Page 162 of Ruthless Sin
My chest seizes. The glass.
Renzo’s hand on my elbow is the only reason I’m still moving. He gets me into the back of Marco’s SUV. Sofia on my lap, my hand still on the wound. Giada climbs in after, already in scrubs, already with the duffel. The SUV moves before Giada has closed the door.
The Santoro driver is the one talking now. To Marco on the comm.
“Boss. Boss. The other SUV is gone. Window’s broken on the driver side. Nico is gone.”
A pause. The voice on the other end of the comm I can hear because the cab is small. Marco.
“Bring them home. Now.”
The driver: “On it.”
I look down at Sofia. I keep pressure. I don’t speak. There are no words in any language right now.
Sofia opens her eyes halfway. Her mouth moves.
“Izzy.”
Isabella. I should say something to her. In any language. I can’t. My hand on the wound is the only part of me that is working.
Giada looks at my face. Her mouth stays closed. She works. Her mother’s gold-emerald ring on her right hand catches the cabin light.
The compound. The gate opens. Marco at the gate, comm in his ear, his hand on the open SUV door before the SUV has stopped. Isabella is on the front steps in jeans and one of Renzo’s t-shirts. She sees Sofia in my lap. The blood. She makes the sound an older sister makes.
Giada is out first. Renzo is at the back door before I have lifted Sofia. Isabella reaches the SUV.
I don’t let go of the wound until Giada says I can.
Sofia opens her eyes. Looks at her sister. Says it again. Broken.
“Izzy.”
Isabella bends to the SUV door. Tears on her face. Her hand cups Sofia’s face.
Sofia goes with her sister into the medical wing on Renzo’s chest, with Giada at her side.
I get out of the SUV. My right hand is wet with Sofia’s blood.
I look at Marco. Marco’s jaw is locked. His eyes move to mine and stay there.
“Where is Nico, Marco.”
It comes out. Steady.
Marco doesn’t lie to me. “His SUV was hit at the curb during the attack inside. Window broken. Driver’s side. No body. No blood we can attribute yet. He didn’t come back.”
“They took him.”
A beat. “Yes.”
The compound goes very quiet around me.
Dante is on the steps of the front door behind Marco. He has been waiting for the SUV. He has heard.
I look at him. He looks at me.
I open my mouth. I close it. I open it again.
