Page 218 of Anti-Heroes in Love Duet
Elena froze against me.
“Scendi!” I shouted over the wind and the growl of an approaching engine.
Elena dropped to the ground at my feet instantly.
A moment later, there was anotherpfftas a bullet zigged by my torso and out into the sea.
Cazzo.
I looked over my shoulder to see three suited men in a small speedboat powering toward us. I recognized one of them as Rocco’s best enforcer, a man they called Big Tom, because he was short but mean as hell.
“They found us?” Elena asked, peering up at me with an eerie calm in her eyes.
I reached down to stroke her head in reassurance before putting my hand on the throttle. “They found us. Hold on to me.”
Her arms wound through my legs.
I gunned the engine.
The boat tipped at a precarious angle, only the stern deep in the water, the bow clearing the waves as we soared over them. It was a Wally powerboat, one of the most powerful on the market. I’d been boating since I was twelve, but boat chases were not like car chases. The water had its own obstacles, rocks hidden too close to the surface, errant waves, and wakes from other boats that could overturn a quick-moving boat as easily as a beetle onto its shiny back.
I swerved too steeply, water spraying over the edge of the port side, dousing Elena and me in salt water.
“There’s a gun in my waistband and one at my ankle,” I shouted to Elena.
My eyes smarted and stung in the wind as I squinted back at the boat.
They were closer.
“Fuck,” I cursed, ducking as one of the men raised a gun and fired off another round.
There was atingas a bullet hit a metal railing.
“You can’t shoot and drive the boat!” Elena yelled, shifting into a squat with one of my guns in her hands. “I’m going to shoot back at them.”
“No, absolutely not!” I ordered. “Stay down there where you’re safe.”
She ignored me, sliding out from between my legs on her hands and knees, crawling toward the back of the boat. The seat and back railing obscured her from vision if she stayed on the ground, but in order to shoot, she’d need to peek above the safety line.
“Elena!” I roared, my heart beating so hard I thought it would give out. “Get your arse back here.”
Nothing.
Only acrackas a shot went off behind me and, seconds later, a volley of returning fire.
“Hold on!” I called to Elena.
I pushed the engine higher, the boat rumbling like a waking dragon beneath my feet as I swerved again, skirting the edge of a rock formation frothing just under the water before us. I hoped they wouldn’t see and wreck the hull over the stone.
Moments later, there was a faint cry in Italian and a resulting splash.
“They lost one of their men!” Elena shouted. “And they’re falling back a bit.”
I placed one hand solidly on the center of the wheel to hold it steady and twisted my body so I could pull out the gun at my waist and fire off a few shots at them. They were too far out of range though, which was a good thing as long as we could lose them before we got to the port of Naples.
Gunfire would alert the authorities, which neither of us wanted, but they would wait until we docked to subtly corral us to a quieter place.
I had no doubt Rocco had given them orders to kill us outright.
