Page 142 of Forsaking All Others

I didn’t turn around to make sure he got Dario out of there.

Instead, I steadied my breath, dropped into a crouch, and fired at the guardsman.

He grunted as my bullet hit him in the collarbone, and he fell back to the floor on his ass.

Which, of course, alerted the trio in the nave.

I spun back around and sprinted to the wall beside the entrance, a statue of Saint Peter obscuring me from view. I could feel Cerberus close against my side, and when I pressed my back into the marble statue, he situated himself between my thighs, head cocked as he listened for activity.

Luca and Dario were gone.

I thanked God, sucked in a deep breath, and prepared to face the three figures running toward me.

Before they could reach me, the side door on the other side of the nave crashed open, and gunfire sprouted through the space. I heard a manic cry that could only be Hank as he provided cover for me.

“Get the fuck out of there,” Elijah said through the earpiece.

A moment later, the front doors burst open, and Luca was there, a gun in either hand. He stalked into the main hall and shot calmly at whoever stood in the nave.

I was about to sprint when he called out, “Wait.”

Three more shots and heavy thuds, and Luca lowered his guns before turning his attention to me, eyes pale blue and as heated as the inside of a flame.

“Get the hell over here,” he demanded.

I sprinted for him, crashing into his arms. He held me so tightly I couldn’t breathe, but I didn’t care. Then he was handing me off to Finn, who had appeared behind him.

“Elijah and Akira got Dario to the van, and they’re on their way back to Edgemont,” Finn explained, pulling me from the church and clicking his tongue for Cerberus to follow him.

It took me snapping my fingers to stop him from growling at my friend for his hasty treatment, but then Cerberus came to heel, staying close enough to nearly trip me with every step. He was panting manically, and I knew he wouldn’t settle until I was somewhere he knew was safe.

“Go,” Luca ordered when I looked over at him. He was already moving toward the bodies. “I’ll clear the church with Hank and meet you back there.”

I nodded, even though I didn’t want to leave him behind.

Something in my expression must have translated, because Luca’s face softened just slightly. “Go, principessa, let your knight do his job. You’ve done enough for one night.”

He didn’t say the words, but I could read the reluctant pride in his voice, and it filled me like celestial light as I followed Elijah out the doors into the night.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Luca

I didn’t expect to know the owner of that singular female voice in the church that night, but there was no denying the blond-haired woman breathing unevenly on the ground at my feet.

Alessia di Monti.

When it was clear no one had called the police after the shots were fired, I phoned Cesare.

He deserved to see everything for himself.

Fia would want to see, too, but I decided telling her about Alessia’s betrayal would be bad enough.

It didn’t surprise me, really, that she would be part of a planned coup. She was always climbing the social ladder in the Outfit, going from one man to another as long as they had more power than the last.

Cesare had been the latest in her long line of conquests. They’d been together for the last few years, and recently he’d confessed to Dario and Ciro that he was thinking of marrying her.

I stared down at her feebly moving chest, the bullet wound to her abdomen and the fall to the marble obviously having knocked her out cold, and I felt nothing but fury for the way she had wasted her life and jeopardized the Outfit to benefit herself.