Fire Bound (Sea Haven Sisters)(119)

Luigi cursed him, pounded on the glass, but he knew no matter what he said or did, there would be no mercy from this man. No amount of pleading. No bribery. There was no way to stop one of the elite. Luigi spat at him. Furious. Terrified. He’d never considered this could happen to him so fast. He tried for his knife again. Then his gun. The gun was tucked into his waistband at his back. There was no hope of getting to it.



There was movement in the water behind the assassin and for one moment, hope burst through Luigi. A woman swam up next to Tomasso, dressed in a bathing suit and tank. She carried a second tank with her. Tomasso took it and shrugged into the webbing, shoving the regulator into his mouth and then strapped the weight belt around his waist. There was no hurry in the movements, and Tomasso never looked away from Luigi. Just waiting.

Only then did the woman turn toward him. Stared right at him. His heart stuttered in his chest. Giacinta. Staring at him. Right. Through. The window.



Alive. She was real, not a figment of his imagination. Giacinta was alive. She knew what he’d done. All of it. He could see the knowledge on her face in spite of the mask she wore over her eyes. There was pain there. Regret. Sorrow. She had loved him – genuinely loved him, and that was more than he felt from any other living soul. He’d ordered the death of her parents. He’d ordered her death.

Involuntarily, he reached out to her. Pressed his hand to the window as the water closed over his head. She reached out to him but before her hand could touch the window, Tomasso circled her waist with his arm and caught her wrist in his other hand, preventing her from touching the car.



Panic hit first, panic so intense and overwhelming that he began to fight. To thrash. Kick his legs. He was frantic to get out of the tight seat belt that held him pinned to the seat. He tipped his head up, trying to get to the surface even though he knew it was impossible.

His lungs burned. He knew he couldn’t hold his breath long. He’d never been able to swim and he certainly couldn’t stay underwater long. His gaze went back to hers. His niece. His Giacinta. Pleading. Trying to tell her he was sorry. Trying to beg. Ordering her. Swearing at her. He didn’t dare open his mouth, so he did it all with his eyes.



Then it happened. He couldn’t stop it from happening. He inhaled. The water burned in his nose, down his throat to his lungs. He saw Tomasso’s hand grip Giacinta hard, yanking her back and away. She resisted for a moment and then they were swimming away, while the water poured into him. He closed his eyes not wanting to watch his last hope swim away.



Lissa tried to keep her mind blank as Casimir kept her swimming away from the car. Twice she tried to turn back. For what, she didn’t know. Her uncle had wiped out her family, turned her into a killer and then put out a hit on her. Seeing the desperation in his eyes, the mixture of pain, sorrow, even, maybe love… That had been so difficult. She tried to think of him as a monster, an illusion, not a real man. Not her uncle, the man who had raised her all those years…



She choked and realized she was crying, her tears filling her mask. She wasn’t breathing properly for being underwater. Casimir swam close to her, his hand occasionally touching her, brushing along her shoulder or arm, just to let her know he was there. He knew how difficult this task had been. He probably didn’t know it would haunt her for years. They all did. Every single one of the lives she’d taken.

Intellectually she knew they deserved to die. Her family wasn’t the only family to be killed by the men she’d brought to justice. She even knew she’d saved more lives. That didn’t matter when she went to bed at night.



They swam for a long distance, Lissa trying hard to keep her mind from straying back to the car. Casimir had packed her things and her suitcases were in the car waiting. Lissa Piner had to be on a train, on her way to Germany, to her next appointment, before word got out that Luigi Abbracciabene had died in a tragic accident right on the heels of his brother-in-law Aldo’s accident. The driver, Tomasso, would never be found. His body either carried away by the sea, or perhaps he was a coward and fled when his boss had been trapped. Either way, the tire marks on the road would attest to the fact that he’d tried hard to keep the vehicle on the road. Once the car was examined, the faulty steering mechanism would be blamed.

Casimir touched her shoulder, indicating to start moving upward. She had left their boat far from where the car would go off the road and into the sea. They were two tourists, a couple, exploring the sea. She obeyed his directive, staying close to him, afraid she would be silly enough to swim back. By now Luigi was dead, drowned in the terrible accident and people had to be aware a car had gone off the road on the winding cliff above. They would be putting together a dive team. She couldn’t be anywhere near the car and Luigi.