“Stay low,” Emmanuelle cautioned. “Don’t move until I say.”
The woman nodded. The room was trashed, with tables overturned and bodies strewn on the floor like bloodied mannequins. Emme spotted Dario in the far corner, near one of the massive pillars, steadily firing his weapon, his eyes tracking the room as he did so. Valentino was on the other side of the pillar, picking his targets, but he, also, was looking for one man.
Emme stretched her arm out, fingers managing to snag the barrel of a gun from a fallen enemy. She pulled it toward her. The movement attracted the attention of a man just off to her left. He was crouched down in the sunken conversation area, protected on two sides by floor-to-ceiling marble fountains and a stone fireplace. With him were five others, surrounding him, clearly trying to shield him. Their ultimate goal was to make it to the door just behind her, the same exit she was trying to get the waitress safely out.
Tommaso gave her a wide, evil grin as recognition settled over him. “Valentino’s little bride.” He indicated her to the others.
There was no cover between her and the men. None. Emmanuelle didn’t hesitate. “Get out. Go now.” Firing the gun rapidly at Tommaso and his crew to give the waitress a chance to get out of the building, Emme rolled away from her, hoping to find a shadow to disappear into.
Valentino came out of nowhere, striding right through the bodies, the death and destruction, as if he were invincible, as if no bullet could possibly touch him. He was grim-faced, a dark demon rising from the very pits of hell, his weapon spouting bright orange and blue flames with each thundering pull of the trigger.
Dario, Severu, Levi and Axel moved with him, keeping the firepower steady on Tommaso and his crew, forcing them to turn toward the new threat. Two of Tommaso’s men went down. Tommaso crawled on his belly away from his circle of protection, toward Emme, as the Saldi men approached without once breaking stride. He stopped abruptly, cursing, his head swiveling from side to side as he tried to see where she could have gone.
Then Valentino was standing over him, kicking away his weapon, kicking him in the ribs, his gut. He crouched down beside his cousin. “Where are the little kids?” he asked, his voice low. Quiet. Velvet soft. “Angelo’s got them, but you know where they are and you’re going to tell me.”
“Fuck you, Val,” Tommaso yelled. By contrast his voice was shrill.
Val shot him through his left hand. Tommaso screamed and rolled back and forth, looking around frantically for help.
“I asked you a question.”
“I don’t know.”
Valentino calmly shot him through the top of his left foot. Tommaso’s screams rose to new heights.
“I’m tired, Tommaso, it’s been a long day. Your entire crew is dead. Your mercenaries are dead. The teens have been rescued and taken to a hospital. There’s no money for your father to send up the food chain. I imagine his partner is getting a little impatient by this time. Just like I am. I want those kids. The next bullet goes into your right hand. We’ll start on that side of your body.”
“Wait. Wait, Val.” Tommaso held up his left, bloody, shaking hand. “I don’t know specifically, but he and Marge have several places they would take them.” His voice shook, and he kept rolling from side to side as if he could get away from the pain.
“I’ll need to know where those places are, Tommaso,” Val said, his voice exactly the same: Patient. Calm. Almost soothing.
Tommaso rolled toward Valentino and suddenly lunged at him, the blade of a knife going straight toward his heart. Simultaneously, Emmanuelle emerged from a shadow to the right of Tommaso’s head, hands gripping hard and wrenched, breaking his neck. Dario fired three shots, two between the eyes, one into his left eye. Levi shot him in the heart twice, and Axel shot him in the throat twice. Valentino’s gun also spit out three bullets, one through the palm holding the knife, two to the gut, because he wanted the man to die slowly and suffer. It seemed like that wasn’t going to happen.
He went back on his knees and glared up at his wife. “You could have been killed. Dario could have shot you.”
“You could have been killed, and Dario would never have shot me. He knew where I was.”
“The others didn’t know where you were.”
“I want to go home. The cops will be here soon, and we can’t possibly control the situation,” she whispered. “Hurry, Valentino.” She looked at the men surrounding him. “Please get him out of here. Clear everyone out of here, Dario.”
“We’re on it, Emme,” Dario assured. “We’ll meet you as soon as possible.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
I’m sorry, Val,” Emmanuelle said softly, from where she lay sprawled over the top of him. Naked. Her head on his chest. Her knees on either side of his hips.
Valentino kept one hand on her bare bottom, that smooth skin, rubbing the curve, drifting in a sea of peace. Sheer peace. He didn’t get that often. His body completely sated. His woman wrapped around him. His mind still, not looping at warp speed, trying to drive him insane. This was his kind of paradise. His personal version. He didn’t give a damn where he was, as long as he had this woman with him.
“For what, Princess?” He murmured it, without opening his eyes, letting himself rest. Needing just a few more minutes with her before they started the insanity all over again.
“When I was so ridiculous with you the other night. Listening to Marge. To my mother. To anyone but you. I won’t do that anymore. Even if I’m totally insecure sometimes and don’t feel beautiful or sexy, I promise it will be you I listen to even when Eloisa’s voice is in the back of my head whispering that I’ll never be good enough.”
She rubbed her cheek on his chest and then pressed her lips over his heart. “I love you so much, Val. Sometimes it hurts, I love you so much. It scares me to love someone the way I love you.”
His hand crept up her spine to the nape of her neck to massage the tension knots there, easing them out of her. “That’s exactly how I feel about you, Emme. Maybe we’re supposed to feel that way about each other, so over-the-top crazy we can’t bear to be apart. We tear each other’s clothes off the second we’re alone. All that so the shadow creeper doesn’t get loose.”
A little shiver crept down her spine. “Don’t even think about him. It might make him real again. I haven’t noticed him when our shadows are on the wall together, and I deliberately looked for him.”
“I looked, too. That’s why I think maybe we’re supposed to be as wild about each other as we are. We feed each other’s desire and emotions.”
She moved in a suggestive little glide down his body. “You could feed my desires anytime, Valentino. My emotions would do a happy dance.”
He had no choice but to watch her through hooded eyes. They needed to be up and moving. They’d already stolen time for themselves this morning. He’d woken her with his mouth between her legs. He loved the taste of her. How wild it made her. How wet. Those moans of hers. Her body so responsive. She liked his tongue and teeth. His fingers. He gave her multiple orgasms before he took her hard, determined to prolong his time, his pleasure with her as long as possible.