Page 252 of Merciless Daddy
Gianni grabbed my hair and I drove my elbow into his groin.
His grip broke.
I crawled.
The guard at the end of the passage brought up his rifle. Tonio came out of the white air first, and fired once.
The guard’s head snapped back. He collapsed between the shelves, rifle clattering from his hands.
Tonio moved past him without slowing. Blood marked one side of his shirt. His face looked carved from rage.
Then Sal came through behind him.
For one second, the entire facility vanished.
No alarms. No smoke. No gunfire. Only him.
His dark suit was torn at one shoulder. Blood ran along his cheek. He held a pistol low in one hand.
His eyes found me.
Everything in his face broke.
“Lena.”
I tried to stand. Gianni’s hand closed around the dropped pistol.
I saw it.
“Sal!”
Sal turned. Too late.
Gianni rolled onto one knee and brought the weapon up.
A woman stepped from the smoke behind him.
Serafina.
Her dark hair had come loose. Blood marked the sleeve of her black shirt. She held her pistol with both hands.
Gianni looked over his shoulder.
The rage drained from his face.
“Sister?”
She didn’t say a word. She didn’t blink. Didn’t hesitate.
She shot him through the chest.
The impact drove him back against the archive shelf.
His pistol fell.
“This is for my father,” Serafina said. “For our father.”
Gianni slid down the steel upright.
