Page 49 of Deadly Alliance
Cassio
Fire.
My veins are pumping liquid fire.
The pain in my chest is a living, breathing beast clawing its way out of my ribcage, tearing at the muscle and bone from the inside out. Every shallow, ragged breath I draw feels like inhaling shattered glass. But the physical agony is nothing compared to the suffocating, boiling darkness pressing down on my brain.
I am burning alive.
The fever drags me under, a violent riptide pulling me away from the surface of reality. I lose my grip on the world
I am in the Maybach.
The smell of rain and expensive leather fills my lungs. The car is swerving. The engine is roaring. I hear Noemi’s breath catching in her throat as the armored plating takes a hail of bullets. I am holding her, caging her, keeping her safe.
Then, the blinding white flash erupts from the ridge.
Sniper.I move, but the air has turned to wet cement. My muscles won't obey me. I am too slow. I lunge for her, reaching out to drag her down to the floorboards, but my fingers pass through empty air.
The deafeningCRACKof the high-caliber rifle shatters the night.
The ballistic glass of the passenger window explodes. I watch in agonizing, horrifying slow motion as the massive armor-piercing round tears through the cabin.
It hits her.
"No!" I scream, the sound tearing my throat apart, but no noise comes out.
The impact throws Noemi backward. The dark crimson silk of her dress blossoms with a newer, brighter red. Her dark eyes go completely blank. She slumps against the ruined leather seat, her head falling to the side, completely slack.
I scramble across the blood-slicked seats, pulling her into my arms. Her skin is already freezing. "Noemi! Baby, look at me. Look at me!"
She doesn't blink. She doesn't breathe. The blood pours over my hands, slipping through my fingers, a dark, unstoppable river that stains everything I touch.
You were supposed to protect her,a voice whispers in the darkness. It sounds like Orlando Genovese. It sounds like Don Salvatore. It sounds exactly like the monster inside my own head.You locked her in a cage just to watch her die.
"Cassio!"
A voice pierces the nightmare. Hands are on my chest, pressing down with agonizing force.
I thrash wildly, throwing a blind punch into the darkness. "Get the fuck off me! I have to kill him! I have to—"
"Hold him!"
The voice distorts. The hands multiply, pinning my shoulders, pinning my arms. A cool, damp cloth presses against my burning forehead.
"Cassio, please," a softer voice begs, cracking with tears. "Please stop fighting. Stay with me."
I chase that voice. I try to open my eyes, try to fight my way through the thick, suffocating smoke of the fever, but the darkness drags me back down by the throat.
The scene shifts.
The rain is gone. I am standing in the center of my penthouse, completely unharmed. The sun is shining, catching the dust motes dancing in the air.
Noemi is standing by the floor-to-ceiling windows. She is wearing the white silk wedding dress she walked down the altar in.
"Noemi," I breathe, a crushing wave of relief buckling my knees. I take a step toward her. "You're alive."
She turns slowly to face me. The relief instantly turns to ash in my mouth.
