“She’s not your wife,” I growl. This time, I land a punch to Nico’s face, sending him stumbling back. “She’s not even your fiancée. She hates you. She doesn’t want to be with you.”
“Where is she?” He grabs my jacket and pulls me towards him.
“She is gone,” I say. Fortunately, Nico doesn’t know which room of the motel Gianna is in. “Marco has her. I’m done with her.”
“Then I don’t need you any longer, do I?” He pulls his gun from his jacket pocket. I grab his hand and twist it until he has no choice but to drop his gun. It clatters on the ground.
“Why isn’t Enzo here?”
“He’s on his way. I just happened to be closer.”
“Good. Then when Enzo arrives, I’ll tell him how terrible you were to Gianna. How I found you harassing her when I saved her from you.”
“He will never believe you. Gianna is mine. I can treat her however I want.”
“I doubt her brother will agree with that. Besides, Marco has Gianna. The second he married her, I was let go. I don’t know where they are. You will never get her back.”
With a large snarl, he head butts me. I stumble back. Nico lunges for the gun on the ground but I grab my own gun from my jacket pocket and aim it at his head. He freezes.
“Go,” I growl. “Before I shoot you in the fucking head.”
He glares up at me. “I will kill you.”
“Go kill Marco. He’s the one who wanted Gianna. I was just hired to do a job. He has her. If you want her, go get her back.”
Nico slowly stands up and backs away. I follow him with my gun until he gets in his car and drives away.
I wait until he’s out of sight before going into the motel room. “We have to leave,” I tell Gianna. She sits up on the bed, her eyes full of worry.
“We just got here. What’s going on?”
“Nico found us. He’s coming for you. He will hurt you if he gets his hands on you.”
“But if Nico founds us, then does that mean my brother did as well?”
“Enzo wasn’t there. Just Nico. We have to leave. I told Nico that Marco has you. That he married you. Hopefully that will draw him off our scent. But we have to leave now. We have to find another place to stay for the night – one where Nico doesn’t know where we are.”
“Are you ok?” She stands up and reaches her hand out to my face. I hiss when her fingers brush against my cheek. “You have a bruise here.”
“Courtesy of Nico. But I’m fine,” I add in a softer voice. “We have to get out of here. Now.”
“Ok. Thank you. For saving me from Nico. Again.”
“He will hurt you if he gets you,” he repeats. “I know it. He wants to control you and I promised to give you freedom. We have to find a way to get you back to Enzo without Nico finding us first.”
“I know my brother will believe me about Nico. He trusts my word. If I tell him how Nico tried to hurt me, I won’t have to marry him. And maybe…” She bites her lip, blushing.
“Maybe what?”
“Maybe I could convince Enzo to spare your life. Maybe… we could be together.”
My chest squeezes at the thought. A life with Gianna? That’s something I never considered. But the moment Gianna suggests it, I know I can see it. I don’t want to let Gianna go for anything.
But it’s all a dream and I have never been one to believe in fairytales.
“We just have to get out of here now,” I say in a soft voice. “We can worry about the future another time. Right now, your safety is all I’m thinking about.”
We leave the motel room to find another one. I just have to wonder when I’ll ever find peace.
