A gun, huge and black, is suddenly in his hand.Pointed at my father.
“No!”Chiara and I scream at the same time.
I start running, but don’t get far.
Matteo tackles me to the ground just as a shot rings out.
I hit the grass, but not before seeing Chiara leap in front of our dad, taking the bullet meant for him.
She goes down like a bird shot down in mid-flight.A beautiful wild bird shot down by an evil man.
My dad is down too, more blood erupting over his shirt.
All hell breaks loose again, gunshots and screams and yells and thuds.But none louder than the roars and wails of Ferro as he holds Chiara in his arms.
I thrash, kick and punch at Matteo, screaming at him to let me go.
Men come and drag my father away.I can hear my mom and Lidia screaming somewhere in the distance, beyond the wall, growing fainter and fainter as the gate rolls shut again.
Ferro has picked up Chiara and is running with her in his arms across the meadow to the cars.
There’s no life left in her face.No expression.She’s just asleep.She’s just unconscious.She’s fine.She will be fine.
Her pretty green dress in soaked in blood, the flowers on it red now, no longer pink.
Matteo picks me up too and holds me very tight as we follow my sister and the monster who killed her.
Chapter34
MATTEO
Gianna is shakingin my arms, Ferro is yelling like he was the one shot and not Chiara, and Codelli now has even more reason not to surrender to Ferro’s rule.
All in all, a failed fucking mission.
And watching the empty, wide-eyed look of utter disbelief and sadness on Gianna’s face is giving me the worst kind of PTSD on top of it all.My hands are shaking uncontrollably and I’m back on that sunny afternoon in March eight years ago, watching my brother take three bullets to the chest.
The shock in Gianna’s eyes reminds me of the look on my face when I finally fully realized that I have no family left.But she’s not at that stage yet.And I survived my brother’s death.
Ferro puts Chiara in the back seat of one of the town cars, Lorenzo gets in with her and Ferro gets behind the wheel, peeling across the meadow like he’s driving a rocket and not a clumsy old sedan.
“Where is he taking her?”Gianna asks, proving to me that her mind has put her in denial of what she just saw.It’ll be bad when that defensive mechanism fails.I know.I’ve been there.“I want to go with her.”
“We will,” I tell her and put her in the passenger seat of the nearest car.Luckily the driver left the keys in the ignition, and I take off after Ferro.
He’s on the highway, zigzagging between cars.He better be the luckiest man alive, because that’s the only way he’s gonna survive this mad car ride.
“She needs to go to the hospital,” Gianna says.“She needs a surgeon and a blood transfusion and… and… “
She sounds like she’s half asleep.It’s the shock.I really should’ve thought of wrapping her in something warm before putting her in the car because she’s about to get very cold.
“She’ll get the best care we can get her,” I tell her, struggling to take my jacket off, while driving fast enough to keep Ferro in sight.I’m very far from being the luckiest man in the world, so I shouldn’t really be attempting this maneuver, but Goldie’s teeth are already chattering.
I manage to do it without crashing and she gives me a surprised look as I place the jacket in her lap.
“Put it on, you need to stay warm.”
She makes no move to do it.“What for?”
