Page 117 of When She Tempts (The Fallen)
The backs of my eyes prickle, and fear pounds against the back of my skull, but for the first time in my life, I’m able to push against it.
C’mon. I know this. We practiced this.
I take one of his fingers and bend it backwards. He screams in pain, let’s go of me, and the rest is a blur. I think I manage to land a kick between his legs before I’m flying out the door and running toward the staff house.
“Allegra! Tommaso!” I shout at the top of my lungs. “Help!”
I think I hear footsteps behind me, but I don’t dare look. The staff house is close, and Tommaso and Allegra will help me as soon as I get inside.
Thirty meters. Twenty. Five.
As my hand curls around the handle, I’m afraid it’ll be locked, but thank God, it opens easily, and I tumble inside.
Sophia jumps on me while I lock the door and draw the chain, her yelps and barks reaching a fever pitch. She probably senses something is wrong. “Come with me!”
I race around the house, checking and locking all the windows and doors as quickly as I can. “Tommaso! Allegra!”
There’s no response.
Where are they?
My stomach seizes. If they already went to the castello or are out at the greenhouse, it’ll mean I’m on my own here. They won’t hear me screaming from all the way out here.
I check to make sure I have my phone with me. As soon as I find them, we need to call Giorgio. He’ll know what to do.
“Hello! Tommaso, are you here?”
Sophia won’t stop barking. She comes up to me and then runs to the bottom of the stairs, looking back as if she wants me to go up there.
A horrible premonition washes over me.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
I run up the stairs, following the dog all the way to the bedrooms. I’ve never been up here before, but Sophia’s barking at one specific door, so that’s where I go.
My hands shake as I grip the handle.
When I open it, I immediately take a step backward.
A scream claws up my throat
My vision blurs.
Tommaso and Allegra are in bed, lying in pools of their own blood.
CHAPTER29
MARTINA
No.
I blink a few times, but the image stays.
Crumpled white sheets soaked in vermillion. Dark gashes sliced into their necks. Closed eyes, and pale faces.
Their fingers are linked loosely together, and the thought of them using their last moments to reach for each other makes me choke on a sob.
Sophia jumps on the bed and starts prodding Tommaso’s arm, trying to awaken her master.
