Chapter 6

The next afternoon, just as I was getting ready to leave for the hospital, one of my father's men showed up and blocked my apartment door.

"The family meeting's been moved up."

I glanced at the time on my phone. "I have a doctor's appointment."

"Don Moretti promises it won't take long."

I could have just walked past him, but the dull, dragging ache in my belly had eased for the moment.

Just ten minutes, I told myself.

But once I sat down, I was stuck there for a whole hour.

Viola sat in the seat beside mine, her arm still bandaged from the incident at the range. Every time she lifted it, my father's eyes went straight to it, like that wound was a debt I owed her.

The second the meeting ended, I got up and headed out.

Viola hurried after me and cut me off in the hallway.

"Sis."

I didn't slow down.

"Your weapons access is gone, and now I'm the one making the public appearances."

She sped up and planted herself in my path.

"Are you finally ready to face reality?"

I looked at her. "What reality?"

"That I'm the one who really belongs at Luca's side."

I laughed softly. "If you want that spot so badly, go ask him yourself."

"But I'm the reason he took your gun." Viola's eyes were bright with triumph. "I'm the reason he sent you home.

"Don't you get it yet? It doesn't matter how strong you are. What he'll always be most wary of is you refusing to do what you're told."

With that, she slammed her shoulder into mine on purpose.

A sharp, twisting pain shot through my lower belly, and I shoved her away on instinct. Viola let herself stumble backward and crashed hard into the display shelves in the hallway.

Glass shattered, and the guns on display scattered across the floor.

Everyone came running at the noise.

Everyone saw Viola sitting amid the broken glass, with me standing in front of her.

"What happened now?!" My father was furious.

"She's the one who got in my way."

Viola's eyes turned red as tears started to fall. "I just wanted to talk to my sister."

The look on my father's face said he'd already made up his mind.

"Before the engagement, you're going to stay at the lake safe house for a couple of days."

"I'm not going."

"I'm not asking."

I was about to argue when Luca came down the hallway from the other end.

The moment he saw me, a deep frown creased his brow. "Why are you so pale?"

"I need to go to the hospital."

"Why? What's wrong?"

The hallway was packed. My father, Rosa, Viola, and men from both families were all standing right there.

I didn't want to announce something as private as a pregnancy in front of all those people.

"I have a checkup scheduled."

"What kind of checkup?"

"Luca."

I looked him in the eye.

"Don't ask questions this time. Just trust me this once."

And of course, that was exactly when Viola started to cry quietly. "I'm too scared to be in the same room as my sister."

My father jumped right in. "Take her to the safe house first. The doctor can go see her there. It's the same thing."

Luca didn't agree right away.

He put a hand on my shoulder. "Are you having that abdominal pain again?"

That caught me off guard.

He actually remembered.

"Yes."

"Then you definitely shouldn't be out taking risks."

"Going to the hospital isn't a risk."

"The roads aren't safe right now."

"I have an appointment."

Luca was quiet for a few seconds.

Then he said the words that would replay in my mind countless times afterward. "Safe house first. I'll have a doctor there within half an hour."

I stared at him.

"I said, I need to go to the hospital."

"Isabella." His voice softened. "Don't risk your health just because you're angry with me."

In that moment, whatever urge I had left to explain myself just died.

"Luca."

"Mm."

"I'm not lying to you this time."

He tightened his grip on my shoulder, like he didn't even know he was doing it.

But in the end, he still turned and gave the guards the order. "Move out."

The convoy pulled out of the Moretti estate. I was in the second car.

Raphael was in the car behind mine, assigned to protect Viola.

I caught sight of him in the rearview mirror, and a bad feeling settled in my gut.

As we neared the warehouse district, the lead car exploded in a ball of fire.

Almost at once, gunfire erupted all around us.

The driver jerked the wheel. I slammed into the door, and a pain like a knife ripped through my lower belly.

"Get down!" The guard shoved me into the footwell.

Bullets blew out the windows, and broken glass rained down on the back seat.

More than ten attackers were lying in wait outside.

This wasn't just someone smashing up cars to stir up trouble.

This was an ambush that had been planned well in advance.

"Give me a gun!"

The guard went pale. "Don Bellini froze your weapons access."

It was so absurd that it made me furious. "We're under fire, and you're worried about my access?"

In the two seconds he hesitated, another bullet hit the windshield.

I pulled my mother's old handgun out of my backpack.

"Ms. Moretti—"

"If you want to live, shut up."

I kicked open the back door and returned fire, using the car for cover.

The pain in my belly kept getting worse. Something warm was running down my thighs.

I forced myself not to look down.

From the car behind us came shouting. Someone was yelling Viola's name.

I turned to look. Raphael had Viola tucked behind the car and was shielding her with everything he had.

The next second, his whole body jerked.

Blood bloomed across his chest.

"Raphael!" I screamed his name.

Even then, he braced himself against the car door and used the last of his strength to push Viola toward better cover.

The gunfire was so heavy that I couldn't get to him.

All I could do was watch him slowly sink to his knees.

Before backup arrived, an out-of-control SUV smashed into the car I was hiding behind.

The impact sent me flying.

The moment I hit the ground, the pain in my belly swallowed me whole.

I looked down.

My pants were soaked through with blood.

Everything slowly went dark.

My last vague memory was of someone lifting me into an ambulance and calling my name over and over.