6

Alessia

The gunshots didn't stop. Each one shook the ground beneath my feet, rattling through my bones until I could no longer tell which sounds were in the room and which were echoing inside my skull.

“On the count of three—”

Pop.

“I want you to—”

Pop. Pop.

Glass shattered somewhere behind me, and someone screamed before the sound was swallowed by another volley of bullets.

I pressed myself harder against the wall, wishing I could somehow sink into it and become invisible to the chaos happening around me.

“Run for that side door,” Nico barked.

My eyes moved to where his gun was pointed. The service corridor door was halfway across the room, past overturned chairs and the motionless bodies of people who'd been alive barely ten minutes ago.

He expected me to cross that?

With my sisters here?

“I can’t—”

A sudden, sharp boom tore through the building, louder than a gunshot. A chandelier snapped from its chain and crashed to the floor. I screamed, ducking as glass and fire rained down.

“Are you listening to me?” Nico’s voice sliced through the noise. “This position is compromised.”

He said it like we were playing chess instead. I shook my head frantically.

“Alessia—”

“I’m not running over there!” I shot back, choking on the air that filled my lungs. “What about—”

Another burst of gunfire drowned my words. Something splintered inches from my ear, and wood fragments rained over my shoulder, stinging like tiny burns. When I looked up again, Nico was reloading his weapon with the same composure someone might use to pour a drink.

“I need you out of here,” he said, not sparing me a glance. “Now.”

“I can’t leave my sisters… they're under the table.”

His eyes darted to the direction of the table, barely a few feet away. Arianna’s blue gown stuck out from beneath it.

“We can’t make it without one of us getting hurt,” I pleaded, my voice breaking on the last word. I hadn’t even realized I was crying until my vision blurred.

“Fucking listen, Alessia,” Nico hissed. “You get out now, or you die here. Your choice.”

“I’m not leaving my sisters!”

He gave me a look that was cold, irritated, and utterly merciless. “Then suit yourself,” he muttered, striding away and leaving my side completely exposed. “Die with them.”

The words slammed into me like a blow. This was who he truly was. The cold monster I'd heard about. He didn’t care that I was terrified, that my sisters were here, that my home was being torn apart. I wasn’t someone he wanted to save. I was just something in his way.

The next shot went off so close I felt heat sear across my left shoulder. My knees buckled, and I dropped to the floor, crawling toward the table with the last scraps of sense I had left.

“Alessia…” Arianna whimpered when I lifted the tablecloth. Her face was blotchy and streaked with tears, and she clutched Aurelia who was trembling uncontrollably, tightly to her chest.

“It’s okay,” I whispered, forcing the lie through my teeth. “Stay quiet. I'm right here.” Dragging the girls closer, I curled my body around them like I could shield them from everything.

We were going to die here.

The realization spread from the center of my chest, until it hollowed me out and made the room tilt.

Adrianna’s shallow breaths trembled against my arm. And all I could think was that this was where it ended, not just for me, but for them. Right here, under this stupid table with blood soaking into the hem of my dress. No one was coming for us.

The headlines flashed in my mind. Mother weeping uncontrollably, and father... well I'd never seen him weep. I sucked in a shaky breath, blinking furiously.

“No,” I couldn’t just kneel here, waiting to be slaughtered. If death wanted us, it could damn well fight for us. My gaze swept the ruined hall until it landed on a gun wrapped loosely in the hands of a man whose body was slumped unnaturally, eyes half-closed, and mouth slack.

Bile rose to my throat but I forced it down. “Ari,” I whispered. “I’m going to get help.”

Her grip tightened instantly. “No… Alessia… don’t…” The words broke apart into a sob.

“I’ll be right back,” I promised. “Don’t move. Don’t make a sound.”

Tears streamed down her face, but she nodded, crushing Aurelia closer as if she could disappear inside her arms. Crawling across the floor, I pried the weapon from the dead man's grip. I had no idea how to use it, but it made me feel less helpless, even if it was just an illusion.

I jerked around just in time to see a silhouette materialize through the haze. Panic shot up my spine and I scrambled forward, moving further away from my sisters in a desperate attempt to pull the danger toward myself instead. My hands shook so violently I could barely keep the gun upright, but I forced my fingers to tighten around it.

The figure stepped closer before the fog of dust and smoke cleared enough for me to see his face. Relief crashed through me, and I launched myself forward.

“Pa!” I cried, my arms reaching for him. He looked furious rather than relieved to see me alive. His suit was torn, stained with soot and blood. He didn’t lower his gun. If anything, he gripped it tighter the moment his eyes landed on me. I wanted to believe we were finally safe but something about his stance made a cold knot of fear coil in my chest.

“Alessia, move aside,” he barked, raising his gun above my head.

I obeyed without thinking, stepping out of his line of fire. Only then did I see who he was aiming at. “Pa, what are you—”

“Stai zitta!” he snapped. Shut up! “Or do you actually want to get married to that fucking monster?”