Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 79209 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79209 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Wolfe didn’t hang up on me. “Don’t forget who you are, Francesca Mancini. Say it.”
The words popped into my head, but I struggled to say them aloud.
“Come on.”
“I’m—I’m a tough…fucking bitch.”
“Damn right. Just hold them off until I get to you.”
“Okay…”
“Love you.”
I gasped when I realized it might be the last time I ever heard those words. “I love you too.”
He hung up.
My father was already armed to the teeth. Two rifles hung over his shoulders, and he had a handgun sticking out the back of his jeans. Just like Wolfe, he was perfectly calm. “Grab the shotgun.”
Without really thinking about what I was doing, I grabbed it and made sure it was loaded before I shoved a handful of bullets into my pocket. “Wolfe is on the way.”
Dad nodded at what I said. “Cover me.”
“Okay.”
He moved to the edge of the door and poked his head around the corner.
The gunfire continued outside like it was a war zone.
I stood behind my father, gripping the gun so hard that my knuckles already hurt. I felt moisture coat the metal because my palms were already sweaty from the adrenaline that leaked out of all my pores.
The gunfire suddenly came to a standstill. And somehow, the silence was worse. My ears started to ring because of the abuse the loud noise had caused to my eardrums, but I still preferred the sounds of a fight over the silence of a surrender.
“What’s happening?” I whispered.
My father remained still, straining his ears as he listened.
We were on the third floor in a well-insulated house, but I could hear the commotion on the bottom floor. Sounded like a stampede of men, and then I heard the yell of a voice that sounded familiar, but I didn’t recognize. “Vincenzo! This is how you greet a guest?”
My father spoke almost under his breath. “Warren…”
“Warren?” I blurted. “I thought you killed him.”
“No,” he said, his wide eyes still down the hallway.
“But Leo said you did.”
My father ignored what I said and turned to me. “Frankie, I need you to hide. Crawl out the window and onto the roof. They won’t think to look for you there.”
“What—what?” I blurted. “I’m not going to leave you.”
“Frankie, just do what I say.”
“We stay in the office and pick them off one by one. That’s what I did before—”
“Frankie.” His nostrils flared as he rounded on me. “Do as I say.” He grabbed my arm and shoved me, shoved me hard with a force I didn’t think he was capable of. “Now.” He went around the corner and fired his automatic rifle into the staircase, making them scatter before they could ascend to our floor.
He turned back to me, his eyes still livid with rage even though this was probably the last time we would ever see each other. He mouthed, “Go.” And he pointed down the hallway.
My eyes started to water as I looked at my father for the last time.
He looked like he would yell at me again.
“I love you…”
His eyes softened, but only slightly, and then he turned back to the top of the stairs before he fired down below again, keeping them back so they couldn’t access the third level.
I turned and ran down the hallway with the shotgun in my hands, sticking to the edge of the hallway and glancing out the window. There were SUVs all over the property, and I could see all of our men on their knees with their hands behind their heads, like they’d been overpowered or they’d surrendered.
And I didn’t see any way Wolfe could get through all of that to me.
Gunfire sounded behind me, and I ran into the nearest room, a guest bedroom that no one had ever used. I crossed the room to the window and yanked it open before I poked my head outside. There was nothing to grab on to to climb up, not even a drainage pipe that collected water in the gutters and directed it to the soil on the ground.
I left the window and was about to run into the hallway when I stopped at the sound of more gunfire echoing in the hallway and shattering my eardrums. I wasn’t sure if my father was taking his last stand…or if he was already dead.
Stay alive until I get to you. Wolfe’s voice played in my head, and I gripped the gun in my hands. I was cornered with nowhere to run, and if I jumped out the window, I would break one or both of my legs in the fall.
“Where is she?” The man I assumed to be Warren spoke from down the hallway.
“Frankie left for lunch—”
I heard the distinct thud, like someone hit my father in the face with a gun.
“Lie to me again and see what happens. Leo?”
Leo?
“She’s here.” I recognized his voice, clear and recognizable…without a doubt. “She’s hiding in one of these rooms.” When I heard his voice again, I nearly gasped in surprise and heartbreak. My hands loosened on my gun, and I nearly dropped it on the floor as the shock rippled through me in waves.