”
The look he gives me suggests he couldn’t care less about what I used to love doing.Midnight and the start of Ferro’s carnage is less than two hours away.My orders are to kill Rafaelle first then open the doors so Ferro’s men can come in.They already know about the beachside entrance, and they’ll be entering through that one as well.
I don’t like the thought of them trampling all over the spot where Gianna and I slept last night, but that’s a passing thing.Inconsequential.It’s just a good, but fuzzy memory now.One that will be completely spoiled before the sun rises tomorrow.
Whoever the other mole Ferro has inside the Codelli household is will be taking out the old man.I have no idea who it is, could be any one of the men standing guard in the living room while the family enjoys their family night.
I’m still just looking at Rafaelle like I’m waiting for an answer.
“Not really, no,” he says.“They already took the boat out once today.”
“Maybe they’d like to again.”It’s as direct as I can be.“I bet the girls would like to spend the night on the boat.I bet they’ve never done that.And I bet they’d love it.”
That’s a lot of the wordbetin there.Probably because I’m betting so heavily that he’ll understand what I’m trying to tell him when the time comes.If this succeeds it can’t look like I had anything to do with it.
The only thing on Rafaelle’s face now is dark suspicion.I have his attention.Good.I guess.The knife in my sleeve, my great-grand father’s knife and the one I’d planned to kill him with so as not to make too much noise is like ice against my skin.
“Why don’t you just stop talking now?”he says and I take it as the order it is.One of the last I’ll ever be given.Regardless of how this night goes.I’m done taking orders.
I lean back on my heels and gaze at Goldie without being obvious about it.Her cheeks are flushed, a deeper, rose gold on her already perfect gold skin.
She’s stopped staring at me, but she does keep glancing in my direction every chance she gets.I should move out of her line of sight before she gives us away.But it’s proving impossible to stop looking at her.That’s how it’s been since the first time I saw her, dancing in that crowded nightclub.And I’m starting to accept that it will be like that for the rest of my life.I wish I could pretend otherwise, but I can’t.
I need to look at her like I need breathing.So I need to keep her in my line of sight.I need her to live through this night even if no one else does.And I need her by my side when the dust settles.To claim her.To prevent anyone else from taking her.And I need her looking at me too.I like her looking at me.
If the Russians hadn’t attacked her that first night, I wouldn’t be standing here, and she might already be dead.I saved her life that night, then again at the beach and I’ll save it tonight too.That’ll be thethird time’s the charmthat’ll bind us together forever.Eventually she’ll see it that way.That’s the hope anyway.
I can’t check my watch too often, but I don’t really need to.I can feel the seconds ticking by, can basically feel the hour draw nearer to midnight.An alarm will sound when it’s time to make our move.The seconds ticking by seem longer than years and shorter than they should be at the same time.
I resume my silent stance, trying my hardest to ignore Goldie.I try to keep my mind off her by focusing on the other guards, wondering which of them are betraying the Codelli family the worst.
They’re all related or very closely tied to the Codelli’s in some way, that’s how it works in prominent families like this one.You don’t let anyone who isn’t blood or as good as near the inner sanctum.So whoever has been colluding with Ferro all this time is an even worse traitor than I am.
I’m not even related to them and the last close tie my family had to theirs was severed when my great-grandfather went West.Irreparably so when they didn’t come to our aid ten years ago when we needed them most.
I still don’t understand why the old man gave me such an important job to do.Maybe just out of some kind of nostalgia because our forefathers were friends.Or maybe sentimentality because I saved his daughter and he wanted to help me because I was friendless.Maybe it was just for the simple reason that I was with her at a nightclub and he wanted to make it look like I’d only been there as her bodyguard.
It doesn’t really matter, and I should stop dwelling on it.What I’m about to do is hard enough without imagining that I owe the old man anything.And as it stands now, it’s all gonna happen right under Gianna’s innocent, loving gaze.
An alarm blares from somewhere deeper in the house.The five guards in the room with me look at each other, and they all seemed confused by it.There’s no way to tell which of them knows this is the signal that Ferro is attacking.The family don’t even seem to hear it through the thick glass of the terrace doors.
Two of the guards run out of the room.I rush to Rafaelle, the knife I’ve been hiding in my sleeve now in my hand.Even its handle is ice cold.I jab it into his side, under his silk-lined jacket so no one can see it.I know how to stab someone in the gut in a way that gives them a chance to survive.Learned it while Dante Moretti had me killing innocent people just to mess with my head.I hope I angled the knife right now.
“Put the family on the boat like we talked about,” I hiss into his ear.
He turns to me, everything on his face screaming that he’s gonna argue and fight me.I twist the knife and draw blood.
“Do it now, or watch them die.”I say and push him away from me hard enough so that he falls to the ground.I’m happy to see a good amount of blood on his white shirt.Whoever is watching is gonna think I stabbed him.That will be the story Ferro’s mole will take to him.Or that’s the hope anyway.
The guards still in the room try to stop me as I rush for the door to complete step two of my task—open the front gate for Ferro’s men.But Rafaelle calls them to him.I hear the heavy terrace door slide open as I punch one of the guards just hard enough so I can get through and to the front door.
I haven’t even looked at Gianna yet, but I’m sure she’s staring at me.I dare not look, or I might just help Rafaelle instead of letting Ferro’s men in.
I’m sure now that Rafaelle understands the urgency of what he must do.Get the family to safety or they all die.I hope he succeeds.
