Chapter 2 - The Second DeathThe gunshot was followed by another.
Glass shattered.
Someone screamed.
I dropped to the floor with Logan beneath me.
"Stay down!"
Alessandro's voice cut through the darkness.
His guards moved instantly.
Muzzle flashes illuminated the room.
Three men rushed through the side entrance.
The first never made it past the doorway.
One of Alessandro's guards tackled him.
The second fired blindly.
The bullet struck a medical cabinet.
The third grabbed me.
I screamed.
Then Alessandro moved.
For a man who had supposedly died minutes earlier, he was terrifyingly fast.
He ripped the attacker away from me.
They crashed into the wall.
A gun fell.
I pulled Logan beneath the hospital bed.
"Mommy!"
"Don't move."
The fight ended quickly.
Security flooded the room.
The attacker was restrained.
Alessandro stood over him.
Blood ran down his hospital gown.
"Who sent you?"
The man said nothing.
Alessandro crouched.
"You came here to finish a dead man."
The attacker laughed.
"You're already dead."
Alessandro smiled.
"Apparently not."
The man looked toward me.
Then his expression changed.
Fear.
Not of Alessandro.
Of someone else.
He bit down.
Alessandro reacted immediately.
"Stop!"
Too late.
The man collapsed.
A doctor rushed forward.
"Poison."
Alessandro stared at the dead attacker.
"Professional."
I came out from under the bed.
Logan clung to my leg.
"Is he dead?"
I nodded.
Alessandro looked at me.
"This is why David disappeared."
I stared at him.
"You knew?"
"I knew he was alive."
"Where is he?"
"I don't know."
The answer broke something inside me.
"You knew my husband was alive and let me mourn him?"
"I didn't have a choice."
"You always have a choice."
Alessandro accepted the accusation.
"You're right."
He looked at Logan.
"David made me promise something."
"What?"
"Protect his family if his cover was compromised."
My anger faltered.
"Why didn't you?"
"I thought the danger had passed."
"Clearly it hasn't."
"No."
He looked toward the dead attacker.
"It just came back."
A detective entered.
"Mr. Romano, we need your statement."
Alessandro looked at me.
"No."
The detective frowned.
"Excuse me?"
"She leaves with me."
I stepped backward.
"I'm not going anywhere with you."
"You don't understand."
"I understand enough."
"You have a three-year-old child and someone just tried to kill you inside a hospital."
"I can protect my son."
Alessandro's expression softened.
"I know."
Then he pointed at the ring in my hand.
"But David couldn't."
I stared at it.
There was something engraved beneath the initials.
A tiny sequence of numbers.
I hadn't noticed it before.
Alessandro saw me notice.
"That's a key."
"A key to what?"
"Your husband's last safe house."
My heart pounded.
"Where?"
"Philadelphia."
I looked at Logan.
Then at Alessandro.
"Take me there."
He shook his head.
"Not yet."
"Why?"
"Because we have to find out who knows you're alive."
"I've been alive the entire time."
He looked at me.
"No."
His voice became very quiet.
"Tonight, someone learned that David's wife still has the second ring."
I felt a chill.
"What does that mean?"
May you like
Alessandro walked toward the window.
"It means the people who buried your husband are going to come for you next."
Related Stories
