Chapter 58

58

Jeanne

He looks alive. He looks like he could get up from the casket, jump out, scoop me up in his arms, and walk out of here with me. He looks like he could take me home, bend me over the settee in the living room, and fuck all of my sadness out of me. He looks like… he's asleep. I draw in a breath and his scent of dark chocolate and coffee fills my lungs. How strange. Maybe it's my imagination playing tricks on me? His cheeks are slightly flushed, his hair combed back perfectly, except for an errant strand that's escaped over his temple. His jaw is shaved, so there's no trace of a beard. He's wearing a dark jacket, and underneath it, a pale blue shirt and a black tie.

That's not right; he'd never wear a blue shirt. He preferred black shirts. Someone should have remembered that. I wring my hands tighter, and my finger slips on my wedding ring. I wore it when I returned from the hospital, and haven't taken it off since, not even for the performances. I'm never going to take it off again. Not for anything or anyone. My fingers tingle. I want to touch his face. To kiss his forehead one last time. To brush back that errant strand, and cup his cheek, and tell him I'll always love him. I reach out my hand, when the sound of a car backfiring echoes around the space. It's followed by a woman's scream, quickly cut off, and I realize that wasn't a car. My heart begins to race. A shudder grips me.

Something solid crashes to the floor. I gasp and turn around to find Michael and Massimo have overturned one of the mobile pews. Axel and Christian do the same with another, and Seb and Adrian overturn a third. They line up all three pews, forming a solid barrier, behind which they position themselves with guns drawn.

Massimo glances over his shoulder. "Get down," he yells.

When I hesitate, he points to the floor and I follow his directions. I hear movement and look up to find Michael guiding Karma to join me. The other women follow her and we huddle behind the wall that is the Sovranos.

"What's happening? Was that a gunshot?" I ask.

"It would seem so," Karma replies. Her gaze is alert, but her manner is calm. The other women are tense, but no one seems alarmed. Except for Penny, who seems as confused as me, the rest of the women are remarkably calm.

"Is this normal? Gunshots and hiding from shooters. Is that why none of you is panicking?" I try to chuckle, but it comes out like a wheezing sound. "Why aren't any of you worried about what's happening? Is this like a day-in-the-life of the Mafia? Does this happen often?"

"Not that often," Karma murmurs.

The women glance at each other. Something passes between them.

"What?" I peer into the faces. "What is it?

No one answers. The hair on the back of my neck rises. My pulse begins to thud at my temples.

"What is it?" I glance between the women. "What are you not telling me?"

Elsa glances at Aurora, then back at me. She seems uncomfortable. "It's nothing that you won't know very soon." She closes the distance to me, reaches for my hand, but I pull away.

"I hate it when I'm the only one who doesn't know what's happening," I snap.

Beyond the wall of Sovranos, another gunshot rings out. One of the Sovrano brothers returns fire. It's difficult to know who's shooting, since all of them have pulled out guns. Clearly, the fact that we're in a place of worship is no deterrent for these men. No wonder in all of the gangster movies I've seen, guns and churches go hand-in-hand. It's clearly not a cliché, for here I am, witnessing what seems to be a full-on gunfight.

Karma moves toward me. "We need to leave."

"No." I glance at Luca's casket, then back at her. "I'm not leaving him."

"We need to leave, babe; it's not safe here." She reaches for me, but I move back.

"You can go. I'm staying with Luca."

She blows out a breath, then turns to the others. A look passes between her and Aurora. Then Aurora nods, turns, and heads for the back door of the church on one side of the pulpit.

Penny hesitates. Karma turns to her. "We need to go."

"Not without Jeanne."

"Jeanne will be safe, I promise." Karma grabs her hand. "We need to leave."

More gunshots ring out. More people scream. There's a clatter of footsteps… Guess the rest of the people are leaving, too.

I turn to Penny. "Go!" I jerk my chin toward the exit door. "Please, go, Penny, I don't want any more of my friends hurt."

Penny nods. "Stay safe, Jeanne."

"I'll be with you very soon." I try to smile. "Now leave."

Karma moves toward the doorway, taking Penny with her. I turn to find Adrian and Seb breaking away from the Sovranos. The rest of the brothers move in to cover the gaps. Their movements are in synchrony, as if they've rehearsed it before. No doubt, they've been in similar situations together and have come out of it. So why is it that Luca had to die? If he decided to put himself at risk to save me, why didn't they protect him? Why weren't they better prepared?

Another shiver runs down my back. My throat is so tight, it feels like I've swallowed a bucket of mud. The heavy sensation in my chest intensifies. There's something at the edge of my consciousness that I can't quite grasp. A thought that almost materializes, only to be lost.

There's a disturbance beyond the wall of Sovranos. I peer in that direction to find Massimo in a scuffle with a stranger. He rams his fist into the man, who staggers back. Massimo levels his gun and shoots the guy point blank in the face. The shot reverberates around the room. Blood fountains out, one side of his head blown off as he crumples. My gut churns, bile boils up my throat. I swallow, close my eyes and take a deep breath. And another, until the sickness subsides. I should be shocked. I think I am shocked. I simply can't process what I'm feeling at the moment.

