“I want him dead, now,” Alessio huffs. “After what he did to you…”
“I know. And he’ll be dead today, no matter what.”
I follow Carmine’s car with squealing tires and rumbling engine all the way until we get to the gates of the Fiorelli estate. They’re wide open for us, like a trap.
Even so, we head in and the cars in front of and behind mine come to a screeching stop.
Every second that ticks by is another second that Eivor has to do whatever he’s up to. I don’t like it. I rip off my seatbelt and race around the car just as Alessio gets out of the passenger side.
“I’m going in first,” Carmine orders. “Remember your formations. Guards behind, left, and you to the back.” He motions at the guards and directs them where they should be. Then looks at Alessio. “I don’t care that you want to be the one to kill him. It’s my face he’ll see first.”
I watch Alessio’s jaw shift. “It’ll be mine he’ll see last.”
I nod, supporting him.
Carmine simply turns around and heads into the estate first, with me, Alessio, and the other brothers following in quick succession behind him. Several guards with their guns raised stand in a half circle behind us.
I stand with my back to Alessio, guarding him in my own way. Despite knowing that he wants to get right in the middle of this, I still want to protect him.
Just like I was meant to protect Rosalie.
Thankfully, she’s at her apartment, guarded and safe. Nowhere near any of this now that she’s outed her uncle.
As much as I’ll bet she wants to be a part of it…
The doors are kicked open in a clatter and we go rushing in. My original plan was to immediately head for his office while the other guards checked the rest of the house. The man seems obsessed with showing that he’s in charge, so his office seemed like a fair bet for where he might be.
Unexpectedly, we don’t have to go much further than the entryway to get what we want. Eivor is standing right there at the end of the staircase, suit and all. A wide grin on his face.
Unfortunately for us, he’s holding a gun to Rosalie’s head.
“Rose,” Alessio gasps and as everyone else directs their gun to Eivor, he does too. I pull my gun out and look in the opposite direction, making sure that the news that he got rid of all of the guards wasn’t just a trick.
It truly seems that we’re all alone here. Just us, and Eivor. With a gun against Rosalie’s temple.
“Careful now, wouldn’t want me to get slipped up. Would we?” Eivor asks, his eyes wide and his face a bit red. I’m betting if I was any closer to him, I’d smell the alcohol on his breath.
Rosalie squirms in his hold and I take just a step closer, but Carmine puts an arm out in front of me.
“You’re truly a mad man,” he comments to Eivor. “Your own niece?”
“We do what we can to protect ourselves,” Eivor replies, his words slightly slurred.
Time ticks on second by second, all of us standing here, guns on him, gun to Rosalie’s head. I watch the tears in Rosalie’s eyes, and I see her brother Soren reflected in them.
“You wouldn’t,” Soren insists. “You’ve done some fucked up things, but surely you’d never sink that low.”
I grip my gun tighter but remember to relax my shoulders, and I keep my eyes locked on Eivor.
“None of this would’ve happened if it weren’t for you,” Eivor spits out at me from a yard or two distance. “You had to getinvolvedand ruin everything.”
“Your plans were never going to work out,” I tell him.
Alessio shifts on his feet. “You didn’t really think that you could go up against the Dresvannis and win, did you?”
Eivor laughs and presses the gun harder to Rosalie’s head and her whole body stiffens. If I were her, I’d be more worried that he would shoot me on accident at this point.
“Look at me now! Holding your entire world on the brink of death,” Eivor laughs. “One move…one fucking move and I’ll?—”
