Page 108 of When She Falls (The Fallen)
“We have to go,” I say urgently. “We need to get him away from her.”
Ras and I try to squeeze through the crowd, but it’s packed, and we’re moving so slowly, I start panicking.
“What do we do?” I shout over the music.
Ras moves ahead of me, parting the crowd by shoving people aside. I suspect he’s growling at everyone to get out of his way, and no one’s idiotic enough to not listen.
My pulse is loud inside my ears by the time we finally emerge from the crowd, but Cleo and Ludovico aren’t in the spot I saw them before.
“Where are they?”
Ras points. “There.”
Cleo’s standing on a small round balcony that overlooks the dance floor below. Her back is pressed against the rail, and her expression is a grimace. She’s angry, but I know her well enough to detect a hint of fear.
Ludovico is crowding her. His hands are on her waist and sliding lower. Cleo yells something and digs her high heel into his foot. He staggers backward, the music swallowing up his shout. Before Cleo has a chance to dart away, he lunges at her, fist raised.
Fear seizes me. He’s out of control. What if he knocks her over the balcony? “Cleo!”
Ludovico’s fist never makes contact with my sister.
Someone catches his arm from behind.
It’s Rafaele.
For the first time since I’ve met him, there’s no mistaking the raw emotion on his face.
Cold, merciless fury.
The crowd quiets, even as music keeps blasting through the club. Everyone is waiting with bated breath to see what Rafaele will do. Everyone but Ludovico, who’s still snarling insults at Cleo like a rabid dog.
Rafaele says something I’m too far away to make out, and the effect on Ludovico is immediate. He freezes in place and slowly turns. When he sees who grabbed him, his mouth abruptly slams shut.
Whatever Ludovico sees in my fiancé’s eyes makes him visibly cower. He’s halfway through uttering what I presume is an apology when it happens.
Something glints in the darkness of the club. A knife in Rafaele’s hand.
He jerks Ludovico away from Cleo with such force I think he may dislocate Ludovico’s shoulder, and then he lifts his other hand and slashes the knife down.
This time, even the music isn’t loud enough to mask Ludovico’s shriek.
No one in the VIP area moves.
Rafaele drops Ludovico on the ground like he’s a bag of trash and takes a step backward.
A horrified gasp leaves my throat.
The knife is sticking out of Ludovico’s eye socket.
Get Cleo.
I’m the first one to move. I run toward her, some primal part of me kicking into action and screaming at me to get her away from here. “Cleo! Come here!”
But she doesn’t hear me. When I reach her, she’s staring down at Ludovico in horror, her back pressed against the rail. Her skin is milky white with shock.
Rafaele tears his gaze from Ludovico and pins it on her. “You have blood on your shoes.” His voice is calm and measured. I suspect if I checked his pulse right now, it would be as steady as a clock.
He just stabbed a man through the eye, and he’s acting like nothing happened.
