“You better get ready because my brother Lorenzo killed Costa’s only son tonight.”
“Good for Lorenzo. Still don’t see how this affects me.”
“What exactly did your message say?” I asked.
“Just that I was on some hit list along with Phantom and Bullseye. That this Costa fucker ordered the hit. I’m actually a little disappointed. Apparently, I am only worth a quarter of a million. I would have thought I’d at least bring in double that. But fucking Bullseye and Phantom are worth five mill each. What. The. Fuck?”
“That was it? Nothing more?”
“Was there supposed to be?”
“Reaper, the hit is nothing. Just an announcement, a signal that war has begun.”
“You know what, you mafia people take common courtesy to a whole new level. Fuck. Okay, so what do you need from me?’
I grinned, knowing he wouldn’t like what I said next.
Seventeen
Donatella
My head was pounding and my body ached all over. I felt horrible, as if I’d been in an accident, yet I knew I wasn’t. That was when the nights' events came rushing back. Gasping, I tried to move to get away from him when someone stopped me from moving.
I screamed.
I know it was cliché but at the moment I couldn’t think of anything else to do. It was flight or fight time and I was going to fight my way out of this, even if it killed me.
“Donatella,” his voice penetrated my skull, as he gathered me in his arms. “It’s okay. You’re safe now. I’ve got you.”
Trying to comprehend what he was saying, I opened my eyes to see his baby blues looking directly at me.
“Breathe baby girl. Just breathe.” He said, so tenderly and just like that, a damn burst open within me as I started to cry.
I couldn’t remember the last time I cried openly, in front of someone else. But being in his arms, remembering what almost happened, I let everything go. Wrapping my arms around him, I hugged him as if he were a lifeline. My lifeline. He was there. He stopped Luca, doing the unthinkable to save me. Seeing him, standing there in the doorway, blood splatter all over him, he looked like an avenging angel come to reign down retribution. I’d never seen the look he had in his eyes at that moment. It was a look I never wanted to see again. At that moment, he was everything I never thought I needed and when he swung that bat in his hands, the roar that he emitted was forever seared into my brain.
He was my champion.
My hero.
The lazy, conceited, selfish prick I once knew was gone. In that single moment, he showed me his true self. The man he kept hidden from everyone. Lorenzo Valentinetti wasn’t just a lazy, stuck-up snob. He was confident, strong and protective. He could have walked away and done nothing but he didn’t. He chose to become something more, do something more because of me.
For that alone, I would be forever grateful.
Sniffing, I pulled back and looked at him. His arms were still wrapped around me and though I could see the regret in his eyes, I knew what he did. He did for me. There was nothing to regret. As far as I was concerned, Luca got precisely what he deserved. Cupping his face with my hand, I whispered, “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me. I don’t deserve it. If I had listened to Gio, you would have never been in that situation.”
“You didn’t know what would happen. Neither of us did.”
“I should have,” he barely said, looking away.
“It doesn’t matter” I whispered, caressing his cheek. He looked so distraught, so lost. When I first met Lorenzo, I would have never imagined myself having such feelings for him. Now, I just wanted to repay what he did for me. I couldn’t imagine what he was going through, the pain of taking another person’s life. The torment he was feeling had to be pronounced. “Lorenzo, thank you.”
He said nothing while he silently shook his head, his eyes glassy with unshed tears.
He was breaking my heart.
“Lorenzo, look at me,” I said, as he avoided eye contact. Placing my hands on his face, I gently moved his head to face mine. When he finally looked into my eyes, I gasped.