Page 55 of Game of Love
He only looked away from her once he was sure she was truly okay. Then he looked at me and gripped my shoulder. “Thank you. Thank you, Xander.”
“It’s okay. She’s okay Giovanni,” I assured him.
He nodded but the darkness from yesterday came back into his face when Armand approached him.
Giovanni pulled his gun on Armand and snarled. “Where were you?” he barked.
Armand raised his hands and backed away. Giovanni responded in true boss mode by shoving the gun in his throat. Both men were the same height. Armand I knew could have put up a fight, but Giovanni was what people called one of those old tough guys who didn’t play around with shit. Breathe the wrong way and he’d kill you. Look at him the wrong way or don’t give the answer he wanted and he would end you before your next thought.
I thought this was Armand’s end indeed.
“Answer the fucking question,” Giovanni cried.
“I was with Maria,” Armand answered with the fear of God in his eyes.
“Doing what?”
“Screwing around Boss.”
Well at least he was being honest.
“Is that how you protect my daughter, fucktard?” Giovanni hit him upside his head with the gun and pulled the trigger back to blow his head off. He would have too if I hadn’t rushed to him and grabbed his hand. It was crazy and I was crazy for doing it. A person in the blind panic of a moment could release that trigger and the bullet could fly anywhere. It could have headed for Armand or equally, someone else.
Giovanni looked at me. I was surprised to see him shaking.
Instantly, I remembered what he’d said to me when I met him on my first night on the job. The first words were to tell me that his daughter was the most important thing to him. Basically fuck everything else, drop everything else and protect her.
“No,” I said shaking my head. “She’s alright. See look at her. She’s alright.” I pointed over to Jia and while his hands still shook, his face softened.
As I looked at him now I got the impression of a man who was in too deep with something and hadn’t quite realized how deep the shit went.
The blueprints…
The was clearly about that. It was some sort of attempt to get to them and here we all were caught up in the mix.
Giovanni actually looked like he was way in over his head.
And surprise, surprise, The Chameleon had left the room. Disappearing like he did best.
I hadn’t seen when he’d left, couldn’t even guess when it might have been. When the bullets initially started to fly or during the shootout. That fucking piece of shit. In all my years as an agent that had been the closest I’d ever gotten to him.
I guess though if I could see him so easily in this chance meeting there would be another time to see him again. What if tonight was the night he was going to collect the prints though?
Fuck…
A quick glance at the dishevel around the room told me he probably wouldn’t. The bodies of the dead men were all in my view. Five of them dead.
Who were they? Who were they working for? This could have been a replay of the warehouse when the first four knights were killed.
No… The Chameleon wouldn’t do anything tonight. It would be too risky. It would be foolish.
So, for now I had to focus on this situation.
Just one part. Jia.
“I’ll get her home,” I assured Giovanni. “You look into what happened here, Boss.” It was the first time that I’d called him that.
“You’ll get her home safe?” he asked.
