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Chapter Eighteen
Aria
The sight of Sal makes my entire body turn cold.
How did he find me here? Why didn’t Finn kill him when he had the chance?
My father’s guard shouts at him to lower his weapon and get on the ground but Sal just ignores him and fires off his gun. The bullet hits the guard right in the head, killing him instantly. Elena yelps and I nudge her behind me. Sal is here for me. I can’t risk her and her baby getting hurt.
Sal turns his eyes onto me. I’m brought right back to that moment when he tied me to his table and kept cutting me for hours. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to forget something like that.
“Hi, plaything,” Sal says.
“Stop,” my father orders. Sneaking a peek at him tells me that he doesn’t have his gun with him. He’s not the type of Mafia man to constantly carry one around but I know he keeps some guns in the house, specifically in the drawer by the TV. If I can just get to it…
But Sal has a gun himself and he’s a much better shot.
“What are you going to do about it?” Sal mocks.
My father puffs his chest up higher. “I am Elio Romano and this is my house. I order you to leave.”
“Or what? You’re going to shoot me?”
I lunge for the drawer by the TV and scramble to open it. The gun is front and center. Grabbing it, I spin around and point it at Sal.
“Stop,” I say. “Leave. Or I will shoot you.”
His smile will haunt me forever. “It’s cute that you think you can kill me.”
I pull the trigger.
Only to remember that the safety is still on and nothing comes out.
Sal throws his head back and laughs. “You don’t know how to use that thing, plaything. I searched hard for you. When I heard that you were returned home to your daddy, I knew exactly where you’d be and I couldn’t wait to come and get you. Did you like my entrance? I thought it had some nice pizzaz to it.”
I undo the safety. “Stop talking.” And I shoot.
Except, my shot goes wide and hits the wall behind Sal and not Sal himself. I was never taught how to fire a gun in my defense. It’s a lot harder than it looks.
Sal’s eyes narrow. “You really thought you could shoot me, plaything? Well think the fuck again.” He starts to come closer to me but my dad rushes to Sal’s side and collides into him, pushing Sal to the ground. Sal flips my dad onto his back and starts punching him.
“Shoot him,” Elena whispers to me.
I aim my gun at Sal but my dad manages to shove Sal off him. If I try to shoot, I could accidently hit my dad instead. I’m not a good enough shot to risk it.
“Come on,” I say to Elena. “We need to get out of here.” I know that’s what my dad would want. I grab her hand and tug her towards the back door. Elena is able to move fast despite being at least four months pregnant.
I hear a loud crack from the living room and have to resist the urge to look back. My father will be fine. He’ll be fine. He’ll be fine. He has to. Because otherwise…
I wrench open the back door and practically push Elena into the backyard. I hear footsteps behind us, getting closer and closer.
“We can’t out run him,” Elena pants.
“We can and we will. Keep moving.” We make our way across the backyard to the fence when I feel something hard grab me from behind and throw me to the ground.
Sal stands above me.
He lands a hard kick right to my stomach.