We reach the foyer, ready to head up the stairs, when Ginevra, who was standing by the door, approaches us.
“Wait. I have something to say.”
With a sigh, Gabriel sets me on my feet. “What do you want, Ginevra? It’s over between us. You do know that, yes?”
“I see that now,” she spits out, eyeing me over like I’m scum. “Which is why I made a call. I had someone reach out to me, asking where you lived. I refused to give that information away. I know how much you like your privacy. But now you made me angry. So I returned his call.”
“Who?” Gabriel asks.
Ginevra’s phone buzzes. “Oh. He’s here. Just arrived.” She opens the front door like she’s the wife of this place instead of me.
A man walks into the house. Older. In his fifties. Nothing remarkable about his appearance.
But Gabriel’s reaction says everything. From the way he tenses to the way he clenches his hands into fists. I know who this is before he even says it. “Giovanni.”
Chapter Eighteen
Gabriel
The sight of the man I hate the most in this world, standing in my home, smirking at me makes my blood fucking boil.
“Nice place you have here. It was your parents, I believe?” Giovanni makes a show of looking around. “I remember shooting your father in the head just over there.” He points towards the stairs. “How funny is it that you bought this place as an adult. I should have guessed. But you were good at hiding where you lived. But thanks to Ginevra, I finally found you.”
I pull out my gun but Giovanni moves faster. He already has his gun in his hand, aimed at… Aurora.
“I wouldn’t shoot if I were you,” he threatens. “Ginevra told me all about your precious wife. I thought Ginevra was your weakness. I knew you two had an affair years ago. But she informed me that your little wife is your weakness. I didn’t even know you had gotten married. My invitation must have been misplaced.”
“Get the fuck out of my house,” I growl. I cannot let Giovanni shoot Aurora in the head like he did my father. Or worse… cut her like he did my mother. For all the unprotected sex Aurora and I have done, there’s a chance she could even be pregnant. The memory of my mother lying on the floor, her baby cut out of her, still haunts me to this day.
“Oh. I plan to. After I hurt you in unimaginable ways.” He pulls the trigger.
I act as fast as I can, pushing Aurora out of the way. The bullet lands in my chest, knocking me to the ground. I fire at Giovanni and manage to hit him in the arm before I crumple. The pain is unimaginable.
“Gabriel,” Aurora screams, kneeling down beside me. I look into her eyes, silently begging for her to run.
But she doesn’t.
Instead, Giovanni grabs her arm and yanks her away from me.
“Don’t touch her,” I spit out but my voice sounds weak. Like I’m dying.
Giovanni drags Aurora from the house while Ginevra stands over me, smirking. “You should have chosen me, Gabriel. I wouldn’t have told Giovanni anything about you otherwise. Just remember that. Maybe when your wife is dead, you’ll take me back.” Her high heels clatter on the ground as she walks away.
Darkness splays at the edge of my vision. The last thing I see is Leo and Rocco running towards me, shouting about the gunshots, and asking me what happened. But I can’t give them a reply as I shut my eyes and let the darkness I so desperately craved for years take over me.
Aurora
Giovanni shoves me outside into the arms of two other men. His guards, I realize. They drag me to a car and throw me into the back seat before tying my hands behind me and stuffing a rag into my mouth so I can’t speak.
“Are you going to hurt her?” Ginevra asks.
Giovanni smirks. “Of course. I am going to hurt her the way I did Gabriel’s family. It’s what he gets for trying to kill me. Now, run along. I don’t need you anymore.”
“But I want to see it. I want to see her get hurt.”
After a moment, Giovanni shrugs. “Fine by me. Get in.” Ginevra doesn’t hesitate to slide into the backseat by me. Giovanni gets into the passenger seat while one of his guards drives the car. The other one is in a car behind us.
Ginevra slaps me across the face. “This is what you get for being a bitch. For rubbing your relationship with Gabriel in my face.”
