it, Haydon. I’ll let you shoot me, but I won’t go.”
“Rene there needs medical attention right now, Gracie. Do you want him dead? Because I can make that happen.”
Grace folded her arms across her chest. Her engagement ring felt like a talisman on her finger. She pressed it close to her chest. She wasn’t trained the way Vittorio or the members of his family were, but she was stubborn. Haydon knew it, too.
“You kill any of them, Haydon, and we’ll all stay right here. Me with them.” She knew in terms of time, although it felt like hours to her, only a few minutes had gone by, maybe at most three. She could hear the shouting outside growing louder and her heart sank. No one was going to hear the gun if Haydon shot them all.
He cursed over and over, swearing at her, taking a step toward her and raising the weapon as if he might strike her with it the way he had Eloisa.
“Why don’t you just go on your own?” She risked taking a beating or getting shot to stall him. Vittorio would come. She knew he would. She had complete faith that he would. She repeated the mantra to herself over and over. Now she was convinced that Haydon had targeted the guards watching her and Eloisa. She just didn’t know how.
Haydon looked genuinely puzzled. He indicated the door with the barrel of the gun. “We always go together. We’re a team. Get moving. Hurry, Gracie.”
She went in the direction he told her, and Haydon turned to follow her. Eloisa was up and on him, reaching to twist his neck in the classic Ferraro manner. Haydon whipped around before she could make the kill. Rene’s eyes had gotten big and he held his breath when he’d been continuously moaning. Just that small difference had tipped Phillips off.
He slammed the gun across Eloisa’s face and stepped back to pull the trigger. Grace leapt onto his back, her fingernails ripping across his eyes. He screamed, and the gun went off repeatedly, as if his finger was stuck in the trigger. He ran backward and slammed Grace into the wall. Her head hit a cabinet and pain exploded through her.
Eloisa ran at Haydon as he reached back to punch Grace in her injured shoulder. She threw herself on the floor at the last second, sliding, trapping Haydon’s legs in hers and rolling to take him down. Haydon bent forward, throwing Grace on top of Eloisa as he stumbled. He recovered enough to kick Eloisa hard in the ribs. Aiming the gun at her, he pulled the trigger repeatedly, but nothing happened. Grace forced herself up to face him. Four minutes. Where were the bodyguards? Vittorio? His brothers?
Haydon grabbed her by her hair and began dragging her toward the door. As he did, he took a small remote control from his pocket and hit the green button. Instantly a flurry of explosions went off in the kitchen, and flames crawled up the wall and over the cabinets.
Using the intricate updo she was wearing to pull her, Haydon yanked until she had no choice but to stumble after him. Both hands went to her head to try to force his hand back down to her scalp, so he couldn’t pull, but he was moving so fast she tripped and went down. As she did so, Eloisa came out of nowhere, emerging from a shadow behind Haydon. Blood streamed down her face and into her eyes. It didn’t look like she could possibly see let alone stand.
“Run, Grace!” Eloisa called as she launched herself at Haydon. “Get out of here.”
Haydon still had the gun in his hand and as he turned toward her, he used it like a bat, swinging it blindly. He hit Eloisa almost in the same place as the first time. She went down hard, her body crumbling like a rag doll. She didn’t even attempt to break her fall, telling Grace she was unconscious or dead.
Haydon turned his attention to Grace. She had already put several feet between them. Very slowly she crouched down and, watching him the entire time, unbuckled the straps to her heels. She stepped out of them.
“You can chase me, Haydon, and you’ll probably catch me, but by now, everyone is in that kitchen putting out the fires.” Stall, stall, stall. Vittorio would come.
“First they have to attend to the guards I left in the garden. Then they have to break down the door. After