“Saskia. You don’t need to do this,” Sierra says in a voice that’s unbelievably calm. “I know this isn’t you. You need help, and we will get it for you.”
“Shut the fuck up, you slut!” Saskia roars, moving back toward the rear side door.
Behind us, the battle rages on, and I trust my guys to cover us. That doesn’t mean a stray shot can’t take one of us down, so I need to put an end to this now. “Saskia, just let Sierra go, and I’ll leave with you.” I force a smile on my face and soften my voice, talking as if I was talking to a child. “I have a plane at the airport. We’ll go anywhere you want to go. Just the two of us.”
“You’re a liar,” she says, digging her hand into Sierra’s arm while dragging her back. “As long as the slut is alive, she’ll keep getting between us.” She curls her finger around the trigger, and my heart leaps into my throat. I can’t shoot her without risking her shooting Sierra first, and panic races through my veins because I don’t know what to do. “I love you, Ben. You’re mine. You’ve always been mine.”
“Saskia, I—”
“Shut the fuck up, bitch,” Saskia roars, digging the muzzle into Sierra’s temple. “I am sick to death of your voice. I fucking hate you! You ruin everything!”
Her finger presses harder on the trigger and I raise my gun, aiming it at Saskia’s head, but I’m too late.
A shot rings out, and I bellow out a roar, racing toward Sierra. “No! No, no, no.” Pain spears me through the chest as I catch Sierra in my arms when she falls forward. She clutches my arms, and my panic turns to relief as Saskia raises a shaky hand to her chest, trying to stem the blood pouring from her body.
“Are you okay? Are you hurt?” I ask Sierra, holding her at arm’s length to examine her.
“I’m not hurt.” She’s trembling, and I wrap my arms around her, holding her tight.
Around us, the fighting has eased to a few final gunshots as things wind down.
“Drop the gun, Saskia,” Leo says, appearing alongside us the same time Alessandro does. “Or I will shoot to kill this time.”
“Fuck you, Leo.” Saskia lifts the gun, aiming it at me this time. “And fuck you, Ben.”
I don’t hesitate. Pointing my weapon, I fire the same time Leo does. He hits her in the chest, right in the heart, while my shot slings dead center through her skull. The light extinguishes from her eyes, and she’s dead before she hits the ground.
Sierra wriggles out of my embrace. “Do something,” she pleads, and I reach for her as Alessandro sprints toward the doors where a pale and pleading Serena is trying to keep Gifoli from escaping.
“Let him handle it,” I say, reeling her back into the safety of my arms.
At the sound of approaching footfalls, Serena looks around, and some silent communication passes between her and Alessandro. As if it was coordinated, she bites down hard on Gifoli’s hand, causing him to drop his gun, before she elbows him in the gut with her good arm and drops to the floor like a pro. Alessandro doesn’t flinch or hesitate. He riddles his body with bullets, emptying the chamber in his gun, and the room is eerily silent as The Outfit’s disgraced underboss slumps to the carpeted floor.
Gifoli’s wide vacant eyes stare at the ceiling as blood seeps from multiple gunshot wounds to his head and upper torso, pooling around him. Alessandro rushes to Serena’s aid, gently taking her into his arms. Barretta appears at my side, alongside three of the New York dons. “It’s done,” he says.
I keep a tight hold of Sierra, careful not to hurt her injured hand. “Where are the cleanup crews?” I ask.
“En route,” Leo says, wiping his brow, leaving a streak of someone else’s blood across his skin.
“You need to get out of here,” Accardi says, approaching with Georgia tucked under his arm.
“Mom,” Sierra cries, shucking out of my hold and hugging her mother.
“We all do.” I spot the hotel manager cowering in the doorway, and I need to talk with him before we leave. “Take Sierra and Georgia to the car,” I tell Leo. “Get Alessandro and Serena to go with you. And call the doc. Sierra and Serena need medical attention. Tell him to bring his portable X-ray unit, and we’ll meet him at the usual place.”
“Ben?” Sierra turns to me.
“It’s okay,” I assure her, pressing a soft kiss to her lips. “I’ll be right there.”
I spend five minutes on the phone with the hotel owner and another five minutes calming the hotel manager down. I check in with the police commissioner as I’m on my way to the parking lot with Ciro at my side, and he assures me that he has it contained. Nothing has gone out on the police scanner or on the web. Phillip has hacked into the hotel camera systems and he’s wiping all evidence of tonight from existence. Leo will oversee the cleanup here, and the hotel owner is sending a team of trusted men to hastily redecorate the room, wiping all traces of bullets and blood from the ballroom.
“Let’s go,” I say when I slide into the back of the limo beside Sierra.
She wraps her good arm around me and tilts her face up, smashing her lips against mine, as the car glides out of the parking lot.
Her lips are soft and warm and familiar, and I haul her into my lap, uncaring we have an audience. I keep my arms around her as I explore her mouth, tangling my tongue with hers while I angle her head so I can kiss her more deeply. Every sweep of her lips unravels the tense knots in my stomach, and I hold her tight, never wanting to let her go again.
I came so close to losing her, and I don’t want to experience that again.
A ripping sound, followed by a whimper of pain, finally breaks us apart. We whip our heads around in unison, watching Alessandro tie a torn piece of his shirt around the bullet wound in Serena’s arm. “How bad is it?” I ask, sensing Sierra stiffen in my arms.
“I don’t think it’s life threatening, but I can’t see the bullet,” he says. “It’s deep enough not to be a graze though.” Which means the bullet is embedded in her arm and needs to be removed.
“We’ll be picking the doc up in twenty minutes,” I explain. “He’ll fix you up.”
“I’m worried about my kids,” Serena says. “They are back at the house with some of his men. What if they hurt them?” Her voice elevates a few notches.
“I’ll get Barretta to call them immediately. Don’t worry, they won’t touch them.”
I hope.
We have a rule about not hurting women and children, but DeLuca broke that when he threw out the rulebook, so I can’t reassure her with complete confidence.
I message Natalia to discover Leo has already called her with an update.
When we arrive at the house, a sleepy but eager Rowan is in my sister’s arms, waiting for us.
“Rowan!” Sierra screams, racing out of the car and climbing the steps that lead to the front door.
“Mommy!” Rowan runs in his oversized Batman slippers toward a barefoot Sierra, and I battle a wave of emotion as they embrace.
“I can’t believe what that monster tried to do,” Georgia says, creeping up alongside me.
Ciro comes with us while Alessandro, Serena, and the doc stay in the car. The driver will take them to the back entrance so they can slip into the house undetected. I don’t want Rowan to be frightened by all the blood on their clothes or the gaping hole in his aunt’s arm.