Page 108 of Sinner's Vows

58

ARIANA

I’m drained after all the talking and digging into the past. My emotions are raw, and my head spins. Dominic’s point of view on our whole operation and it being a Mission Impossible is shaking my foundations. All those weeks in Franco’s dungeon, I was haunted with why and how things went as wrong as they did, but I buried these thoughts. I refuse to believe there are crooked cops in the DIA, least of all in my team, but with the way things went south with my mission, it’s a possibility.

I’m going through the motions of exiting the plane and through passport control on autopilot, not really paying attention as I should. All I wanted was to come back to Italy, and now, I feel like a stranger on home soil. If I can’t go back to the DIA, even if Dominic would release me, who am I? My whole life was built around this one goal, and now, a swift chain of events has robbed me of everything I lived for. My team was the one thing that kept me going.

Dominic has me by the elbow, guiding me through the small terminal building. His hold isn’t threatening, but the message is clear: don’t even think about it. Earlier, as we taxied to our parking bay, he’d gone into the bedroom and changed. He’s nowwearing jeans, sneakers, and a T-shirt he’s borrowed from one of the bodyguards. My blond hair is shoved under a dark blue NY cap and with sunglasses—and a pair for me he took with a smile from the air hostess, promising to get her a replacement—we’re as ‘disguised’ as we’re going to be. I look down so you’ll see as little of me as possible.

It isn’t dark outside, as the promise of another day is seeping in on the horizon, but it’s early. Once we’re outside the terminal building, we get into the back of an SUV with dark tinted side and rear windows. One of the bodyguards gets in the front of the vehicle with us. I’ve lost track of the other one. As we drive off, I realize we’re in a convoy as we’re in the middle of two vehicles shielding us. It’s all so smooth and I have no clue how Dominic arranged this so quickly, but it’s clear he had all the contacts in place.

I don’t bother checking if I can open my passenger door. There’s no chance for escape.

“The car in the front needs to know Antonio Mancuso’s address,” Dominic asks as we head out.

“Tell them to go to Vena di Maida, and then towards Cortale. From there, I’ll have to direct them.” I haven’t been down here in twelve years, and hopefully, I’ll be able to find the place without problems.

It’s quiet in the car as Dominic is busy on his phone, passing on my instructions.

“It’s at least a thirty minutes’ drive, and by the time we arrive it will be light,” Dominic says as he plots the route on his phone’s map. “You’re okay?”

“Yes.” But I’m not. The familiar landscape flitting past pulls at my gut. “I don’t know if I want to see him.”

“Who? Antonio Mancuso?”

I bite down hard on my bottom lip to get some control over my emotions. “Yes. I spent seven years in his house. He never touched me, but he isn’t a good man.”

“No need to explain, sweetheart.” Dominic rests his hand on my thigh. “I’ll deal with him alone.”

“Thank you.”

Fields of golden wheat glow up in the first sun rays, intercepted with the odd empty field already harvested. Untamed swatches of forest are cordoned off by rows of old olive trees. This is home, but I’ve never been at peace here. I close my eyes and rest my head back, weirdly exhausted. It’s the jet lag, the lack of sleep over the past days, and being emotionally wrung out.

When Dominic’s phone pings softly and he follows it up with a curse, I glance at him.

“Benedict’s come back to me with info. Let me check my email.”

I sink deeper into my seat, bracing myself. If he finds they’re dead… No. I won’t start doom-thinking. As he swipes open his email, I try to glimpse what he’s looking at, but I can’t see.

“Put up the conversation screen,” he says to the driver, and we have to wait excruciating long seconds for the screen to close. “I knew it. Lorenzo Ricci, Manolo Diconti, and Alesso Romano, all dead.”

“What?”

“I’m sorry, Ariana. Your team’s been wiped out.”

My heart breaks as prickles of cold fear and despair spread on my skin and I start to shiver. “No-no-no. It isn’t true.”

These were my close colleagues, the men I would have given my life for. What if they gave their lives for me?

“Benedict has added the screenshots of the DIA internal website. See for yourself.”

I take his phone from him with trembling fingers. He’s already opened the attachments. I swipe through all three of them, finding it hard to breathe as reality stares me in the face. The screenshots are from the real internal DIA portal. There’s no way Benedict could have conjured it up in so little time.

“They are all marked as deceased,” I whimper. “They’re all really dead.”

There’s even a screenshot from my own agent page. I’m missing, presumed dead, but looking at the dates as I swipe between the screenshots, my team was eliminated within two days, Lorenzo last…on the day Franco came for me.

My hand goes limp as I drop the phone to my lap. It rings, and Dominic takes it from me.

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