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I didn’t know to which deity to pray. None answered me before, why would they look kindly on me now that my sins had compounded with every passing year?

“Please,” I whispered to anything listening.

There was a long pause where I aged a decade. And then, from over the railing came a sweet, melodic voice. “Is he dead?”

I dashed to the starboard side. There she was, paddling alongside the sailboat. A real life, motherfucking mermaid minus the fins.

“Christos sancti!”Merciful heaven.She was alive.

I hadn’t lost her.

Digging my heels into the rocking deck, I leaned forward and reached for her, and after a slippery attempt to grasp me, she caught hold of my arm on the second try.

“I dove overboard the moment I heard gunshots. Figured you would take care of it, and if not, I would paddle to that island we’re bound for and live off the land till help arrived,” she drawled as I lifted her back onto the boat.

I looked her up and down, trying to convince myself she was unharmed. My heart wouldn’t slow down, racing wildly against my ribs.

“You? Live off the land?” I mocked.

Serena rolled her eyes. “I’m a fast learner, and your aunt is a good teacher.”

A rough laugh barked up my throat. I leaned against the railing and tried to quiet the panic in my body.

“Who was he?” Serena jerked her chin to the lump of flesh by the wheel.

“Is—the fucker is still alive,” I muttered. “I’m going to have to take care of this when we land, instead of fishing.”

Serena shrugged.Shrugged!I narrowed my eyes. She’d just been shot at and swam along the boat like a pro. And now she shrugged at the mere mention of information extraction?

“Who are you?” I leaned forward, snatching her chin in a hard hold.

Her nostrils flared slightly, and those deep brown eyes widened. “I’m your wife, apparently.”

There was so much more to her than met the eye. As I held her stare, I felt a pitter-patter in my chest. The damn organ was coming back to life after all these years.Theos!If it did revive, if I did develop something more than lust and admiration for my wife, I would be vulnerable. Because death would haunt me again.

This time, he’d better take me with him. I wasn’t going to live if I was left standing alone on the wrong side of a grave of someone I cared about—someone I treasured.

And Serena, I was beginning to realize, was someone worth treasuring.

Chapter 26 – Serena

The sun beat down relentlessly. Wishing I had taken the pirate up on the offer of the salve, I ducked under the shade of a palm. We might be of Mediterranean heritage, but the midday light was merciless, plus there was nothing but white sand and water for it to reflect off. My olive complexion was tame and wouldn’t hold against this force of nature.

But going back to the boat right now was not an option.

I wiped the back of my hand over my forehead, all too aware of the thick metal weapon clutched in my sweaty hand.

Markos told me to walk around the island, keeping to the shore, and look for shells. The gun was for if I saw a snake. I would probably die of fright before I had the good sense to pull the trigger, but I would be damned if I told the mobster that. It was a three-mile walk total, and no doubt he figured that gave him plenty of time to work the assassin over. The idiot had tried to kill us. He deserved to die. But torture?

Gooseflesh broke over my arms. On the list of scary things that had happened to me over the course of my short life, being shot at wasn’t even on the top. Being kidnapped by Eastern European thugs had come close, but that turned out alright because there was a pirate there to rescue me.

I snorted. Who would have thought being rescued by a man was a good thing?

But no, the worst was that moonlit piazza when I was fifteen and stupid. Just a girl wanting to have fun. I’d had no street smarts, and it nearly cost me everything.

No, being shot at was a different kind of exhilarating frenzy. One that kept the men of the famiglia from seeking honest work. A quandary I now understood.

Alessandro never let me anywhere near the family business. My big brother might have died of a stroke if I suggested accompanying him or his mutt Dante to this part of the empire. Yet despite every rational argument, curiosity tickled the back of my mind.