Vincenzo checks with Elio to make sure it’s safe before he gives Fabrizio the go-ahead to steer the car up the driveway of the Davies mansion.
“Stay in the car, Skylar,” I order.
She shakes her head slowly as if she’s stuck in a trance.
I know that feeling well.
“I don’t want you to see the bodies. It will make it much worse,” I explain.
Again, she shakes her head, then she whispers, “It’s my choice.”
It is.
I open the door, and keeping a tight grip on her hand, I get out of the car. Seeing Elio as he comes out of the mansion, I walk toward him.
“Any sign of the fuckers?” I ask.
“Two were stopped just down the street. They’ve already been taken to the warehouse.”
“Good. Have the men continue searching for the other two,” I order.
Elio nods as his eyes move between me and Skylar. “The bodies are still inside. We haven’t moved them.”
Nodding, I say, “Keep everyone out of the house until I give the clear.”
I suck in a fortifying breath as I lead Skylar up the porch steps. When we walk into the foyer, she starts to shake her head wildly and pulls her hand free from mine.
I look at Harlan, where he lies in a pool of blood with a gunshot wound to his chest.
“Daddy,” Skylar whimpers as she slowly moves closer to his body.
She drops to his side, not caring about the blood, and the sight takes a swing at my heart.
Her lips part with a silent cry as she frames his jaw with trembling hands.
Christ.
She sucks in a harsh breath, then screams, “Daddy!”
Unable to just stand still and watch her break, I move forward, and sinking to my knees behind her, I wrap my arms around her.
The cries tearing from her break my fucking heart, and all I can do is hold her.
Where I once wanted her to feel the same pain as me, I’d now do anything to be able to take it from her.
Skylar turns in my arms, and gripping hold of me, she falls apart.
Her sorrow fills the air and finds an echo in my chest.
My voice is hoarse as I promise, “I’ll find every last one of them.”
I need to be stronger than ever now. This isn’t just about my pain and thirst for revenge any longer.
Moving my arms beneath her back and knees, I hold her bridal style as I climb to my feet. I carry her up the stairs to her old bedroom and into the bathroom. Setting her down on the counter, I reach for a facecloth and wet it beneath the cold water tap.
I start to clean her father’s blood from her legs, and when I’m sure I didn’t miss a single drop, I toss the facecloth in the tub.
Placing my hands on either side of her neck, I say, “Look at me.”
She lifts her eyes to mine, and I see all her pain.
They might not be the words she wants to hear right now, but I need to say them. “You have me, Skylar.”
A sob sputters from her, and she lifts her arms, wrapping them around my neck. When I hold her to me, she breaks down again.
I brush my hand repeatedly over her hair, wishing there was a way to stop her pain.
But there isn’t.
“You have me, amo.”
It’s only then I realize what I’m calling her. Love. It came so naturally I didn’t even notice.
In Skylar’s darkest moment, I realize I’ve fallen for her.
Hopelessly, irrevocably, madly in fucking love.
I hold her tighter and press another kiss to her hair while she struggles to regain control over her emotions.
“I n-now understand why you w-wanted everyone involved with G-Giulio’s death dead,” she whispers. “I understand b-because it h-hurts so much.”
Lifting Skylar bridal style to my chest again, I carry her out of her old bedroom so we can get out of the fucking mansion.
When I reach the stairs, I whisper, “Don’t look, amo.”
She buries her face against my neck as I carry her past the bodies, and when we leave the mansion, I head toward Elio.
“Call our guy to take care of the bodies. Let me know when everything’s ready for the funerals.”
“On it, boss,” he replies.
“Give me an hour, and I’ll meet you at the warehouse. I just want to take Skylar home.”
“No,” she says as she lifts her head. “I’m going with you.”
I glance at her, and when I see the rage starting to burn in her eyes, I say, “Okay.”
I set her down on her feet, then look at my right-hand man again. “I’ll see you at the warehouse.”
Elio nods before he walks back to the front door while pulling his phone out of his pocket to make the call to the coroner.
Placing my hand on Skylar’s lower back, I nudge her to walk toward the Bentley.
When we climb inside, Vincenzo and Fabrizio join us.
“We’re sorry for your loss, Skylar,” Vincenzo says as he glances over his shoulder at her.
Keeping her head bowed, she only nods.
“Where to, boss?” Fabrizio asks.
“The warehouse.”
He starts the engine, and when he steers the car off the property, I dig my phone out of my pocket, and dial Dario’s number again.
“Third call today,” he answers. “Admit it, you can’t live without me.”
“Yeah-yeah,” I mutter. “The fuckers took out Harlan Davies.”
“Fuck. How’s Skylar doing?”
“Not well. Did you look at the photos I sent you?”
“Yeah. I’ve managed to identify one out of the four. Enrique Valverde. He actually flew in from the UK two days ago under a different name. I’m still running the facial recognition for the others. Oh, hold on, I just got a hit.”
I wait as Dario checks the information, and a minute later, he comes back, “The one who stood by the door is Alberto Gonzalez. By the way, both these men are wanted by Interpol, so I’m assuming they’re high on the totem pole.”
Christ, I hope they were the ones taken to the warehouse.
“Thanks, brother. I owe you,” I say as I glance at Skylar, who’s still sitting with her head bowed and her eyes closed.
“Don’t worry. I’ll send you the bill once I’m back tomorrow.”
I’m relieved to hear he’s coming home. “Call me when you land in New York.”
“Will do. Tell Skylar I’m sorry for her loss.”
“I will.”
We end the call, and putting my phone away, I take hold of her hand. “Dario said to give his condolences.”
She lifts her head and looks at me, her eyes dull as if all life has been drained from them. “Did he find out anything?”
