semiautomatic handgun, so click the button on the back to slide out the magazine.”
I check and see the magazine is about half full. I slide it back in. “Yeah, I’m good.”
The door is open, and Silvano ushers me inside. Dom and Antonio bring Gabriel through and lower him onto the sofa. I rush to his side.
“I don’t understand,” I say to Silvano as he and the others retreat from the room. “Felicity’s dead. Why hasn’t the fighting stopped?”
“Because the Cartel are sick, violent bastards,” Silvano replies. “Backup should be here any minute, and we should be able to hold them off until then, but do not open this door until you have confirmation that it’s safe.” He tosses me his phone, and I catch it. “The password is 3265. Don’t make me regret telling you that.”
With that, Silvano is gone. The lock on the door clicks closed, and I can barely hear a whisper through the reinforced wall. Now that it’s quiet, I can hear Gabriel’s rasping breaths, and I bolt over to the first aid kit and pull out gauze and disinfectant. I dial Clara’s number and put the phone on speaker as I start cutting Gabriel’s shirt away.
“Um, hello?” Clara answers.
Relief swells through me. At the very least, Clara is alive. “Clara! Are you okay?”
“Alexis, what the hell is happening? I’ve been trying to call you!”
I peel the bloody fabric back from Gabriel’s chest and wince. The knife wound is still weeping blood, and as I remove the fabric from his shoulder, I find a bullet wound in his arm as well.
“I left my phone in the middle of a battlefield,” I tell Clara. “Gabriel and I are safe for now, but I needed to know that you and Harry are okay.”
Gabriel murmurs weakly, “Harry.”
I pour a load of disinfectant on his chest, and he growls in pain.
“Yeah, we’re fine, just freaked out,” Clara replies. “They’ve shoved us in some sort of safe room and won’t tell us anything. I tried to call Angelo, but he’s not answering either.”
Thank God. As long as Harry is safe, I know that I can get through whatever else happens tonight.
“He’s probably on his way here,” I say, pressing dressing to the wound. “The Cartel attacked the dinner. Gabriel’s been stabbed and shot. I got kicked in the back. Didn’t enjoy that. Otherwise, I’m okay.”
“Jesus,” Clara hisses through her teeth.
“I’ve got to go,” I say. “I need to bandage Gabriel up, but I just wanted to make sure you were okay. Give Harry a hug for me and tell him that I love him.”
“I will. Stay safe.”
I chuckle darkly. “I’ll try.”
After I hang up the phone, I wrap Gabriel’s chest in bandages and move on to his arm. I have no idea what I’m doing—just another thing I need to learn when we get out of this.
If we get out of this.
I hate that I can’t hear anything through the thick wall. I have no idea if the fighting is still going on or if more Italians have shown up or if Felicity’s men are standing in the bedroom only a few feet away from me, trying to figure out the best way to force their way inside.
Then I hear the knock. Heavy, fast, and insistent.
“Alexis,” I hear. It’s a female voice, but I can’t place it.
“Who is it?” I call back.
“Antonella. Backup has arrived. It’s safe to come out now.”
The fact that Silvano hasn’t come to fetch us personally is worrying. Is he dead? Gabriel will be devastated if he loses another Gambaro. I really hope Silvano is just busy somewhere. In any case, Gabriel needs to get to a hospital now, so I don’t have time to dwell on who it is delivering the news, just that they’re here.
I punch the code into the door, and the lock clicks open. The door slams inward, nearly whacking me in the arm. I open my mouth to yell at Antonella when I see who is really on the other side of the door. The complaint dries up on my tongue.
Felicity Huffman is slumped into the side of one of her goons, breathing heavily. She is caked in blood, her face wan, eyes wild. Two other Cartel members are there with her, and one of them has a knife to Antonella’s throat. Blood drips down from where the knife has begun to slice into her skin. He tosses the poor woman to the floor, and all four of them barge into the safe