I'm already checking him, my hands finding the wound in his back, blood spreading fast, too fast, arterial.
"Drive faster!" I shout at Dante.
Vittorio's breathing is ragged, wet, and when he coughs blood comes up.
"Isabella," he says, and his voice is weak. "I'm sorry. For everything. For?—"
"Don't talk," she says, and she's crying. "Just hold on. We're almost?—"
"Tell my father—" He coughs again. "Tell him I?—"
He doesn't finish.
His breathing stops and his eyes go unfocused and I check for a pulse and find nothing.
"No," Isabella whispers. "No, he didn’t deserve this?—"
"He's gone," I say quietly.
She makes a sound that's half sob, half scream, and buries her face in her hands.
Matteo turns around from the front seat and looks at Vittorio's body, and his expression is carefully blank but I can see the calculations running behind his eyes.
Vittorio De Luca is dead.
Killed during a rescue operation.
The alliance with the De Luca family just went from unstable to catastrophic.
We drive the rest of the way in silence.
Back at the compound there's chaos.
Medical teams are treating the wounded. Men are debriefing. Weapons are being cleaned and counted. The wounded are being stabilized and the dead are being documented.
Isabella refuses to let go of me until we're inside, until we're in a private room and I can check her over properly.
"I'm fine," she keeps saying. "I'm not hurt."
But her hands are shaking and she's pale and there's blood on her clothes that isn't hers and she's not fine, not even close.
I get her to sit down and I check her anyway, cataloging injuries. Bruised ribs. Cut on her temple. Bruises on her wrists from the restraints. But nothing broken, nothing that won't heal.
"You came for me," she says while I work.
"Of course, I did."
"Vittorio said—he said you were gone. That you left."
"I did leave. But that doesn't mean I stopped—" I stop and look at her. "I never stopped, Isabella. I never stopped thinking about you or worrying about you or loving you. Not for one second."
She starts crying again and I pull her against me and hold her.
"I've got you," I whisper into her hair. "You're safe. I've got you."
The door opens.
Matteo.
