Page 92 of The Red Queen

Desi ducked and the bullet slammed into the window behind her, shattering it. His finger tightened again, his aim shaky but still on her. She slammed her foot into his armpit as hard as she could, sending his aim into the front seat.

“Watch out!” the passenger shouted as Antonio shot the gun.

It was too late for the driver as the bullet shattered his skull. The car turned sharply, and his foot must have landed heavily on the gas because the car sped up while veering sharply to the right.

The man up front tried to correct the steering wheel and ended up overcompensating, pulling it too far to the left. Desi looked over. Antonio was bleeding from the neck, and she’d managed to re-break his nose. He lifted the gun, aiming it steadily at her face.

“You should’ve buckled up,” she told him, wrapping her arm around the seatbelt above her and bracing herself.

She’d felt the car lift as it careened out of control. Before Antonio could fire the gun, the car flipped over. Everyone and everything inside went flying.

Desi clung to her seatbelt and cradled her head between her elbows, curling in a ball.

The impact jarred everything as they slammed roof first into the ground and slid. Desi lifted her head in time to see the car careening toward a small aircraft.

“Fuck!”

She shoved herself onto all fours and tried the doorhandle above her. Miraculously, the door opened.

There was no time for hesitation. She hurled herself out of the door, curling into a ball and rolling as she hit the pavement.

The car impacted the plane and exploded.

The heat of the first burst of fire seared her as she pushed herself to her feet and staggered away. If the plane the car hit had any fuel in it, then things were about to get even worse. Ignoring her injuries, she ran as fast as she could in the opposite direction.

The plane didn’t explode. Not at first.

Desi was able to make it out of range, collapsing to her knees before she heard the boom and felt the searing heat of another, much hotter explosion across her back.

She huddled on the pavement for several long seconds before she climbed to her feet and limped toward the wreckage of their vehicles and Giovanni’s airplane. It would be a hike, but she had to get back, had to make sure Giovanni had survived, take out the rest of Antonio’s cronies.

As the smoke from the explosion swirled around her, then cleared, she saw two men walking toward her. One looked to be in rough shape, bleeding profusely from a head wound, his hand over his chest. It was Dino. And next to him, striding quickly toward Desi, tall and proud, was her husband.

“Gio!” she cried, running toward him.

He caught her, cradling her against his chest.

“I’m so fucking sorry,amore mio, I should have put that motherfucker bad seed in the ground when I had the chance.” His voice was hard but agonized.

“No,” she shook her head. “Don’t blame yourself, Gio. You had to do what you could to bring him back to you.”

“I won’t make the same mistake again.”

His gaze was on something behind her.

Desi turned in his arms and gasped as she caught sight of someone attempting to crawl from the wreckage of the crash. Flames licked at him as he tried to stand and collapsed back onto the pavement.

Giovanni handed Desi to Dino, who took her and held her firmly, despite his weakened condition.

Giovanni strode away from her toward the flames, for a second out of sight as the smoke obscured him, then cleared. He looked like a god, walking straight into the flames.

“Gio!” she shouted, terrified there would be another explosion.

“He has to do it,” Dino said quietly.

Desi stared at the scene unfolding, helpless to do anything but watch.

An arm lifted from the ground, Antonio entreating his father to save him.

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