by Terra Kelly
Letizia sighed. “Ali, you saved me, they would be thankful for your bravery.”
Finley cleared his throat. “Letizia’s right. What you did took guts.” He couldn’t believe how deep into the Nesta family Letizia’s father had been, which also answered why Giano wanted Lando’s descendent dead. They always covered their tracks.
Letizia had just helped take her aunt upstairs to lie down for a while as she made her way back down her eyes locked onto Finley leaning against the railing. Smiling, “What’re you looking at?”
He gave her this half grin. “You.”
She reached the bottom and just stood there in front of him. “Ali’s resting; I think that took a lot out of her.” She stepped down onto the wooden floor only a breath separating them both. “What do we do now?” She wanted to reach forward and lay her palm out on his chest, but she resisted the urge. He was there to protect her, becoming romantically involved was not even a thought that should be popping up in her mind. She sighed. “Will you tell me who you are? No lies.”
Just then the front door flew open and almost hit Letizia, but Finley pulled her close to his body. The moment his arms were wrapped around her, she felt every part of her relax. How was that possible? Did he have special powers or something? She sucked in a breath. “I’m sorry.” Then she pulled out of his hold and turned toward Cristiano standing in the door way. “Cris. What did Ali tell you about running in the house like that?”
She noticed him look between her and Finley and then scowl. “Why are you both hugging?”
Letizia glanced at Finley. “We weren’t.” Shaking her head. “Plus, you almost smashed the door into my back, so you should be thanking him right now.”
Cris just bowed his head. “Sorry, Z.”
She took a few steps toward him and wrapped her arm around his shoulders. “Hey, mom…” She stopped talking for a moment, realizing she said mom and now she knew the truth, it felt weird.
Cris wiggled out of her embrace. “Mom, what?”
She shook her head. “She’s resting, so please keep it down for a while.” She looked into his innocent eyes and knew telling him the truth would be the hardest part of this whole mess. Well, one of the hardest things, because first she needed to remember part of her past and soon. As he headed up to his room, she made her way into the kitchen for a glass of wine. It was five o’clock somewhere.
In a hushed tone, Finley said, “Should I leave, Letizia?”
As Letizia walked down the hall, she could feel Finley close behind. Her mind was reeling: Should she ask him to leave, or did she want him to tell her everything? She walked up to the small wine rack on a shelf by the kitchen island. “Stay.” Her body was reacting to his nearness, and she wasn’t sure how to deal with those feelings. “Wine?” She held up the bottle.
He smiled. “Sure.” She watched him head over to the four-top table, pull a chair out and sink into the wooden structure.
She opened the bottle, grabbed two glasses, and made her way over to sit opposite him. Before sitting down, she poured them each a large amount of Chianti. Sighing as she melted into the chair. “So, tell me a little about yourself?”
Finley shook his head and smiled. “Well, for starters, my name is Finley Scott.”
She nodded. “Finley. You look more like a Finley than a Derek.” Finley fit him better, especially with those red curls that hung around his face. “Where are you from, Finley?” Letizia enjoyed saying his name. “Do people call you Fin?”
He let out a small laugh. “Yes. I’m from Toronto, Canada, I work on the Emergency Task Force there.”
Letizia’s eyes went wide. “Wow.” Her breath hitched as another thought crossed her mind. “Are we going to have to head back to Canada?” The thought of leaving the only home she knew, walking away from the bakery and her friends—it all scared her. “What about our home? My bakery?”
He stayed silent for a moment, swirling the wine around in the glass. When he spoke, his voice was not light and playful. “The man who wants you dead will find you no matter what. He has associates that have eyes everywhere. Here’s what we must do now: Keep you safe and out of danger. That means you need to change your appearance, your name, and your life. If you choose otherwise, we cannot guarantee your safety.”
Letizia felt a tear slide down her cheek. She stood up, walked to the door, and looked out at the backyard. “So, tell me what happens if we stay?” She had to know.
He sighed. “If you stay? Well, we can’t force you to go anywhere, this is ultimately up to you. But if you stay, your chances of survival are next to none. These men are trained to kill. They have no feelings, they are like machines and just complete each assignment. When they are asked to commit a crime, their reaction is usually blasé.”
She wrapped her arms around herself and squeezed them in tightly. “My memories start when we arrived here in St. Cloud, I can’t remember anything before that time. Sometimes I would try to meditate, just to calm my thoughts and see further back in my past. Nothing worked though. That time is like a black hole in my brain.” Her eyes focused on a squirrel digging for an acorn.
Suddenly her body felt warm, Finley was standing only inches behind her. “Hey?” Letizia dropped her arms to the side and turned to face him. “We will protect you. There would be more of us that can help in protecting you if you head back with us. Life would be different, but we can keep you safe. That’s what you want, right?”