I nod. “He managed to identify two of the men.”
“Good,” she whispers, then she leans her head against my shoulder. “I hope you find them all and make them suffer.”
“I will,” I promise.
When Fabrizio brings the car to a stop in front of the warehouse, we get out, and taking Skylar’s hand, I weave our fingers together as we head inside.
When I spot Antonio, I signal for him to come to me. He jogs across the open stretch of concrete floor, then says, “Yes, boss?”
“Have Bianca come here. She needs to bring something to help Skylar deal with shock.”
“I’ll be fine,” Skylar mutters.
Ignoring Skylar, I add, “I also want Bianca to do a full checkup.”
“Okay, boss.”
When we continue to walk, I glance at Skylar. “You’re not fine, and I want you checked out. If your body rejects the kidney because of this, I’ll fucking burn the world down. Think of having the checkup as you saving mankind from extinction.”
An emotion I can’t place flits over her face, and when we head up the steps, she pulls her hand free from mine.
The moment we reach the landing at the top, she breaks out into a run.
Skylar checks the first room before running to the second one, where she stops in the doorway.
As I come up behind her, I hear one of the men chuckle, “Hey, pretty mamma.”
His words are followed by a grunt, then Skylar walks right up to him and punches the fucker.
“Oww!” she hisses as she cradles her hand against her stomach.
I move forward and pull her away from the men Carlo and Emilio have kneeling on the floor.
I check her hand, and seeing her red knuckles, I mutter, “Leave the torturing to me, amo. I don’t want you touching the scum.”
“Make them suffer,” she whispers, the words burning with her anger.
I shrug off my jacket and hand it to her. “Stand back.”
When Skylar moves to stand near the door, I turn my attention to the kneeling men. A smile spreads over my face when I see Enrique Valverde is one of the men.
His eyes are glued to me, and I see the fear he’s trying to hide.
Walking closer, I crouch in front of him, and tilting my head, I stare him dead in the eyes.
“We didn’t know the man was your brother. I would’ve stopped it. We’re not looking for trouble with the Cosa Nostra,” he says, an authoritative tone to his voice.
“Then you shouldn’t have set foot in our city,” I murmur. “That was your first mistake.”
Rising to my feet, I look at the other man. He glances at Enrique as if the man can help him.
“What’s your name?” I demand.
“Miguel,” he whispers.
“He’s just a soldier,” Enrique informs me.
Taking my gun from behind my back, where it’s tucked into my waistband, I move closer to Miguel and press the barrel hard against his forehead.
“Where’s Servando Montes?”
Miguel’s eyes fill with tears as he says, “I don’t know.”
Seeing the truth on his face, I pull the trigger, giving the man a merciful death. Soldiers do as they’re told, and his crime was working for the wrong organization.
“Move him to the side,” I order.
Emilio grabs Miguel beneath his shoulders and drags him to the back of the room so the body’s out of my way.
“If I tell you where Servando is, will you promise to give me save passage to India?”
“Why India?”
“The country’s big enough for me to disappear.”
“Okay. Tell me, and I’ll make sure you get to India in one piece.”
“Renzo!” Skylar gasps.
When I hear her move closer, I glance over my shoulder and snap, “Stay back!”
She freezes in her tracks, her eyes filling with tears and a look of betrayal on her face.
While I tuck my gun back into the waistband of my pants, I turn my attention back to Enrique. “Where is Servando?”
“He moves between Spain, Peru, and Alaska under the alias Gilberto Varela. He just left Spain and should already be in Peru. He only stays two weeks in one place before moving to the next.”
Dario was actually right behind Servando. Sometimes, my friend manages to amaze me with his skills.
Holding out my hand, I only wait a couple of seconds before Emilio places a knife in my palm.
Enrique’s eyes go wide as saucers, “We had a deal!”
The corner of my mouth lifts in a smirk. “Yes. I agreed to make sure you get to India in one piece. I didn’t say whether you’d be dead or alive.”
“No! I told you where Servando is.”
“I appreciate the information,” I mutter before I order, “Strip him down to his underwear.”
“No!” He shouts, struggling against Carlo and Emilio as they rip his clothes off his body.
When they have him kneeling again, I say, “Not only did you gut my brother open like a bag of meat, but you once a-fucking-gain pissed me off by going after my woman’s father.”
Enrique shakes his head wildly, fear trembling in his eyes.
I move fast and slam the fucker down onto his back while pressing my knee hard into his groin.
“She had to watch as you killed him,” I hiss as I hold the knife ready over his stomach. “And I had to watch as she fucking broke.”
I slam the knife into his gut, ripping an agonizing wail from him.
“I want you to see what I saw when I found my brother,” I growl as I hack the knife through his skin, all the way to his pubic hair. His screams fill the air until they become incoherent whimpers, his body shuddering from the pain.
Just like I did with Castellanos, I shove my hand into his open gut, and gripping whatever I feel first, I rip it out of him, making sure he’s able to see his own intestines and organs as he goes into shock before dying.
Rising to my feet, I drop the already lukewarm intestines and shake the blood off my hand.
“Put everything back, close him up, and ship him to India,” I order before I turn around.
My eyes land on Skylar, who has a strange look on her pale face. It’s a mixture of disgust, horror, and relief.
Walking closer to her, I hold my clean hand out to her.
She stares at it for a moment, then surprises the fuck out of me by coming to take hold of my bloody hand. Lifting her head, her eyes are still dull when they meet mine.
Weaving our fingers together, I pull her out of the room and head down to the restroom so I can wash the blood off our hands.
I don’t think Skylar fully understands what she just did.
By taking my bloody hand, she stepped into my world and left her own behind.
