Page 71 of The Queen's Vow (Ruthless Games 2)

FIFTY

REBECCA

“Salvatore?” I staredat Giancarlo’s brother, my heart pounding. And mad to be robbed of a moment that should have brought me such joy that he was alive.

All while his brother was being shot at.

“Nice to see you, Becca.”

“What the hell are you doing?” I took a swing at him. “Your brother is dodging bullets. I was fine where I was.”

“When those animals got past all that heat, they would have torn the house apart to find you.” He reached for me. “I can’t explain more, just come with me.”

“No. Where have you been?”

He exhaled and grabbed a device. It looked like an iPad, but didn’t have the Apple logo on the back. “Gian’s fine, he’s in the command center. I’m sure he activated the bulletproof panels. It’s a panic room now. Everyone else is on the porch just trading bullets.”

“Just trading bullets? This house is being destroyed.”

“My brother can afford to get it fixed.” He stared at me. “Come with me and I’ll tell you.”

“Come with you where?”

“Up in that tree.” He pointed to a wide-based oak behind layers of brush on the side of the house.

“A tree.” I stood up straight. “Do I look like I know how to climb a tree?” I’d have had a better leg to stand on if I didn’t look like I’d just been swimming in murky water.

“I carved notches in the bark.”

His words fired through my brain. When had he done this? Not in the last twenty minutes. Salvatore had been here before. Or all along. Giancarlo had lied to me when I asked if Salvatore knew where this place was. Or had Salvatore found it on his own?

“Why do we have to go up in a tree? What’s the plan here, Salvatore?”

He set his gaze on me, and I shuddered. Being a SEAL had changed him. Hardened him. Especially whatever the hell he’d been through in the last six months since he’d gone missing.

“So I can see what’s going on,” he eventually answered. “Get the right vantage point before I detonate.”

“Detonate what?”

“You’ll see.”

Gunshots rang out more sporadically now. I struggled to hear where they were coming from. But from what I could tell, both sides were still firing.

Against my better judgement, I let Salvatore hold my waist and lift me out of the creek bank. He held my hand as we circled around the south end of the house. At the base of the tree, I recognized the notches he’d mentioned. Perfect bulging ridges made it easy to climb, but Salvatore stayed pressed against me so I wouldn’t fall.

“Start speaking now,” I said to him as we climbed.

“I was in Afghanistan. I’d made good friends with an Afghan soldier there who saved my life. His family was kind to me, too. They had a daughter...” His voice got low. “She was amazing. Her father made sure she went to school.”

With a foot on a notched rung, and my fingers clinging to the one above, I said, “Why are you talking about her in the past tense.”

“She was killed,” he answered with lethal danger in his voice.

“God, I’m so sorry.”

“I... I loved her. And it consumed me. One day, I just didn’t return to the base. I swore to Farrah’s dad I’d avenge her death. Her brother and I scoured...” His voice got cut off by a massive hail of gunfire and I shuddered.

Salvatore managed to cover me with his body, his feet digging into the bark directly. The strength he must have to hold himself in that position was the kind of strength that could kill a man with bare hands. “See that flat branch?” he whispered in my ear.

I nodded.

“Swing your leg over and crawl there. It divides into two and we can wedge ourselves in for safety.”

“Your mother is heartbroken.” I balanced on the flat branch and started to make my way to a part where it split into two.

“What?” He grabbed my ankle, forcing my eyes on him again. “My commander knew where I was. I got word to him on a backchannel. Said he’d tell my parents in confidence.”

“He didn’t.” I stared at him, clinging to the branch on all fours. “Giancarlo is devastated too.”

Salvatore gave me a once over. “Not enough to keep his hands to himself.”

“You’ve been...watching me?”

“I needed a new identity. I needed to make money. I’m a hitman now. I saw the web posting with the contract to kill you.”

“You won the contract?” I nearly peed myself, thinking I was so stupid to just fall into the hands of my hitman. “You’re Fen Cole?”

“No. I would never kill you. But I’ve sunk into that dirty underground world and when I found out someone wanted you dead, I had to act. I know my brother loves you.”

“Do you...” I swallowed and continued crawling. “Do you know who’s paying Cole?”

“I do.” His voice turned dark. “That’s all I’ll say for now.”

“Tell me, please!” I reached the two-branch divide and Salvatore climbed over me, taking the further position to see who was firing below. “Your brother couldn’t... Julian couldn’t...”

“Because I’m still the best.” He laid a smile on me. “And what are you doing hanging out with a Fed? In fact, why the fuck did my brother let a Fed into our safehouse?”

Our safehouse... Giancarlo had lied.

“It’s a long story.” I shook my head. “Please tell me who’s paying the hitman.”

“I’ll show you later. First, I have to kill the hitman and his friends down there.” He took out a handheld radio from his camo backpack. “They have enough firepower to keep going until they get to you and kill you.”

“What is that?”

“I rigged one thousand square feet beyond the clearing in front of the house.”

“Rigged?” I swallowed. “With explosives?”

“Yes!”

“When?”

“Recently. I’ve been using this place to hide. When you and your...boyfriends are here, I camp out in the woods.”

I blushed from embarrassment thinking of the rape fantasy a few weeks ago. Could Salvatore have thought that was real? “How much C-4 did you bury?” I asked to skip over how I felt about Salvatore spying on me and his brother and the others.

“Enough to obliterate those motherfuckers in the SUVs. But just short of destroying the house.”

I glanced down. Sebastien, Anthony, and Julian were on the porch taking cover and firing back. “Just how short of destroying the house?”

“The front rooms won’t look too pretty after this and the staircase may not survive.” Salvatore twisted a button.

“Stop.” I tried to grab the detonator. “Bastien, Anthony, and Julian are on the porch.”

Salvatore glanced down there. “I honestly expected they’d be inside the house by now.”

“Not outside fighting?”

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