Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 142640 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 713(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 475(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142640 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 713(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 475(@300wpm)
No…no…no…no.
Please don’t hurt her, please don’t hurt her.
As we get closer, I see panic as people scream as they come down the mountain.
What’s happened up there?
No.
A loud sound echoes and we all look around and then we see a chopper rise from over the back of the mountain.
“Ahhhh,” I scream as I lose all control.
Valentino holds his gun up to shoot at it and I grab his arm. “She might be on there,” I yell. “Don’t shoot, she might be on there.”
The ski lift gets to the end and we jump off and run to the top of the hill and over it to try to find where the chopper left from. We are slipping and falling in the snow and finally we get to a clearing and we see Giovanna and Bruno lying in the snow, blood everywhere.
“Nooooooo,” Valentino cries, he holds his gun in the sky and shoots off three rounds as he screams. He drops to the snow beside Giovanna and takes her as he rocks her in his arms. “Hold on. Hold on. Somebody call an ambulance. Please,” he yells. “Hurry, please. Don’t you leave me, baby!” he cries through tears. “Hold on.”
She stares straight through him. It’s too late.
She’s gone.
Bruno’s dead too.
I frantically dig my phone out to call someone to track the chopper.
No reception.
“Fuck it,” I scream. “Who has reception?”
Everyone is scrambling to call for backup.
No reception.
“Ahhhhhhhhhhh,” I scream, it echoes into the valley and I hold my gun up and shoot it into the sky. “He’s got Francesca,” I cry. “He’s fucking got her.”
“No sign of Carlo,” someone yells from behind me. “They’ve taken him too.”
I stare up into the sky as the chopper disappears out of sight.
Dear God.
Francesca
The dull ache throbs through my skull and I frown as the distinct smell of cigars fills my nose.
My head drops forward, waking me up, and it’s then that I realize my hands are tied. I’m sitting on a chair, my feet tied to the chair legs.
Where am I?
The walls are timber, I can see through the window, it’s dark and snow is falling outside. I can hear men talking in the next room, what the hell happened?
“She’s awake,” I hear someone call.
Lombardi comes into view with Carlo behind him.
My heart hurts as my eyes search his.
We trusted you.
Lombardi leans his behind on the table and crosses his feet at the ankles, he watches me as he takes a deep drag of his cigar. “And now we wait…to watch him rise from the dead.” He smiles darkly and inhales deeply again.
My eyes fill with tears, please no…. “He’s….” I screw up my face, I can’t even say it out loud in case it makes it happen for real. “Your war is not with Giuliano, he doesn’t deserve this.”
“I’m not after Giuliano.”
I frown, confused. “Who are you waiting to rise from the dead?”
Lombardi takes another deep drag, he blows the smoke up in a thin stream as his cold eyes hold mine.”
“Your brother…Enrico Ferrara.”
26
Francesca
“What are you talking about?” I spit. “Enrico is dead.”
He throws his head back and laughs out loud. “You poor deluded child. Enrico Ferrara is alive and well, living comfortably on an island somewhere in the Caribbean.”
What?
My heart begins to sound in my ears.
Can’t be…he’s alive?
“It is time for retribution!” Lombardi cries out loud. “An eye for an eye.”
I stare at him horrified; he’s gone completely mad.
“He killed my only son. Stole my ancestry line, something I can never get back,” he yells in a dramatic fashion. “Cut me so deep that I’ve never recovered.” He takes a slow drag of his cigar as he seemingly contemplates his next sentence. “And now I am going to kill him,” he says calmly and then looks over at me and waves his cigar toward me. “And you.”
I’m crippled with fear, my eyes well with tears.
“He will be here.” He looks at his watch. “In approximately twelve hours.”
What?
How does he know that?
I look over to Carlo who is sitting in the corner, a cigar in his hand and his eyes fixed on me. “How could you?” I whisper through tears. “You were our friend.”
He raises an eyebrow and inhales and then, as if thinking, he rolls the cigar in the ashtray.
“A deal’s a deal,” Lombardi says to Carlo. “You have kept your side of the bargain and delivered her to me and now I will deliver what was promised to you. I give you my blood.”
Huh?
He walks over to Carlo and picks up a knife from the table and cuts the palm of his hand. Blood runs down his hand.
What the fuck is happening right now?
Carlo stands, he takes the knife and cuts his hand the same way.
I wince, the brutality of this is too much.
They shake hands, palm to palm. Blood to blood.
Lombardi pulls Carlo into a hug. “Lead wisely, my son.” He kisses his cheek.