Page 166 of Mafia Billionaire's Surprise Baby

Reasonably.

So, I sprint down the road, waving my arms.

“Hey!” I shout. “Leave them alone!”

I don’t even know where the shooter is. He could be a sniper positioned somewhere behind me, on the rocky cliffs that appear to be holding back an entire world of ice. He could be in the town.

The gunshots ring out again, and this time I drop. I swear that I heard one whizz by my head.

Why the fuck are they shooting at me?

“Gia!” I hear Stassi yell. She’s still probably a quarter mile away so the words are faint. “Are you okay?”

I don’t respond. Instead, I look up. I kind of half crawl, half scramble, keeping low.

There’s another shot. The dirt road in front of me explodes. Then, there’s a shout, and the gunshots stop.

Thank God.

Tumbling forward, I’m half walking, half rolling to where Stassi and Sal are lying in the road. I’m covered in dirt and I’m praying with everything I have that I don’t find just the bodies there.

That they’re alive as well.

It’s the longest quarter mile that I’ve ever moved. It takes me forever.

When I get there, I kneel down. “Stassi,” I say, breathing heavily. “Are you okay?”

She smiles. “Oh my God. Gia. That was crazy.”

Stassi. God, I love her. “Stay down,” I murmur.

I can’t look at Sal yet.

Stassi nods. Then, she frowns. “Have you lost weight? I mean this in the nicest way, but you look like, really terrible.”

“I know,” I say. “I…”

I don’t finish that sentence because two things happen.

First, Sal turns over and stares at me. I feel like he’s looking into my soul, and it freezes me.

I’ve missed him so much that I think I might throw up if I keep looking at him.

Second, I hear the sound of a small-caliber pistol being chambered.

“Get up,” Liam’s voice says.

Slowly, we rise.

I turn to look at him, my hands on my head.

Any trace of the somewhat passive, gentle man who talked to me yesterday is gone. In its place, there’s someone else entirely.

Now, I understand completely why Liam wants to run the Irish mob.

He’s a fucking killer.

Every edge of his body seems to have sharpened. His tattooed forearms are cut like marble, and he’s holding the Glock like he could shoot us full of holes in his sleep.