Page 69 of Read This Before the Villain falls in Love with You

Nonna draws the dull-black pistol from her coat in one fluid, terrifying motion. "I don't lecture cheap amateurs," she corrects in a deadly whisper.

Vincenzo fumbles frantically at his waistband, shrieking at his frozen guards, "Shoot her! Shoot the old bat!"

A gunshot cracks like thunder through the foyer. Vincenzo screeches in agony, dropping like a sack of wet flour as blood spurts from his shattered hand. His silver piece clatters across the marble, spinning until it taps Nonna's black shoe. She doesn't even blink.

Nonna keeps the barrel steady as a rock and announces to the guards, "Anyone moves, and your boss gets a matching hole in his knee." Then she jerks her chin at me. "Nora. Untie Sofia before I lose my patience."

"On it!" I shout, bolting past two frozen bodyguards who look like they'd rather be anywhere else on earth.

I skid on the rug by the chair and pull out my pocketknife, working the blade furiously through the thick cords around Sofia's wrists. "Hey, sweetie. Breathe. We're getting you out of here."

"Nora?" Sofia hiccups, half-laughing through a fresh wave of tears as the rope snaps free. "Did you and Nonna hijack a car?"

I haul her up, slinging her arm over my shoulder. "We stole an Alfa Romeo and totaled the front lawn. Now let's go before she starts shooting the light fixtures."

Nonna steps closer to Vincenzo, who is kneeling on the floor, groaning and cradling his ruined hand with a handkerchief. She presses the hot barrel of her gun directly against his forehead.

She leans in close until the hot metal bites deep into his flesh. "Listen to me, Vincenzo. Your fight is with Luca. You hit him in the street, you hit his business. But you touch my granddaughter again, and I will put you in the dirt just like I did your father. He took my boys' parents from them twenty years ago, and my husband died from a broken heart because of it. I carved your bastard father open with my own two hands, Vincenzo. Do you hear me?"

Vincenzo blubbers, his bloody wrist squeezed tight against his silk shirt as he curls into a ball. "I hear you! Jesus, Lucia, I hear you! Take the girl! Just get the fuck out of my house!"

I haul Sofia toward the doors. "A pleasure doing business with you, Don Bellini! Leave us a glowing online review!"

Nonna lowers the gun, turns her back on him completely, and nods toward the exit. "Come on. Sofia needs food and a warm bed."

We step back out onto the terrace into the cool night air, Sofia supported between us. Right as we reach the car, three black SUVs come screeching down the gravel driveway, headlights blinding us as doors fly open and a dozen heavily armed Moretti soldiers flood the courtyard.

Luca sprints ahead of the pack with a combat rifle raised, his jaw clenched in pure panic. But when his spotlight catches Sofia, safe and walking on her own feet toward the car, he skids to a complete halt on the gravel like he just ran into a brick wall.

"Sofia?" Luca chokes out, his rifle dipping toward the ground. Matteo and Enzo freeze behind him, their jaws hanging open in utter disbelief as they stare at their grandmother.

Nonna casually tosses the warm pistol into Luca's chest. He fumbles it against his ribs, blinking like he cannot process what his eyes are seeing. "You were too slow, Luca," she states coldly. "Get in the car. Sofia needs soup and a clean bandage."

Luca holds the gun limply in his hands, shifting his stunned gaze from his sister, to his grandmother, and finally to me behind the steering wheel.

"Don't look at me," I mutter, dragging a shaky hand across my face. "Your grandmother is completely out of her mind, and she is my new favorite person."

Adrian pushes past the guards in a dead sprint, dropping his weapon straight into the damp grass. He drops to both knees right in front of Sofia, his hands hovering over her like she might shatter if he presses too hard. "Where are you hurt? Did he touch you? Look at me, Sofia."

Adrian frantically checks her wrists and wraps his own heavy tactical jacket around her shivering frame. Sofia offers a small, tired smile. "I'm fine, Adrian. Just tired."

Enzo elbows Matteo in the ribs and lets out a loud whistle. "See? I told you she was tougher than both of us put together. Matteo was crying in the car, Sofia. Actual tears. He thought he'd have to do his own laundry forever."

Matteo throws his arms dramatically toward the cloudy sky, breaking into a terrible tap dance on the gravel. "I was weeping tears of pure vengeance, you heathen! Look at her! Returned to us in glory! Sofia, tell Enzo my hair looked heroic while we were tracking you down."

Sofia lets out a genuine, breathless laugh against Adrian's shoulder, the terrifying weight of the kidnapping finally melting away in the ridiculous noise of her brothers.

Chapter 27

LUCA

Thick gray smoke hangs under the crystal chandelier in the Palermo boardroom. Ten men sit around twenty feet of dark polished wood, sweating through thousand-dollar suits while they pretend their hands aren't shaking against their water glasses.

Out in the corridor, Matteo steps into my path and grabs both of my lapels, yanking the dark wool straight. He smooths down the collar like a neat jacket can hide two weeks of blood, gunfights, and Sofia getting dragged off a street.

Matteo matches my stride with an easy swagger. "You look like you're about to kill someone."

"I might kill several someones." I keep moving toward the heavy oak doors at the end of the hall without breaking pace.