10

The morning sun filtered through the blinds, casting long shadows across the small living room. True to his word, Giovanni was already standing by the door, fully dressed and looking as sharp and lethal as the day he arrived.

He looked down at Rosa, his mind flashing back to the promise he had made her. There is nowhere in the world you can go that I won't find you. He was ready to leave New York, fully intending to give her just enough time to pack her life before he came back to claim her permanently.

But as he turned the doorknob to leave, Rosa stepped forward.

"And where do you think you're going?" she asked, her voice steady despite the madness of the night before.

Giovanni paused, his hand tightening on the brass knob as he looked back over his shoulder.

"A brief pause..." Rosa continued, taking a breath and looking him dead in the eye, "...without me? I'm following you to Italy, Gio."

For a fraction of a second, the cold mafia boss vanished, and Giovanni beamed with genuine joy. But just as quickly, his brow furrowed in disbelief. "Wait, what? What about your mom? Your job?"

"I already talked to my mom," Rosa explained, a small, bittersweet smile playing on her lips. "She gave me her blessing. She told me if I wanted to move to Italy, I should go. She just made me promise to visit her occasionally."

Four hours later, they arrived at a private hangar at JFK Airport in Italy where Giovanni’s massive, sleek private jet was kept.

"I need to go to the restroom and ease myself," Rosa said, gesturing toward the airport terminal.

Giovanni scanned the immediate area, his dark eyes instantly tracking the security perimeter. He nodded slowly. "Be careful. Don't be long."

The terminal restroom was relatively quiet. Rosa stood by the sinks, washing her hands and trying to calm her racing heart. As she turned to leave, a young man came limping heavily into the common area. He looked disheveled, sweating, and was clutching a heavy duffel bag.

He stopped right in front of her, looking desperate. "Please, miss," he wheezed, holding the bag out to her. "Can you help me hold this for just a minute? I just... I really need to run and say goodbye to my mom before she boards. Please."

Rosa looked at his dragged leg, her heart softening. *What a pitiful man,* she thought to ourselves. It was just a quick favor for a son trying to see his mother. "Uh, okay. Sure. Just be quick."

"Thank you, thank you," the man muttered, handing over the heavy bag before shuffling away into the crowd.

Back near the security checkpoint, Giovanni paced the floor. Ten minutes had passed. Then fifteen. His internal alarm bells were screaming. The easygoing demeanor from the car was completely gone, replaced by the rigid, hyper-vigilant instincts of a Colombo Don.

He didn't wait. He stormed into the terminal, tracking her down to the corridor near the restrooms. When he spotted her, she was standing there, holding a strange, bulky bag.

"Rosa," Giovanni growled, his voice carrying a lethal undercurrent as he marched up to her. He didn't even look at her face; his eyes were glued to the duffel. "What the hell are you carrying?"

"A man asked me to hold it—he went to say goodbye to his—"

Before she could even finish her second sentence, Giovanni violently ripped the bag out of her hands. His face was a mask of absolute fury. He grabbed her wrist in an iron grip, spinning her around and forcing her to walk briskly alongside him toward the exit.

He didn't say a single word. He just kept walking, his boots clicking sharply against the tile, his grip bruising.

"Gio, stop! You're hurting me!" Rosa cried out, trying to pull back against his terrifying strength. "Giovanni, you're hurting me!"

He didn't slow down, but his voice cut through the air like a blade. "Describe the person. Now. Was he wearing any jewelry? Any tattoos?"

Rosa swallowed her panic, forcing her brain to remember. "He... he was limping. And he had a tattoo on his neck. A snake."

Giovanni’s jaw ticked. "Good enough."

Instead of heading back to the main terminal entrance, Giovanni shoved open a heavy metal door, dragging her down a secluded, narrow service alley behind the airport structures. He still held the mysterious bag in one hand and her wrist in the other.

Suddenly, Giovanni froze.

A few yards ahead of them, a man was walking quickly toward a parked sedan. He was moving perfectly fine. No limp. No struggle.

Giovanni looked down at her. "Does that man look like the one who gave you the bag?"

Rosa gasped, her eyes widening. "Yes! But... to my surprise, he's not limping anymore..."

Giovanni didn't ask another question. In one fluid, terrifying motion, he dropped the bag, reached under his tailored suit jacket, and drew a heavy, black semi-automatic pistol.

BANG.

The gunshot echoed violently off the brick walls of the alley. The man dropped to the pavement instantly, a pool of dark crimson spreading beneath his head. Dead before he hit the ground.

"You killed him!" Rosa screamed, her voice cracking in pure horror as she tried to tear herself away from him. "Why would you do that?! He was—"

Without a single word of explanation, Giovanni grabbed her upper arm and practically lifted her off her feet, dragging her forcefully toward the black SUV waiting at the end of the alley.

"Giovanni, let me go! You're a monster—"

"Shut up, Rosa!" he snarled, his eyes scanning the rooftops.

They were mere feet from the car when Rosa saw a shadow move out of the corner of her eye. A man was sprinting out from a blind spot on their left, his hand reaching into his jacket.

"Look out!" Rosa shrieked.

The pure, trained reflexes of a mafia predator took over. Giovanni didn't even look; he spun on his heel, raised his weapon, and fired two rounds directly into the second attacker's chest. The man collapsed backward into a stack of shipping pallets, his gun clattering to the asphalt.

Giovanni shoved Rosa into the backseat of the SUV, slamming the door behind her before sliding in right next to her. The driver slammed on the gas, the tires screeching as they sped away from the bloody alley.

Inside the suffocating safety of the vehicle, Giovanni turned on her. The raw, terrifying fury radiating off him made the air in the car feel freezing cold.

"What is wrong with you?!" he shouted.