She bent her head forward. “Of course.” Looking back up into his eyes, “It’s just…How can we be certain he won’t find us still? What’s the point of uprooting ourselves to then still be caught?” That was it really. Why leave without any guarantees?
Finley placed his hands on her hips and pulled her close to his body. “You need to do whatever you can to protect your family.” He bent down to be face-to-face with her. “I know you didn’t ask for this life, and honestly, I’m impressed you stayed off their radar this long. The Nesta mafia never miss a clue, ever.”
Finally giving in to her urge, she placed her hand on the side of his face. Moving her thumb over the coarse hair on his beard, she asked, “Have you always had this?” She reached both hands up and moved hair away from his eyes and tucked the strands behind both ears. “Or your hair, is it always long like this?” She slid her hands to the back of his neck and laced her fingers together.
She noticed him suck in a breath. “Letizia.” He closed his eyes at her touch and then opened them again. “No.”
Zia just smiled. “No, what?” She could tell her touch was throwing him off.
He sighed. “No, I don’t normally look like this. I hate beards and my hair is driving me crazy.”
She let out a laugh. “I look forward to seeing the real you.” Her eyes scanned his face and look at every feature or imperfection. The man was perfect though. Zia found she loved the freckles that peppered every area of his skin. “You’re beautiful.”
Finley was finding it difficult to keep his emotions in check with each passing minute. Smiling, “Thank you.” Inhaling and then letting it out. “We have a problem here.” He knew it was a huge problem. He wanted to kiss her senseless, but it wasn’t the right time.
Zia turned her head to the side. “Problem?”
Shaking his head. “Yeah. This shouldn’t be happening right now. There’s a man who wants to kill you out there, and all I can think about is kissing you.” There, he’d said it. There was no going back now.
She smiled. “Then kiss me. Make me forget for a just a moment all the bad around me.”
Finley wanted to move away from her touch, find distance between them to think straight. Instead, he leaned in and kissed her lips. They were like velvet, so delicate and smooth. He needed just a little more. Brushing his mouth over hers, he could feel her warm breath as he made each movement back and forth. She pushed herself closer to him, but if she moved any more, she’d be inside him. That thought alone sent shock waves up his body. Pulling back and looking into
those caramel eyes, he stopped her. “Letizia.”
She smiled and leaned back into his body, then brushed her tongue across his bottom lip. Holy Hell, he was in trouble for sure. She gave the invitation, and he never hesitated. The moment their tongues collided it was like in the best romance movie. The chemistry between them was undeniable. Finley pulled her in tighter against his body and explored every part of her mouth. He loved how she tasted of berries and maybe a hint of chocolate.
Suddenly, Finley heard a gasp from behind them and pulled away. They were out of breath. Letizia came around first and turned her head to see who had interrupted them while he couldn’t take his eyes off her.
Alessandra looked shocked. “What are you both doing? He’s here to protect us, not become your boyfriend,” she scolded.
Then Finley noticed Cristano making his way down the hall. “Who has a boyfriend? Letizia?”
Letizia rolled her eyes and went to grab her wine glass sitting on the table. “No one has a boyfriend, Cris.” She seemed hesitant to look at Finley. “Maybe you should go.”
Finley couldn’t agree more. “Um…Yeah, I need to check on a few things.” He knew he couldn’t say anything specific with Cristano in the room, so instead he nodded and made his way toward the front door.
There was a hand that landed on his shoulder as he went to step out onto the porch. Turning his head, he saw Alessandra’s eyes full of pain. “You will keep my family safe, right?”
He nodded. “Ali, I will do everything I can to keep you all safe. I think you need to talk to Zia about what you both want to do now.” He patted her hand and then started for his house.
About fifteen steps away from their place Alessandra yelled, “We will go where you tell us to go, but please, just ensure they will always be okay.”
He stopped in his tracks. “You know I can’t do that. Gather up the most important things, I will be back later.” Then he continued the path he started. If his team could keep them safe, they all would deserve a medal. Trying to keep things off the radar from Giano Nesta was like trying to hide an elephant in a shoebox.
Finley opened his door and took a step back since his whole team was waiting for him in the living room. “I see you all made it to the angel’s den.” That was the code word for his place.
He headed over to sit down on a chair next to Cooper. The boss shrugged his shoulders. “Ready to get us updated?”
Finley nodded. “We may want to get a drink and snacks; this could take a while.” That was a joke, they didn’t have time to be munching on snacks and shootin’ the shit.
Miles laughed. “I’ll get right on that.” Leaning forward and slapping Finley on his back. “No, really, what did you find out?”
Finley sighed. “Well, it looks like Letizia’s family was a hell of a lot deeper into the Nesta mob than we originally thought.” Shaking his head at the thought, he told the guys all that had been shared over at Zia’s house. The team didn’t seem surprised by the intel; the Nesta mob had a reputation to uphold.
Cooper stood up. “We need to get them out of there ASAP.”
