“Aw, poor baby. Did he pull you off the fucking football team to watch his back?”
“You ruined my life,” Emma says to Peterson. She looks to me. “What will we do with him?”
“I leave it up to you,” I tell her. “If it were up to me, I’d put a bullet through his head. Right now. Push him off this fucking cliff into the water, clean up the mess.”
Emma thinks it over. She’s not used to our method of brutality, but she’s very quickly adapting.
If she wants to cuff him and fly him back to the States where he’ll face prosecution, I leave up to her.
Sergio speaks up from behind her. “He’s giving you an opportunity. You might not get an option like this again.”
Emma shakes her head. She’s torn. We both know that the deception doesn’t end here, but the payouts to Grady could mean further infiltration into her detective circle. She will not go back to life at the CID as she knew it.
Emma looks me in the eye. “If it were just about his betrayal of me, I would’ve brought him back to the States to face prosecution. He brought you to this cave to kill you, and that I cannot forgive.” She turns and looks at Peterson. “And this man never served time for raping women.” My pulse races. He’s fucking lucky I didn’t know that when he was on the receiving end of my fist.
She takes out her gun and cocks it, then looks at me. “Consider this my official signing with the Rossi family.” She pulls the trigger.
I watch her cold, calculated decision with nothing short of pride.
Consider this my official signing with the Rossi family.
She isn’t going back. She’s mine.
Sergio and Timeo are good stock. They call in their associates for cleanup. Emma and I go back to the race, bloodied and bruised, where we tell the story of my car going off the racetrack.
I hang my head. “Moby Dick’s gone,“ I say. Sergio and Timeo’s team gleefully pushed his beautiful blue Camaro into the ocean off the cliff. It was painful to watch, and I swear I saw Timeo wipe away a tear, the only time I’d ever seen him cry.
“There, there.” Emma pats his arm. “I’ll tell Romeo how brave you are, and I’m sure he’ll make sure that you get a nice reward.”
Sergio grins at me. “She’s yours, brother?” He shakes his head “Too bad because—”
“Finish that sentence,” I dare him. “Go ahead, finish it.
He backs away from me, grinning. “No, man. Ain’t that stupid.” He turns to Emma and cocks his head to the side. “You got any sisters?”
She flips him the middle finger on an eye roll. Fuck, I love her.
Hours later, we’re back on a plane heading home. I don’t want to spend one more night in Tuscany, and Emma wants to make sure that everything’s situated back in the States. It isn’t until we’re high in the sky above the clouds that she sighs, turns to me, and takes my hand in hers. “I really made my decision back there.”
I run my thumb over the top of her hand. “Which one?” I’m genuinely curious.
“All of them,” she whispers. “I dedicated my life to police work, seeking justice, but your family seeks justice of another kind. I never would’ve seen that if I hadn’t gotten to know you. And I feel like I’ll find my place with you.” She sighs. “Please give Romeo the go-ahead to fake my death.”
“With Grady gone, we won’t have to fake your death. You can resign. You can—”
“Start a new life if I join you without any identity. Think about it. How much more power can I bring to the Rossi family if I come with no baggage? I have no family. If Emma King dies, there will be no records of me. I’ll be struck from the system.” She shakes her head. A year ago, I wouldn’t have thought that would make me happy. But now, I like that idea. I like the power it would give me.
“We never, ever assault women,” I tell her.
“I believe that.”
“We do bullshit you ain’t gonna like.”
“Believe that too, but I also believe Romeo might give me a choice with what jobs I could take.”
“He’ll choose what you’re best at.”
She nods. “I like that.”
I call Romeo and give the go-ahead. He starts the ball rolling. It’s an easy job for him. He has connections everywhere.
A few days later, we watch the ceremonious funeral for Emma King while sitting in bed together at The Castle.
It’s an emotional day for her. I understand. She cries, and I hold her, but it isn’t for long. And when we watch the empty casket supposedly holding the body of Detective Emma King laid into the ground, she sighs and sits up.