Without warning, the bedroom door exploded off its hinges. It slammed back against the wall, and some kind of monster lurched into the room.
I sprang away from Gia and staggered toward the balcony before I realized it was the same guy that attacked me beyond the wall. He wore loose cotton pajama pants and a white T-shirt stained with blood, but his face was totally unrecognizable—not that I got a very good look at him this afternoon.
Gia screamed out, “Nicky!” but he ignored her.
I took another step toward the balcony and stumbled trying to locate the door handle. I didn’t want to take my eyes off the guy stalking me with unbelievable speed considering the condition he was in.
I missed the handle and had to look away to find it, but the minute I did that, the guy charged and grabbed me.
He ripped me away from the balcony and hurled me hard against the dresser. I crashed into it, and my head whipped sideways. I hit the mirror, and all the glass shattered.
The guy pounced even more ferociously. Feral bellowing noises escaped his locked jaws, and his swollen face made him look like a creature from some dimension of Hell.
He snatched me off the dresser and drove his knee hard into my stomach. Then he flung me even harder against the door jamb.
Splintering pain rocketed up my spine to my head. I braced myself to fight back, but the guy was way too big, not to mention driven out of his mind with rage and pain.
He charged me like a bull and drilled his massive fist into my face. He pounded my head back against the wall at least five times, but I lost count somewhere in the four or five range.
He seized me by the back of the neck and hurled me down on the floor with monstrous strength. I hit the floor, and he stomped hard on my back.
I lay still hoping this would be the end, but the next thing I knew, he heaved me into the air.
I struggled and then realized he was holding me above his head. He stalked over to the balcony. I had succeeded in getting the door open, but it didn’t do me any good now.
He stormed onto the balcony, flexed his mighty arms, and tossed me over the side. The last thing I heard before I hit the pavement was Gia screaming for Nicky.
LEO
Icharged down the corridor on a beeline for Gia’s bedroom. Cesare stuck his head out of his own room. “What the hell is going on?”
A piercing scream ripped out of Gia’s room. The door stood open, and I saw at a glance that the wooden frame around the doorjamb had been broken. Crashes and enraged bellows came from inside, followed by the splintering tinkle of breaking glass.
Cesare bolted out to join me. Servants and security guards converged from all sides. Whoever was in there better not have hurt her. I would tear the whole world apart if anyone touched her.
I reached the threshold first and froze. Gia knelt on the floor in her underwear and rested her hand on Nicky’s chest. Blood soaked his pajamas, and he was out cold.
“The bastard!” I stormed inside. “What did he do to you?”
“It wasn’t him!” Gia pointed toward the balcony. Broken glass covered the carpet from the destroyed glass doors. “Romeo Necci was in here. Nicky threw him off the balcony! He’s still down there!”
Cesare and a bunch of the security guys raced off in the other direction. I hesitated a second longer. My mind immediately switched to Nicky breaking in here, but I should have known better. He got into this condition protecting Gia. He would never break into her room.
Gia sprang over to the dresser and grabbed her phone. “I’m calling the medical team. Quick, Leo! Go find Romeo before he gets away!”
I charged outside. Romeo Necci—in Gia’s bedroom! So that cocksucker actually carried out his lunatic plan. What was he trying to do in there? I could only think of one thing.
All our security measures came to nothing if he made it all the way to the house. We had some serious work to do to tighten our perimeter—or I should say,Ihad some work to do.
I depended on Nicky to handle security. I dreaded trying to fill his shoes now that he was down for the count.
I barged outside to find Cesare handling the search. We went back to the grounds under Gia’s balcony, but Romeo wasn’t there. Someone must have gotten him out.
“Check the woods over there,” I told one of the new guys. “Make sure they aren’t still inside the wall.” I turned to Cesare. “Did you see anything?”
He shook his head. “They’re slippery fuckers. They always were.”
“They were planning this when Nicky got hurt this afternoon. Romeo must have had his own people stationed nearby to get him out if anything went wrong.”