Campbell turned to Finley. “Do we know if anyone was tailing them? Could Giano know their whereabouts already?”
Finley shrugged. “From what Miles and I found out, Alessandra uses a P.O. Box and their address is not disclosed to the public. It’s possible they followed them home, but we have seen nothing out of the ordinary.” Turning toward Cooper. “Do we have a place to take them, because it’s time to head out?”
Cooper cleared his throat. “Yeah, we’re all set. Campbell, why don’t you stay back? We’ve got maybe twelve hours before Giano’s cronies become suspicious, but realistically at most six hours. We need to move and now.”
Finley watched as the team stood up. They all knew their job: Protect the innocent. “I told them to pack, they should be done by now. I’ll go get’em.”
Finley was walking back to Letizia’s home and felt nervous at his decision to leave them alone. What if that fucker, Dego, tailed them home? As he stepped out into the clearing and had a full view of the house, he knew something was wrong.
He grabbed his phone and sent a message to Cooper: All eyes. Finley knew the team would understand something had gone down at the target’s house.
He took two steps back into the woods, then crouched down and surveyed the property. From his vantage point he could see the front door ajar, both cars still sitting in the same spot, and he noticed nothing but silence surrounding the area.
Finley heard Miles approaching. Then Miles whispered, “We’re here, let’s go.” His partner held his arm up and motioned for the team to proceed to the house.
Fin was in the lead and with each step he took he felt dread over take him. If he let his assignment get taken, he failed. Plain and simple. He pulled his gun from the holster and lifted it up to eye level. Then approached the bottom step to the porch where they all crouched down, then Miles directed Finley to proceed to the front door. As he grabbed the handle there was a muffled cry that sounded out, so he threw the door back and held his gun out in front to look both ways before moving to where the cries were coming from. As he got closer to the kitchen, he realized the sounds were in the basement. Stopping to see where the team was positioned, he motioned for them to proceed downstairs. He noticed Cooper touch Campbell and nod his head back, silently stating that they both would stay back and keep eyes on that floor. Finley let Miles take the lead and head down the stairs first, yet he was not far behind his partner. The moment the wall ended, and the basement came into view, they all froze.
The cries were coming from Alessandra. Finley looked around the basement before proceeding forward, then he dropped down on one and knee and grabbed Ali’s hand. Her body was contorted with her left leg bent and positioned in a weird angle. He had to hold back a wince at the sight. She had obviously been beaten, tortured, and left for dead. There was blood everywhere: on the floor, the walls, and all over this innocent woman. He sighed. “Ali. Can you hear me?”
She coughed, and blood splattered out of her mouth. “He took them.”
He turned toward his team. “Evidence. Find it. Where’s Cooper? We need to get a tail on them now, they can’t be far.”
Alessandra let out a cry. “The…” She coughed more. “The moment you left…they attacked us. I tried to…” She sobbed.
Finley placed a hand on her shoulder. “Ali, I’m so sorry.” God, he wanted to scream. What had he done? He led them right into danger instead of protecting them. He bowed his head in defeat.
Alessandra’s hand touched his knee. “It’s not your fault.” She paused taking in a few shallow breaths. “The Nesta family would have found us, eventually.” In a whisper she added, “I’m surprised we made it this far.”
Finley shook his head. “Ali.” He looked down at her body. She had two of her fingers removed on one hand and nails removed on the other. Giano was sending a message. “Ali, I promise, I will find them and keep them safe.”
She closed her eyes and tried to take in a breath but coughed. “No.” She winced. “You don’t promise.” She coughed more. “Just find them…please.” Then he noticed her take two breaths a few seconds apart before her body went still.
His voice rang out throughout the whole house as he screamed. “Fuck.”
Eleven
There was a clanking noise next to Letizia’s ear, but when she tried to move her head away from the sound, she noticed her body was bound. Sucking in a breath, she tried to replay what had happened and why she was in that position. Her head was pounding as her mind reeled back she could see it all perfectly. The guy, Mr. Chanceston, had barged into her house with two other men. Then she remembered screams from Alessandra and her heart rate increased. Where was she? Definitely a moving vehicle. Where was Cristiano? She opened her eyes, afraid of what she may see. Cris. He was leaning up against the side of what appeared to be the back of a van. His head was bowed, resting on his arms. Then she looked in the other di
rection hoping to see Alessandra, but instead there was a man with a gun sitting on a bench. Closing her eyes again she fought back tears. Ali, oh God, please don’t take her from me, too. Letizia knew they were in serious trouble, so she paid attention to every sound around her, even the smells that could alert the police to their whereabouts…if she ever got a chance to contact them.
After what felt like hours lying in one position the vehicle slowed down. The moment they came to a stop, a loud horn sounded off in the distance. Letizia could hear the guys in the vehicle yelling at each other, then a warm body was thrown up against hers. “Cris,” she whispered.
