Page 64 of Stalk

We meet up in the kitchen and find no one there, either.

“Bedroom?” Mattia asks softly.

“This way.”

Mattia follows me as we head back toward the foyer and up the stairs. Once we’re at the second floor, Mattia presses his pointer finger to his lips. We move steadily, placing one foot infront of the other as we clear each room. After we’re certain no one is up here, we move back to my bedroom.

“The journals are in a box under the bed,” I tell Mattia as I move to the closet. “There are a couple in the drawer of my nightstand, too.”

I open the closet door and retrieve my duffel bag from the shelf up top, then turn around to help Mattia. But Mattia doesn’t have the journals. Instead, he holds one of my favorite vibrators in one hand and my giant, half-empty bottle of lube in the other hand. My face immediately floods with fiery heat.

“Hey! Aren’t we supposed to be getting out of here as fast as we can?” I yell in a whisper.

Mattia grins like the Big Bad Wolf who just found out Little Red Riding Hood’s biggest secret. “I’m intrigued. Let’s take these, too.”

My mouth pops open. “Dirty!”

Mattia shrugs and tosses the items into the side pocket of the duffel before retrieving the journals. Together, we toss the journals inside the duffel and then I zip it up and shoulder it.

“I got the Bible too. Anything else you need from here?”

Hilarious how he took sex toys and my mother’s Bible. I’m definitely going to hell now, if there is one.

“That’s everything. Basement?”

Mattia leans in and plants a soft kiss on my lips before responding.“Sì.”

We descend as carefully as we worked our way upstairs; steadily, quietly, and cautiously. Once we’re back in the living room, I show Mattia the other set of stairs, hidden behind a closed door next to the TV. When we’re down in the rarely used basement, we move quickly. I point out the box of records we need to take with us and then I retrieve my mother’s laptop from a different box.

I add the laptop inside the duffel bag and then throw the bag over my back. Mattia shoves the files into a canvas bag he found. Right as we go back up the stairs to the main floor, we hear the faint sound of a couple of silenced gunshots. We immediately freeze and lock eyes.

“Shoot now, think later,” Mattia reminds me. He grabs the pistol from my hand and puts it in my waistband, then takes the automatic rifle from my back and places it in my hands. Once I’m as prepared as I can be, he shoulders the canvas bag, removes the automatic from his back, and turns off the safety. “Let’s get this over with. I’m ready to go home. Your safety off?”

It isn’t. I get the gun positioned correctly in my hands and then turn it off. “This is going to be loud, Mattia.” I swallow roughly, wondering if my neighbors have already woken up to the other shots. Or worse—if the police have been called.

“Catherine has people and we have people to deter the police, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Mattia says, reading my mind. He cracks his neck. “Back door is probably our best bet, though I assume Catherine will have people beside both entrances.”

My throat feels swollen, like I’m about to choke on the small amount of air I’m allowing into my lungs. Mattia can tell that he’s losing me to my fears. A small flash of annoyance crosses over his face covered in shadows, but quickly fades away and becomes gentle. He caresses my cheek with his knuckles.

“Youcando this. I know you don’t like to do this. I know that you don’t like hurting people. But you must not forget that you are a capable and trained assassin, and these are the bad guys. Try your best to cover me, and I’ll do the majority of the work. Deal?”

I nod slowly. I think I can do that. If it means saving Mattia, yes. Icando that. “Deal.”

Mattia leans in and graces my lips with a swift kiss before turning around and heading to the back door. He crouches and peeks out of the patio doors, then waves me over. “Stay in the doorway until I take a few steps outside.”

With that, Mattia unlocks the door and slowly opens it until it’s wide enough for his face to peer through. He waits a moment, then carefully steps outside after we hear another gunshot from somewhere at the front of the house.

I jump when Mattia shoots off to the left, but he’s walked several feet away from me, so I know it’s time to follow him outside. Before I do so, I use the straps of the duffel bag as a makeshift backpack. The last thing we need is for me to drop what we came here for. When I’m situated, I step outside and close the door behind me. I spot Mattia rounding the side of the building, so I peer to the right side of the house just in time to spot a woman dressed in black coming for me. Her entire body is covered, even her face, which is hidden by a black ski mask. I know it’s Catherine’s people here—most of her employees are female, after all. Hell, I probablyknowthe assassin trying to kill me right now.

The recognition that these arewillingmurderers trying to kill me makes things a little easier. They aren’t innocent here; they’re willing participants in Catherine’s twisted game. So, instead of feeling the usual guilt that comes with taking a life, I focus on protecting my lover’s back. I don’t necessarily have to feel bad this time, and I’m choosing not to. At least for now.

As I walk backwards in the direction Mattia was headed, I shoot at the woman right as she takes her first couple of shots at me. Luckily, I drop to the ground and the bullets miss me completely. The woman yelps as I do so, so I assume that I must have hit her somewhere, but I don’t stick around to find out. In order to protect Mattia, I can’t stay too far behind him, so Ihastily jump to my feet and venture off to the other side of the house.

I’m not sure if other gunshots have gone off, but I assume they have. I was too distracted to notice. There’s no way Catherine doesn’t have my house surrounded by at least a handful of killers. I spot Mattia nearing the street, only several yards away from what looks like another female assassin. Neither one of them have anything to hide behind or shield themselves due to the close proximity between my house and the neighbor’s, so they stare at each other in a standoff.

I don’t think she sees me, though, so I press my back against the brick and hold up my gun. After bringing up the scope to my eye, I find the best angle I can, away from Mattia. The best shot I have is in her shoulder, but that will at least give Mattia a chance to get away or shoot her after I do. I inhale and exhale quickly, pressing on the trigger as I do so.

Her shoulder jerks back, and I smile at my success. Mattia wastes no time in taking the opportunity to shoot her in between the eyes. The assassin falls down, limp. I grip my rifle tightly and sprint toward Mattia, not wanting to put that much distance between us again.

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