Vendetta(72)

Robbie tried to scream, but Nic moved the barrel into his mouth so fast it choked it right out of him.

“Listen up, you piece of scum,” Nic snarled. “This is your final warning. I’ll be watching you. If I ever hear of you attempting to handle drugs again, then you’re dead. If you try to give a girl any kind of drug, requested or not, you’re dead. If you attempt to force yourself on anyone ever again, you’re dead. And if you so much as glance at Sophie Gracewell again, I’ll rip your heart out and stuff it down your fucking throat. Do you understand?”

Robbie nodded.

“The police might not have enough to go on to convict you of attempted date rape, but I do. And I’m not a big fan of trial by jury, Stenson. So I’d advise you to use this final warning as a gift from God. Change your life. And if you so much as breathe a word of this to the police, you’ll be shot by one of my brothers before you fall asleep. That, I can guarantee.” Nic leaned forward in what felt like slow motion. “Or maybe I’ll just shoot you now and do the world a favor.”

I pushed my jelly legs forward, intent on stopping whatever was about to happen, but Luca got there first.

“Basta!” he said, pulling Nic’s hand away from Robbie’s mouth; Nic let it drop willingly, but he didn’t relinquish the gun, and Luca didn’t force him. Instead, he kept his hand on his brother’s shooting arm, so he couldn’t raise it again. I stood frozen in my new spot, half in and half out of the clearing, watching Nic’s chest rise and fall as he stared unblinkingly at Robbie’s whimpering face.

Nic finally moved his arm away from Luca’s hand, uncocked the gun, and stashed it in the waistband of his jeans. The movement looked like second nature, and I found myself wondering whether he had been carrying a gun the last time he held me in his arms. He shook out his hair and stepped back, gripping his chest, and turned away from Robbie. “Luca, get rid of him before I change my mind.”

Luca stepped forward and slapped Robbie on the cheek in a bizarre show of camaraderie. “You get all that, Robert?”

Robbie started to wipe the tears from his face with the back of his hand. “I p-p-promise,” he faltered.

“Good.” Luca lifted his arm and pointed behind Robbie to where the rest of the sprawling park continued. “Now run like your life depends on it. Because it does.”

And that’s exactly what Robbie did. Without sparing another second, he pitched himself forward and hurtled clumsily through the trees until he was just a dot hobbling into the darkness. When the sounds of his uneven footsteps had disappeared entirely, Luca removed his attention from the space between the trees and settled it on Nic.

“I told you to stay behind.” He sounded weary rather than angry, like he was used to this kind of behavior.

“You told me he tried to take advantage of her. You didn’t tell me he had drugged her!”

“I didn’t know that then. And you shouldn’t have been eavesdropping.”

“You shouldn’t have expected me to stay out of it.”

“Sei un pazzo, Nicoli.”

“This is different.”

“You always say that.”

“This is different.”

“She’s not yours.”

“She’s mine to protect.”

“You would have killed him,” Luca hissed.

“He deserves it,” Nic returned evenly — casually, almost.

“What happened to laying low? You could have ruined everything. And I told you, it’s not your concern.”

“She is my fucking concern!”

“She won’t want to have anything to do with you now anyway,” Luca continued, a sudden airiness in his voice.

Nic snapped his head up; his eyes were frantic. “Why not?”

I felt my heart constrict in agony as I realized what was about to happen; and it was too late, there was nothing I could do to stop it.

Luca raised his arm until he was pointing directly across the clearing. “Because she’s standing right there.”

Nic followed Luca’s finger until his gaze found mine and, just like the night he had discovered my name, horror possessed his features, warping them as we stood apart from each other, both of us heartbroken for different reasons.

“Sophie …” he whispered, but it was too late.

I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t even open my mouth I was so petrified. I started to back away.

He stumbled forward.

“Let her go,” Luca cautioned. “She’s terrified.”

I faltered back into the shadows between the trees. My retreat turned to reckless abandon. I careened through the park, racing toward the flickering of the screen. When I passed the final scattering of trees, I sprinted around the taco truck, where I collided with Millie.