The Italian

“Oh, your whore? How sad.” He tsks. “Maybe if you’d done what I said she’d still be alive. You only have yourself to blame.” He presses the gun harder into Olivia’s neck, and she cries out again. “Put the gun down, Ferrara.”

“And Sergio?”

“Ah, my boy Sergio. I didn’t mean to kill him.” He shrugs. “Pity, that.”

Contempt drips from me as I connect the dots. The puzzles finally fall into place. “Why are your drugs on my fucking yacht, Lombardi?” I snarl.

He laughs out loud like a madman. “You don’t think I’m stupid enough to get them delivered to mine, do you?”

I grip the gun impossibly tighter.

“Perfect plan.” He smiles darkly. “Set you up, wait for you to fake your death, and then kill you both for real. The world already thinks you’re dead, Ferrara.” He presses the gun harder and Olivia whimpers. “How can I kill a dead man?”

“Let her go,” I demand.

“Put the gun down and I’ll think about it.”

I know that if I don’t do as he asks, he’s going to shoot her. I also know that he’s got back up outside.

Fuck.

I can’t win this fight while standing here like this. I need to move it along.

I bend and slowly put the gun down in front of me on the floor.

“Get your hands up and kick it over to me,” he orders.

I lift my hands and kick it toward him.

A click sounds from the side as someone else takes aim.

A gunshot rings out.

One of Lombardi’s men falls.

I take this momentary distraction as a cue, and I rush them. I grab Lombardi’s gun and we struggle over it. It fires in the air. I hit him in the head hard, and his grip loosens. I push Olivia out of the way, and she falls to the floor.

“Move!” I yell at her.

The gun is held above his head as we fight over it.

I punch him hard in the face again and again.

I have never hated anyone as much as I hate this man.

I hear another five rounds of gunfire from Jennifer and Diego as Lombardi and I struggle on the floor.

I’m hit across the head with a vase from behind as another man attacks me. Olivia screams, and I momentarily lose focus at the sound of her pained voice.

Lombardi gets up and runs.

I roll onto my stomach and take aim at Lombardi. I fire off a single shot that hits him in the leg just as he disappears out of the door. Then I turn and shoot his other man who is moving over me. Once clear, I jump to my feet, pick Olivia up, and I look in the direction after Lombardi.

Did I hit him? Did I get him?

“Watch her,” I order Jennifer.

Without another thought, I take chase and run out after Lombardi. I can see the trail of blood guiding me closer.