Three more men race toward us. Shots ring out. Was that Massimo who shot? Or maybe that was Adrian? Or Michael? More men run in from the side door. I gasp aloud. Are we going to be overpowered? To my relief, they join the Sovranos and shoot back at our opponents. All three of the strangers crumple.

More men join Freddie, more shots ring out. More bodies hit the floor. It's a constant pounding of footsteps, the muted hiss of shots, and the thwack of bodies hitting the floor.

My entire body is frozen. The heaviness in my chest drops to my stomach. It feels like I am encased in ice, inside and out.

I hear something hit the roof above before bits of plaster pour down on the heads of the Sovranos. Silence follows. Then the lights in the church cut out.

My breath catches in my throat. I need to get out of here. Need to leave before I'm hit, or hurt, or worse. I try to stand, but my limbs refuse to obey me. Try to say something, but the words are stuck in my throat. A snake has wrapped itself around my middle and is squeezing me slowly. My lungs burn, and my throat hurts. Fear licks up my spine, and for the first time since the shooting started, I feel terrified. Vulnerable. Exposed.

Is this how I'm going to die? Is it so bad if I do? The man I love is gone. I no longer feel the same kind of passion for the one thing that had brought meaning to my life—my ability to perform. What is there to live for?

Suddenly, the darkness is pierced by red beams of light that swing about the place before settling on each of the Sovranos' foreheads. What the— What are they? Laser targeting? Oh, no. There're snipers in the church. I glance up, as do the Sovrano brothers. Adrian curses under his breath.

"Put down your guns," a familiar voice rings out.

The men hesitate.

A red beam of light fixes onto the middle of my forehead. I gasp. My heart cannons in my chest with such force, I'm sure it's going to break through my ribcage.

"Put down your guns, or I'm going to shoot her."

That voice! I'd recognize it anywhere. It's Freddie. Luca died to protect me from him, but he found me anyway.

All of the men seem to turn to columns of rock. Then, Michael raises his arms. Slowly, he bends, places his gun on the floor, and slides it forward.

He straightens.

"Now the rest of you," the same voice says.

One by one, they lower their guns to the floor, then straighten.

The red beams of light continue to cut through the gloom. Then footsteps sound as a man walks out from behind a pillar. A short, compact man with a slight bulge around his center. His features are ruddy, his hair thinning.

Freddie levels his gun at Michael as he closes the distance to them. He skirts the fallen bodies, then walks over to Michael. He flips his gun, catches it by the barrel, then brings the butt down on Michael's temple. The sound of metal hitting flesh whomps through the space.

My guts knot. My belly churns. Bile sloshes up my throat, and I swallow it down.

In front of me, Michael doesn't flinch.

"Freddie," he says in a voice that is shorn of any intonation.

"Finally, fuck." The other man chuckles. "Took you long enough to acknowledge my existence."

"What do you want?" Michael asks in a bored tone.

"Everything you have." Freddie lowers his chin to his chest. "Your father took credit for my crime. It was a perfect crime. The kidnapping of seven young boys in London. Scions of the richest families in London. The notoriety alone should have ensured I was known to every lawbreaker in the underworld. The money from the ransoms would have set up, not just my children, but at least the next three generations.

"I planned it, I did the work and put in the hours, and your father? He took all of the credit. Not only that, you had to go and kill him, and remove any chance of my taking revenge for what he did." He leans forward on the balls of his feet. "Now, you need to pay the price."

"You want my life; take it," Michael replies, his stance relaxed.

"Oh, you don't get off that easily. You need to suffer the way I did. Stripped of my power, turned into a laughing stock. No one took me seriously for a long time. It took years for me to put together another team, to regain my position within the organized crime world. Aided, of course, by your brother." He tips his chin in Axel's direction. "Until he betrayed me and moved over to join you."

Axel's shoulders tense, but he stays quiet. As do the rest of the Sovranos. They seem to be waiting, watching, holding out for something to unfold. But what?

"You, Michael... You and your brothers are the cause of so much of what went wrong in my life." His lips twist. "And now, you're going to pay."

Michael must sense his intention, for he growls, "Don't you fucking dare?—"

Freddie tosses his gun to his other hand, and brings the butt down on Michael's temple again. This time, Michael stumbles to the side. Massimo moves forward, but with an agility that he did not seem capable of, Freddie pulls out another gun from his waist and aims it at me.

I see the shot coming, feel the bullet splice the air as it rushes toward me, hear a thump next to me. Then, I'm pushed to the floor. A big body covers mine. A gun fires, and the reverberations travel through the muscles of the man who is bent over me, down my chest, to my toes.

There's another muted thump, as if a body hit the floor. I lay there with my cheek pushed into the floor… which is, at least, not dusty. I mean, it's fairly clean for a place which has seen a lot of footfall. My thoughts flicker. I try to breathe, then wheeze. That's when the weight disappears from my back. I'm turned over and promptly squeeze my eyes shut.

"You okay?" a voice growls.

His voice—like aged whiskey and sin and everything ever created to tempt a woman to the dark side. It can't be. It can't be.

"Open your eyes, Angel," he whispers. I shiver. My heart is racing so fast, I can feel the blood thump in my ears.

"Please," he murmurs.

A word he's never said before. Never asked me to comply in that tone of voice. A voice that is tender and fearful and so filled with anguish that I snap open my eyes.

I open my mouth to speak, but my words are trapped inside.