The front door gives way, and the men on the other side breach the house, dropping the battering ram.
I can't hear what is said, but before they can even pull their weapons, Enzo shoots them both.
They both fall. One after the other.
Dead.
My stomach lurches, and Enzo pulls the battering ram in and shuts the damaged door as best he can.
Someone must have heard...
Someone...
I wait, aware of the frozen girl next to me, and it is clear the street is quiet.
Enzo is on his phone.
And almost like he remembers there are cameras, he lifts his head and stares into it.
I don't turn it off because I'm sure that is the message from him to turn it off.
Instead, I take his sister's hand, lead her to the small sofa in here, and sit next to her, holding her cold hand.
"He's probably calling Uncle Gino," Lyndall shuts her eyes.
"Don't be scared, Enzo's smart?—"
"I'm not scared." Her eyes snap open as she looks at me. "But I'm sure you know that if we used to go to your place."
"I..."
She sobs a few times, then sucks in air. "This is my fault."
"How?"
"Dad sent them, I'm sure of it. I ran away, and he hates when people don't do what they're told."
I slide an arm around her shoulder. "It's okay."
"It's not," she says in a sobbing whisper as she takes deep breaths. "I ran away. And...and...he's punishing me."
There is more to this than she has said.
"Why did you run away, Lyndall?"
"B-because of Luke. Dad caught me with him in my room. Some of his men stopped by, and Luke?—"
"You're fifteen," I say, not helping.
"I'm basically sixteen—a woman. And it isn't like that.He's twenty, and he had his arm around me, and Dad came in. I'm pretty sure he thought we were having sex."
"Were you?"
"No." She sounds bitter. "Of course not. We're seeing each other. He's my boyfriend."
"You know," I say, "twenty is a man if he's twenty."
"He's twenty-two. And Dad lost his shit. He locked me in my room, threatened to send me to, like, a boarding school prison run by mean nuns." She sniffs. "Luke's my Romeo, and I'm his Juliet."
