“Time to go,” I told her as she gasped, and I knew she had seen my bloody chest. “It’s not mine,” I whispered. “Stay in front of me.
“Donatello and Gain, you go out front, Niccola, and Vinni with me, Brando up top,” I ordered, knowing we needed to get moving.
With a good grip on Sienna, I pushed her through the kitchen and out the back.
“Oh!” She cringed at the two dead men in a heap.
“Come on.” We headed toward the main street and then down another side street. I kept an eye on Brando’s shadow as it raced along the rooftops above us in case he signaled for us to stop. I almost lost track at how many turns we made before I came to a screaming halt.
“What?” she huffed, trying to catch her breath.
“Police.” I whirled and spotted more, seeing that both of our exits were now blocked.
“I thought you paid them to look the other way.”
“We do,” Niccola spoke for me while I tried to figure out our next move, “but Elio is covered in blood, and there’s only so much they can overlook.”
“Besides,” Vinni said, “many of these officers are new.”
One of the officers spotted us and spoke to his friend, who lifted a radio. He called out to us to stop, and I knew this was going to be bad. Even by his walk I could see he knew he had us.
“Shit, we don’t need this right now.” Niccola nodded in agreement.
Sienna pulled her hand from mine and dove into her purse. She pulled out a bottle of wine, wrapped it in her sweater and pretended to sag against the brick wall as she smashed it.
“What are you doing?” She pulled a piece of jagged glass free and held it up before she closed her eyes and quickly sliced into her upper arm. I lunged forward, but I was too late. She started to bleed, then smeared it all over her arms and dress.
“It’s not deep, but I’ve had a bit of wine, so it should be pretty messy.”
I stared at her, stunned she just did that, but my shock would have to wait because the officer was gaining on us fast.
“Officer.” Vinni took two steps forward to address him first.
“Hands up.” He pointed his gun at me and, with a glare, I did as I was told. The way his weapon bounced around in his hand told me he was fresh out of the academy. “Same with the rest of you.” Vinni and Niccola slowly did the same. “What’s happening here? Whose blood is that?”
“It’s mine.” Sienna stepped out from behind me holding her bloody arm. “I’m not sure how deep it is, but they were only trying to get me some help, officer.”
The officer spoke into his radio, calling for some backup and an ambulance.
“Apply pressure.” His lack of confidence was almost comical. “Do you know them, miss?” His gun wavered, and he blinked hard. He was so nervous I knew if I so much as flinched, he’d fire his weapon—into the air, no doubt—but I wasn't going to risk it.
“Yes,” she pointed at me, “he’s my boyfriend, and the other two are his cousins.” She did a stellar job of dramatically holding her arm. “He was only trying to help, but I can see how this looks.” She spoke calmly and added a few comments about how much it hurt. “It all happened so fast. One moment I was holding the bottle of wine, and the next it hit the table, the bottle broke, and the glass cut right through me.” She held up her arm, and the officer cringed, clearly affected by the sight of blood, because the cut wasn’t all that bad. “Do you think I’ll need stitches?”
“Just-just stay put until my partner shows up.” We could hear the footsteps approaching as he spoke.
An officer came running up and quickly assessed the situation. He looked at me. “Oh, Mr. Capri.” He reached out and lowered his partner’s weapon and shot him a nasty glare. “Forgive my partner for the misunderstanding.” It took me a moment to place this officer, but then I remembered he was the one who stopped us on the way to the church function a few weeks ago. He knew the agreement we had with the local police. “I told you to leave the Capri family alone.”
“I didn’t recognize him, and he was covered in blood!” the rookie officer shot back, clearly annoyed that his partner didn’t have his back. “Who wouldn’t stop them?”
“Remember,” he lowered his voice, “who they are.”
“It’s still not right.” The rookie pointed a finger at me, and I gave a pointed look at Niccola, who immediately took out his phone and called for a ride home.
“Hi, miss. I’m Officer Hector.” He gently examined Sienna’s arm. “I think maybe you’ll only need one stitch. It doesn’t look too bad. Would you like me to get someone to look at that?”
“I’ll take her to get checked out,” I assured him. “I appreciate you showing up when you did, Officer Hector.”
“No problem, sir. Sorry for the misunderstanding.” He winked at me, and I tried not to laugh at him trying to be cool. “Are you sure you don’t need a ride anywhere?”