I get a lump in my throat, what if this is our last goodbye?
“Are you going to say anything at all?” I ask.
“If you die, I will never forgive you,” she whispers as she stares straight ahead.
Her words cut like a knife and I close my eyes.
I wheel my suitcase to the door and turn back to look at her. “I love you,” I tell her again.
Silence.
Tell me you love me, God damn it.
I wait, but she doesn’t turn.
With a heavy heart I walk down the stairs and out onto the deck, my car is waiting out the front.
“Come give Papa a hug,” I call to the children. “I have to go away for a few days.” They come bouncing up and I take them into my arms and hug them one by one. “I love you,” I tell each of them. “Look after Mama.”
I glance up to see Oliva watching us through the bedroom window.
I smile softly and wave up at her and she turns her back and walks away.
Ouch.
I get into the car and wave to my beloved family, the thing is, deep down I know that Olivia is right…but I can’t not go.
It’s Francesca.
I’ll never forgive myself if she is killed and I didn’t at least try to save her.
With the children laughing and squealing as they and the dog chase the car up the driveway, my heart is in my throat.
What if…don’t.
It will be okay…it has to be.
Twenty minutes later we arrive at the airport, my private plane is waiting, along with my three guards. I retrieve my luggage from the trunk and walk up the stairs.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Ferrara.” The captain nods.
“Hello.”
“Departing for Milan in ten minutes, sir.” He smiles.
I sit down in my chair. “Change of plans,” I reply flatly as I stare out the window. “Take us directly to Switzerland.”
Giuliano
The red lights from the police cars flash their reflection onto the snow, the ski slopes are empty.
The snow is coming down and after hours of questioning by the police, they are finally bringing the bodies down the mountain.
The ambulances are lined up waiting and every fucking moment I stand wasting time here, Francesca is in their hands.
We watch on as the Snowmobiles come slowly down the mountain, pulling a trailer behind them, on each a body bag.
An eerie silence has fallen over us.
An incomprehensible dread.
My girl missing, Valentino’s girl dead.
Bruno, their guard…my heart sinks. How did this happen on my watch?
He was there all the time, she worked for him. She trusted him.
I didn’t protect her.
The Snowmobiles pull up and the paramedics lift the first of the body bags into the back of the ambulance.
Valentino watches on with a calm detachment, I’ve never seen him like this.
Broken.
He loved her.
He walks over and talks to the paramedic and then runs his hand over where the head would be in the body bag.
My eyes well with tears.
The paramedics count to three and then lift her into the back of the ambulance and close the doors; Val watches on in silence as it drives away.
He takes out his phone. “I have to call her parents.”
I close my eyes in regret, it doesn’t get any worse than this.
Alex and I wait beside him in silence as he holds the phone to his ear. “Hello, Mrs. Morelli?”
He listens for a moment.
“This is Valentino.”
He drops his head.
How do you tell someone that their daughter has just been murdered?
“There’s been an accident….”
1 a. m., Valbella Forest, Switzerland.
Enrico
We drive in darkness, creeping along at a snail’s pace.
The snow is coming down hard and the conditions are treacherous. Fog appears from our mouths as we breathe.
It’s fucking freezing.
I watch my phone like a hawk, the little red heartbeat is close. “Stop here.” I say. “We’ll walk in. Park the car out of sight.”
“It’s too far. We’ll freeze to death.”
“If we drive in, we’re dead anyway,” I mutter.
Henry pulls the car into a slipway off the road and we get out and drag branches over the back of it so that it can’t be seen from the road.
We are in full white snow gear, camouflaged to perfection. I pull my white beanie down over my head and pull the white gloves on. “It must be fucking minus twenty.”
“And the rest,” someone mutters.
We fill our backpacks with ammunition and put the silencers onto the guns. Henry passes us the night goggles and we pull them on.
“Let’s do this.” I point over the hill. “It’s about seven kilometers in.”
“Fucking hell. Seven kilometers in these conditions?” He looks back at me, “We have better chances of survival driving in.”
“Go,” I snap.
We begin walking, the night goggles lighting our path. Our snow boots grip to the earth beneath us. Our guns held tightly in our hands.
I’m coming, Francesca, hold on.
Two hours later, we lie in the bushes as we survey the cabin in the distance up ahead. It’s lit up, smoke billowing from its chimney, and I stare at the beating red heart on my app.
“She’s in there.”
“What now?” Henry whispers.
“We spread out.” I grip my gun. “Shoot to kill.”
My men nod, the mission crystal clear.
“Keep the silencers on, they can’t know what’s going on out here.”
I see a flicker of a light and realize someone is up ahead, lighting his cigarette as he makes his patrols.
“Mine,” I whisper as I take aim.
I line him up in the scope and hold steady as I pull the trigger, he drops to the ground in silence.
“One down,” I whisper.
My three men all get low to the ground and commando crawl to spread out.
I crawl to the man I’ve just shot and I fire again at close range, I drag his body out of the way to hide it. The longer we go undiscovered the better off we are.
We all lie waiting, guns aimed.
Now, it’s a waiting game, we tick them off…one at a time.
Five of their men are dead.
As far as I can see we have three more to go, they just need to get out here and walk around so I can get a clear shot.
Another man comes out, I see him look around and then call out a name.