Page 139 of My Dark Ever After

Tonio was quiet for a moment. “Pietra, move to the side wall and stand still.”

I watched from the corner of my eye as Dad obeyed, his gaze fixed on mine. It was calculating, and I was reminded that he had been born a mafioso, not a financial adviser, and he might be able to see a way out of this better than me.

“Sit,” Tonio ordered seconds before shoving me into the desk chair. “You have access to Romanos’ accounts through Lupo Nero and the outfit. I want you to transfer funds to me. I know I do not have to tell you my banking information because you were stupid enough to go snooping where you do not belong.”

“No,” I snapped.

Tonio’s response was to shoot at my dad.

The bullet embedded itself in the wall an inch from his head.

Dad didn’t even flinch, but I did.

“At least let Dad check on Martina?” I asked quietly. “Then I promise I’ll do what you want.”

After a brief hesitation, Tonio agreed, and Dad bent to check Martina’s pulse.

“It’s there but slow and weak,” he announced.

Fuck.

“Get to work,” Tonio urged me, sticking the gun against the swell of my skull.

Slowly, my fingers moved on the keys.

“Don’t think about it,” Tonio said a moment later, and I looked up to see that Leo had inched forward, probably to take a shot at his dad.

Tonio crouched behind my chair so only his head was visible, still too close to mine for a clean shot.

Leo gritted his teeth, but when I locked eyes with him, he shuttled his gaze toward the window on the wall to my right. I followed it, maneuvering the cursor across the screen to scroll through records as I wasted time, and studied the vista outside. The hill sloped up slightly before falling into the vineyard, and out among the greenery I caught a metallic glimmer.

The dead weight of my heart stuttered like a failing engine as I narrowed my eyes and looked closer through the leaves.

There.

Hair that shone like burnished copper in the sunshine.

Raffa.

As if sensing my gaze, he crept forward through the vines until he was just visible through the window.

If Tonio looked up and over, he would see him.

“So you got your best friend and your love killed,” I said to Leo, letting the echo of my pain suffuse my voice. “Your cowardice took my fiancé and my sister from me.”

“I’m sorry,” Leo said, and there was true agony and contrition in his voice, a wealth of it I could not even begin to process.

He had done so much wrong, all in a bid to save Gemma.

Could I blame him?

Wouldn’t I do the same thing for Raffa in a heartbeat?

Our conversation successfully distracted Tonio, who laughed cruelly. “Love makes idiots of everyone.”

My gaze clung to Raffa as he approached out the window. He was covered in soot like Leo, but his shirt was torn open along one side, bandages evident over his ribs. Something had torn through his eyebrow, blood crusted along his nose and cheek.

It was obvious hehadbeen in the explosion Tonio had set, but somehow he’d escaped relatively unharmed.