Page 116 of When She Unravels
I’m sick of it. Sick of being who I am. A coward, a fool, and a killer.
Rising from the table, I realize Martina is gone too. Wasn’t she here when Ras and Damiano went to his office?
A foreboding feeling prickles the back of my neck. She probably went up to her room when she realized I wasn’t in the mood to converse. Still, I decide to check on her. When I get to her bedroom door, it’s silent on the other side. I knock and walk in. She’s not there.
My feet move quickly as I go back down and check the kitchen, the next most likely place for her to be. It’s empty. I grab a small cutting knife and slip it into my pocket, alarm bells ringing inside my head.
When I return to the living room, I see something move by the pool. I walk closer and closer to the glass doors leading outside. It’s dark out there, with just the built-in lights giving the water a soft glow, but I can’t see around the edges of the garden.
I flip the light switch. Suddenly, everything is illuminated, and that’s when I see Martina.
It’s like someone dropped me into a vat of thick tar. Every movement feels harder, every breath impossible to take. She’s in Lazaro’s grip, his knife pressed to her throat. Icy panic creeps into my lungs until I can’t breathe. How did he get in? How is this happening?
I push the sliding door open and run toward them. “Martina!”
Lazaro smiles and squeezes her harder. He rarely smiles with teeth, but this time I see them. It looks grotesque on his face, like an alien going through the motions without understanding the emotion behind it.
I stop when I’m a few feet away. “Let her go.”
He rakes his gaze down me before settling it back on my face. “Wife.”
“Let. Her. Go. Lazaro.”
“I’ll have a scar for the rest of my life,” he says, ignoring what I said. “The bullet went right through my chest.”
Martina’s pale and stiff with fear. Her worst nightmare’s come alive. God, I’ll do anything to get Lazaro away from her. I just need an opportunity.
“I wish it had gone through your heart,” I whisper.
He chuckles dryly. “I didn’t teach you how to use a gun yet. Don’t worry, when we’re home, I’ll teach you everything I know.”
I always thought there was a chance he’d be done with me after I betrayed him, but now I know I was wrong. He’s not going to kill me. He’s going to take me back, punish me, and have me kill again.
I can’t do it. Iwon’tdo it.
Pounding footsteps sound behind me. I don’t need to turn to know it’s Damiano and Ras.
“Drop the knife, or I’ll put a bullet in your head.”
I hear Damiano but can’t see him. I don’t want to take my eyes off Martina even for a moment. He must be a few meters behind me.
“If my pulse stops for any reason, I blow up,” Lazaro says simply, nodding toward the watch on his wrist. It must be tracking his heartbeat.
My eyes widen.
That smile is back on his face. “I’m not an amateur, Valentina. You managed to trick me once, I’ll give you that, but it’s never going to happen again.”
I believe him. A strange sensation materializes inside my ribcage. I feared this moment so much, but now that it’s here, my fear takes a back seat. I meet Martina’s gaze and know what I must do.
“I’ll go with you if you let Martina go,” I say.
“She’s staying with us until you and I are on my boat.”
A boat? There’s no beach here, just a sharp cliff that leads to the water. How did he get a boat here without it being detected by Damiano’s guys?
Damiano tries to step closer, but I move out of his reach.
“Vale,” he says under his breath.
