Page 51 of Leave Me (Touch of Death 2)
“I wish I believed that.” Her eyes meet mine, brimming with pain and sadness. “Adelina has changed. He’s…tamed her.”
“No,” I grate.
“She’s his now.” And that’s when I see it. Gabriella has lost her reason. She no longer has something to fight for without Adelina.
“No,” I argue. “Until that ring is on her finger, she is not his.”
“Not even then,” Una interjects, her eyes meeting mine. For the first time, I feel as though she may actually fight for Adelina.
“What do we do now?” I ask.
“We can’t beat him. He’s won,” Gabriella says. “He won the moment he killed my father.” That little lancing stab of guilt surfaces. “Enrique knew I couldn’t do this alone.”
On a sigh, Una rolls her eyes and takes an ominous step toward Gabriella. Lorenzo moves too but quickly stills as Una aims what I have no doubt is a withering look at him. She slams her hand on the desk, and Gabriella jumps in her seat.
“Stop feeling sorry for yourself!”
Gabriella lifts her gaze and glares at Una.
“You aren’t alone.”
“It seems I am. I know you deliberately moved those guns without my knowledge. Who is Rafael D’Cruze?”
“A contact.”
Gabriella snorts before a high-pitched laugh breaks past her lips. “Great. So, you all manage to get out of this squeaky clean while I get a death sentence.” She laughs again, the edge of hysteria creeping in.
I barely register Una’s movement just the sharp clap of her palm meeting Gabriella’s face. Lorenzo storms the short distance, grabbing Una’s arm. I almost feel sorry for him. Almost. In less than a second, he’s on his knees in front of her, clutching his throat and balls.
“You…” She points at Gabriella. “Need to pull it together. Nero tells me your father was a great man. Don’t dishonor him with this…weakness.” She sneers. “And you…” She looks at Lorenzo still sucking in choked gulps of air. “Stop treating her like a little girl. She’s the head of the Ricci family. You are her right hand, not her babysitter.”
Lorenzo grits his jaw and pushes to his feet. I half expect him to square up to Una, though she’s half his size. Evidently, he thinks better of it. Wise. Neither Lorenzo or Gabriella say anything more.
“We can’t possibly know how this will play out now. You go back to New York,” I tell Una. “I’ll stay.”
“I can stay with you.”
“No, it could be weeks of waiting. Go back to Dante. I’ll call when I need you.” I have nothing to keep me in New York, whereas she does.
This way, I can keep an eye on Gabriella and make sure she doesn’t do anything stupid. I’ve seen that look before—grief and desperation. It was the look Adelina wore in the weeks before she went off on a revenge mission. But that hasn’t got her anywhere, and it won’t get her sister anywhere, either. If keeping Gabriella safe is the only thing I can offer Adelina now, then I owe both sisters that much.
12
Adelina
I watch as the fence surrounding Enrique’s home burns, the only remaining evidence that Sasha was ever here. My heart sank as I watched him disappear through that fence line, my sister’s white knight. But not mine. I’ve never wanted anything more than I wanted to take his hand in that moment and let him save me from this place. But that isn’t my path.
My chest feels less tight, the air a little easier to breathe because Gabriella is safe. Sasha came to her rescue just as he’s come to mine so many times before. Enrique has lost his leverage. I have no doubt, I’ll pay for that in some way, but there’s nothing he can do to me that would be worse than killing my sister.
My bedroom door crashes open, and I close my eyes without turning around. He grabs me from behind by my hair and wrenches me clean off my feet. My spine collides with the granite floor of the balcony before Enrique’s hand slams around my throat. His knees land on either side of my hips as he looms over me.
His entire body heaves with ragged breaths, and his jaw tics, his teeth grinding over each other. I don’t react. I don’t flinch. My heart rate doesn’t rise. I’m just numb. It’s like something has switched inside me with Gabi’s escape. Fear has no place here, only acceptance.
“Your sister escaped,” he growls in my face.
“I know.”
His fingers burrow into my skin, and part of me wishes he would just hold on a little too long.
“And you know who helped her…”
“No.”
He snarls. “Lies.”
“I guess your world-domination plan went out the window.”
He seems to sense my sudden indifference, and his eyes narrow, skating over my face. “Do you think you’ve somehow won, principessa?” He leans in close, so close I can feel the warmth of his breath over my skin. “You may be grateful that she’s gone. You probably think that killing her is the worst thing I can do to you.”
