“Sì,” Dino replied and took a sharp right turn, which made me lean into Alessio.
“Run where?” My heart jumped into my throat. I was grateful Alessio was finally taking things seriously, but now he was scaring me.
“Through the fields.” He bent over and took my heels off. “I’m sorry about all this. Please forgive me.” He cradled the side of my face with his free hand and kissed me hard.
“They’re still behind us,” Dino said.
“Get my gun, Aaron,” Alessio said, gently stroking my cheek. “I will protect you with my life.”
“Don’t be foolish. You need to stay alive. Your family needs you.” Tears pooled in my eyes. Was this how my life would end? I’d been the wife of Alessio Remotti for one day. At least I wouldn’t die a virgin.
“But I need you.”
I threw my arms around his neck and kissed. I was still angry, and if we made it back to his estate alive, I probably wouldn’t speak to him until our wedding celebration. But if this was the last time that we were together, I needed to feel his lips on mine once more.
“Get ready to run for it,” Aaron said passing a gun to Alessio. “I’m coming but you need to put distance between us and I’ll cover you.”
“Oh my God.” I wished I’d brought a pair shoes for running. If we survived tonight, every car would have an emergency bag filled with all the things that would have been useful to us now.
“Are you ready?” he asked me and took my hand.
“As ready as I’ll ever be, I guess.”
“I’ll try to slow as much as possible, but I won’t stop so they don’t see the brake lights and you getting out,” Dino said.
Yikes. This sounded bad. Did he mean we were jumping out of a moving vehicle? I wasn’t going to ask for clarification. I’d rather not know and just react to whatever Alessio made me do.
“Let me out first.” Aaron opened his door as Dino turned left. He jumped out and the door was slammed closed.
“Oh God,” I said in a horrified voice. I didn’t mean to say it out loud.
“Shh, we’re going to be okay.” Alessio opened his door and positioned himself to jump.
“In five,” Dino said. “One. Two. Three.”
My heart hammered in my chest as he counted down to five.
“Five!” Alessio yelled, swinging his door open.
Dino slowed a bit more, but he didn’t come to a full stop.
Alessio jumped out first and I followed right behind him. My feet stumbled under me and I hit the dirt, landing on my stomach. Excruciating pain exploded in my feet, knees and arms.
“Alessio!” I called, unable to see him in the dark. Dino had sped off and I felt all alone.
“I got you.” Aaron lifted me off the ground and ran into the orchard while carrying me. The squeal of tires echoed in the darkness. Aaron picked up his pace. Not once did he look back.
“Where’s Alessio?” It was so dark I couldn’t see anything beyond a few feet. However, I smelled citrus in the air, so we had to be in an orange or lemon grove.
“Ahead of us.”
“Good.” It wasn’t lost on me whose life was more valuable in this situation. Aaron and I were expendable. Replaceable. Forgettable.
“We’ll catch up to him,” Aaron said in a tight voice as he ran unbelievably fast with me in his arms like he was a participate in the Milan Marathon.
I prayed we won the race.
I prayed Alessio made it safety.
