Titan, Cross, and Grave all enter the room, guns raised and pointed at Matteo and Mia. Matteo looks from the three of them to me and smiles.
“Last chance, Matteo,” I add. “You’re outnumbered and have nowhere to go.” He knows it. The question is, will he take her down with him?
I get my answer when he starts pushing the knife into her neck, making her scream out into the room. Blood drips down her neck and shirt, the material soaking it up.
“Tristan, now!” I shout.
A gun goes off, hitting Matteo in the shoulder.
He shoves her away from him to the floor, and we all start shooting. His body shakes as bullets fill it. The shooting stops, and silence follows. The sound of ringing fills my ears as his lifeless body falls into the chair behind the desk.
I lower my gun and run to where she lies on the floor. Cross cuts the zip tie, and I apply pressure to her neck. She’s unconscious but breathing. Wrapping her neck the best I can, I pick her up in my arms. “She needs a doctor.”
“I’ve got one.” Tristan helps me apply pressure to the wound while I get to my feet and carry her out.
MIA
I OPEN MY eyes to another unfamiliar room. I’m in a large bed with cool white sheets that smell like lavender. The walls are a light gray and the carpet is white. Looking around, I see sheer curtains hanging in front of floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking a balcony.
I stretch, and a pain shoots up my back. I place my hand on my neck to feel some kind of bandage. Getting out of the bed, I look down and notice I’m still dressed in bloodstained clothes.
I killed my parents. But what happened to Matteo? Dillan? The Kings? Who won that fight? I remember seeing my brother enter the office and knowing it was over. But then Dillan was there. Saving me.
Hearing something on the other side of the bedroom door, I make my way over to it on shaky legs. I open it up and step out into a hall. Nothing about this house is familiar. It makes me wonder if it’s another one of Dillan’s houses.
I make my way down the hall to an open living room. My breath catches in my lungs when I see him standing with his back to me, looking up at the TV that hangs on the wall. Titan and Grave sit on a couch, also facing away from me. Tristan and Cross are midconversation, but it pauses when they spot me.
“Bones.” Tristan gets his attention and then nods to me.
I want to walk over to him, but the TV has my feet planted where I’m at. It’s the pizzeria. The one that my parents own. It’s up in flames, well, what’s left of it, which isn’t much. Everything looks melted while firefighters try to put it out, but it’s lighting up the midnight sky. “What—what happened?” I manage to ask.
My eyes meet Dillan’s, and he walks over to me. Reaching out, he cups my cheek gently. His pretty blue eyes soften before he speaks. “We had to make sure no evidence was left behind.”
“So you burned it?” I ask, making sure I understand. As I watch Cross flip a Zippo open and closed, something tells me he was the one to light it all up.
“How do you feel?” Dillan asks, his eyes falling to my neck.
I take a step back, and his hand falls. “But why?” I ask, my eyes going back to the TV.
“Even though your family has the police in their pocket, we didn’t want to chance anyone finding your prints or blood at the scene. It was the only way to guarantee everything was destroyed.” Grave is the one who answers.
Dillan steps back into me, gently cupping both of my cheeks and forcing me to look at him. “How do you feel?”
I feel tears sting my eyes. Twenty years and I’ve only ever had Luca on my side. And even he had his limits on how much he could protect me.
“Mia.” He sighs my name.
“Just tired,” I rush out. Trying to not get emotional. I’m finally free. But what now? Where do I go? What do I do? My breathing picks up, and my throat tightens.
“Mia, look at me,” he demands.
Tears fill my eyes to where it distorts my vision, and my chest starts to heave.
“Mia.” I hear him, but he sounds far away.
I’ve waited all my life for this, but I can’t help but think I made a mistake. Now Dillan has no reason to keep me. To protect me. I told him I wasn’t a charity case, but that’s exactly what I was to him.
“Mia.” He gives me a little shake, and I manage to focus on his eyes. “You’re okay. They’re gone, Mia. They can’t hurt you anymore.”