Page 81 of Wrong Pawn. Right Capo.

Giving himself up for me?

Did he really do that?

For me?

Adriano stops about fifty yards away, his coat swaying as the breeze whips past him. His hands are visibly clenched by his sides.

“Bellandini!” the mayor calls out, his voice echoing through the night. “You’re a hard man to pin down, but not immune to sentiment, it seems.”

Adriano doesn’t respond, and the guards give way, revealing me. Even from yards away, I feel his gaze on me… like a silent question. As if asking if I’m okay.

I give a weak nod.

“Let her go,” Adriano demands, his voice curling something in my belly. Fuck. So much for drawing the line. I’m just so glad he’s here.

“You have me,” he snarls.

“First, we ensure you’re compliant,” the mayor shoots back.

Instantly, two guards approach Adriano, their guns drawn, and one begins to pat him down. The first guard pulls a Glock from a shoulder holster, tosses it aside, and then pulls a small knife from his boot.

“Satisfied?” Adriano grits out.

“For now,” the mayor says. “The trade. She walks to you. Once she’s past you, my men will take you into custody. Try anything and the snipers on the containers kill her instantly.”

Adriano nods. A guard shoves me forward, causing me to stumble before I quickly catch myself. My legs feel stiff as I take nervous steps across the uneven ground. Adriano does the same, mirroring my movements until we converge in the center.

My heart wrenches when I get a close-up look at him. His face is pale, cheeks hollow and lips cracked like he’s been through hell and back.

Without thinking, I latch onto him, wrapping my arms tightly around his neck. He hugs me back with the same intensity. And in that moment, I feel it all at once. I finally stop fighting it. He can deny it all he wants, and I can pretend he’s just my enemy, but a man doesn’t walk straight into an execution squad for a piece of leverage.

His low voice suddenly breaks through my racing thoughts, snapping me right back to the danger of the moment. “Black sedan. Two blocks away. Meet Francesco and leave this place,” he whispers briefly.

Tears blur my vision when the guard yanks me away from him and points his gun at Adriano, a reminder for him to keep walking.

My heart grows heavier the farther I walk away from him, nausea twisting my insides at the same time. I can’t live knowing someone sacrificed his life for mine.

And maybe that’s why I don’t do as he says. Maybe that’s why I stop and hide behind a container, a few feet from the center of the dock.

I don’t know if I can save him, but I can’t leave him like this. I crouch down, peering out to watch the scene unfold before me.

“Sentiment,” the mayor sneers. “It really is the ultimate weakness.”

“So all of this was for a political endgame,” Adriano comments, too casually for someone whose life is about to be ruined.

If the mayor notices this, he doesn’t say. Instead, his smirk widens as the guard forces Adriano to his knees.

“A prosecutor is dead, the city is in an uproar, and the people need a monster to blame. You, my friend, are the perfect scapegoat.”

“Wiping out my entire family and killing a chain of other people, just to cover up your dirty little secret and rise to power.” Adriano shakes his head, lifting his hands in surrender. “You’d think the mayor would have more dignity than that.”

“Politics is a dirty game. Play it or be played. That’s the rule,” the mayor sneers. “It’s over for you, Adriano. I’ll be the hero who caught you. Clean up the city. And the secret dies with you… and Enzo.”

I gasp but quickly cover my mouth before I attract attention to myself. Lord knows what he’s done to Enzo.

“You should know I had a little chit chat with your bastard, Caughn.” Something in Adriano’s voice shifts. Something that tells me he has a plan.

The mayor pauses, then clenches his jaw.