Page 88 of Corrupt Crown
He snorts a laugh that turns into a cough, and it wracks through his whole body. Once he has it under control, he smiles softly. “You remembered.”
The ball of emotion lodged in my throat lends a rough edge to my voice. “I’ll never forget.”
His lips twitch with the effort, eyes lighting up for a moment as I brush his thick black hair back from his brow.
“T-t-thank you,” I whisper as tears stream unheeded down my cheeks. “Foreverything.”
His huge chest rattles as he exhales a deep breath, and I watch helplessly when the life slowly fades from the green eyes of my gentle giant. Eyes that stare unseeing at the big blue sky above us.
I bring my palm over his face to close those lids for the last time as a blend of overwhelming grief and hopeless fury flows through me with the force of a tsunami.
My chest aches, my head throbs, and I’m sofuckingtired of it all that I want to scream.
And even though I want nothing more than to sit and mourn for my friend, I’m jolted back to the here and now when I hear American accents cresting the slope of the lawn.
I ease Sasquatch off my lap, palming his cheek one final time before pushing to stand. Two men dressed from head to toe in black come into view, and I quickly grab the Glock before ducking behind one of the nearby deck chairs.
They spot Sasquatch and amble closer, laughing as they kick his side. I slip out of my hiding spot, blood boiling as I notch the gun, take steady aim, and unerringly pull the trigger.
The bullet goes straight through the neck of one soldier as I line up another round, taking down the second before he can lift his own firearm.
I rush past them, intent on getting to the boat and making both Maria’s and Sasquatch’s sacrifices mean something, when I feel a sting on my upper arm.
All of a sudden, my legs feel like Jell-O, and I look down to see a long tube protruding from my bicep. I blink several times, feeling as though I can’t believe what I’m seeing.
Feeling entirely removed from the situation.
Sounds around me become muffled, and my vision blurs as my knees lose all strength to hold me upright. I fall to the dock, staring up at the sky as my eyelids shutter closed, and the last thing I see is the face of the man who haunts my nightmares before the world turns black.
CHAPTER 31
RAFE
“I thoughtyou fixed the electronics following the shitshow with Fabiano and the EMP jammer.”
Enzo doesn’t lift his eyes from the screen as he types furiously, murmuring. “I did,Fratello.”
I’ve reached my wit’s end. We’ve been on board for over an hour, and I’ve yet to see the security footage from the compound.
My patience snaps when I reach for him, grabbing his collar and pulling him to stand as I snarl. “Talk to me here, Enzo. I’m about to lose my motherfucking shit.”
He regards me for a moment before nodding slowly. “And I’m trying to help you, Rafe. Just give me another couple of minutes,si?”
I swallow harshly, my chest tight with fear as I let go of my friend, and move to the back of the jet in an attempt to calm down. With close to another hour to go before we touch down in Sicily, I feel like I’m about to go out of my goddamn mind.
The look on Elodie’s face, as it changed from incomparable joy to absolute terror, replays on a loop in my mind, and I’m moments away from descending into madness when Enzo shouts out, “I’m in.”
Fucking finally.
I’m by his side in a heartbeat, and when I look at what he’s pulled up on the screen, time seems to stop when I immediately recognize the ransacked living area of my home.
“You have access to the security feed?”
With a nod, he taps away on the keys. “When I said I’d fixed the electronics, Imeantthat I’d installed EMP shielding for the cameras.”
He pans through several camera feeds, and rage bubbles in my stomach when I see so many of my loyalSoldatibrutally murdered at the hands of a fucking lunatic.
As the camera pans across the foyer, my breath catches in my throat when my eyes land on the still form of Maria, and I look closer, praying Elodie’s not nearby.