Page 29 of Dull
“Hey, are you okay?”
Clarissa opened her eyes and looked at Lorenzo.
He put his hands on her forehead.“You’ve gone pale, as if you’ve seen a ghost.”He rubbed her shoulders and Clarissa couldn’t move.She couldn’t breathe.
The guy had been planning to kill her.Why hadn’t she remembered that?
“What is it?”
“Nothing,” Clarissa said.
Lorenzo frowned.“Do you want to get out of here?”she asked.
“Yes.Please.”
He nodded, and she didn’t know how they managed it, but they were able to congratulate the happy couple and say their goodbyes.
“You’re shaking,” Lorenzo said.
His guards were already waiting by the main doors, with the car door open.Lorenzo helped her inside and pulled her into his arms.“What is it?Are you remembering that day?”he asked.
Clarissa looked up at him, and at first she didn’t want to say anything.“He was going to kill me,” she said.
Lorenzo frowned at her.“What?”
“He was going to kill me.I don’t know why, but I was sitting there, and I couldn’t help but remember that day, and Isabella jumped in front of me, to save me.He was going to kill me.”
It was the first time she had said Isabella’s name.
“Did you tell anyone this?”Lorenzo asked.
“No.”She shook her head.She frowned as she recalled that moment now with different clarity.“But he’d made a mistake.He didn’t expect her to jump in front of his gun.He was supposed to kill me that day.”
“Clarissa, babe, are you sure?”
He cupped her face.
“This was ten years ago.”
“I remember.I just don’t talk about it.Why?What’s wrong?”
Lorenzo looked troubled, and she was a little confused as to why.“Because, what you’re suggesting is not just some gang trying to make a name for himself.If he was coming for you, it was a direct hit, and that changes everything.”
“Why does it?”
“Because a hit was ordered, Clarissa.Someone had to have known you, and your routine.What they didn’t anticipate was Isabella risking her life for yours.”
“A hit?Couldn’t it still have been a gang hit?”she asked.
Lorenzo frowned.“It could be, but then it might not be.”
“Do you think it is possible someone within the Colombo Mafia did this?”she asked, not even for a second thinking this could be the case.
“Let’s not think about that right now, and just focus on getting you home.”
She felt shaken to her core.She didn’t even know why the memory of it came to her so suddenly, it made absolutely no sense to her.She felt sick to her stomach.
They arrived home within the hour, and Lorenzo carried her upstairs to their bedroom, where he drew her a bath.He helped her out of her dress and removed her shoes.Finally, the shaking stopped, but the sickness did not.She felt so cold, but the warmth of the bath enveloped her.
