Giorgio (Vigilance #1) - Silvia Violet Page 0,74

see that you won’t disappoint me again.”

“Ouch!”

I couldn’t take this. Joe must have sensed I’d reached my breaking point. He laid a hand on my shoulder as I said, “We need to get him out.”

“Give him a few more seconds,” Leo said. “I’m right by the door. We’re so close to nailing him.”

“Don’t fight me,” Alan said. “Lie down and relax.”

“We can’t let this go any further,” I said. “I’m not letting that bastard touch him.”

A loud scratching sound nearly made me cry out. It was followed by a crunch and then silence.

“Fuck. He found Lane’s wire,” Leo said.

“I’m on my way,” Niall said.

“Me too.”

“No, Giorgio,” X said. “Hold until we have more intel. Leo. Niall. Report.”

How could X sound so calm when I was a fucking mess?

Lane had to be terrified. I needed to get to him.

28

Lane

Something stung my arm. I looked down and saw Alan pulling out a syringe. Oh fuck no. “What did you…”

The effects of whatever he’d given me were immediate. My tongue felt thick, and my vision went hazy. Alan put an arm around me as my knees weakened and half dragged me to a sofa.

“That’s it.” He encouraged me to lie back.

I wanted to stay sitting up, but I couldn’t seem to control my body. My mind was working, but my limbs didn’t want to obey me, and reality seemed far away. My eyes started to flutter closed, but I forced them open again.

Stay awake. What the fuck had he given me?

“Let’s get you undressed.” He yanked my shirt open and saw the mic Giorgio had taped to me. He jerked it off, the pain of the tape pulling skin and hair barely registering. I think I protested, but that may have been in my head.

I watched Alan through blurry vision as he crushed the mic with his foot.

“I knew you were lying. I didn’t think you’d really had a change of heart, but that’s okay. You’re mine now. It doesn’t matter if this is how you wanted this evening to work out or not. I still get to use you just like I planned.”

I wanted to scream. I knew Niall and Leo were close by. Giorgio and X had been listening in too. They’d save me, wouldn’t they? They wouldn’t let him hurt me.

Giorgio had been right. I wasn’t trained for this. I’d been fooling myself to think I could handle it.

Alan put me over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry. I tried to fight him, but I’d lost all sensation in my legs.

He pressed something on the side of a shelf and a section of the wall swung open. Was I hallucinating, or did this house have a fucking secret passage? Alan stepped into the darkness, and seconds later, I lost my battle to stay conscious.

29

Giorgio

“What the fuck?” Leo yelled. “They’re not here.”

“What do you mean?” Panic made my stomach knot.

“Where else does the room lead?”

Joe pulled up the house schematics that Emilio, the Marchesis’ go-to tech expert, had gotten for us. “There aren’t any other doors.”

“It’s on the second floor. Surely they didn’t go out a window.”

“What about a hidden servants’ entrance?” X suggested.

Joe shook his head. “The plans for the house don’t show anything like that.”

“Look around for an odd section of wall or a lever or knob,” X said.

There were several excruciating moments of silence, then I heard a creek. “Fuck me,” Leo said. “There was a hidden switch. We found a passage, but we don’t know where it leads.”

“Keep going. Follow them.”

For several moments, I heard nothing but their footsteps.

“We’ve been walking too long to still be in the house,” Niall said. “We must be underground.”

“The passage could have been for servants, but if it leads away from the house, it was most likely used by smugglers back in colonial times,” I said. “If that was the case, they would come out near the water.”

“Go,” X ordered. “Get to the water.”

“Yes, sir.” I slung my rifle over my shoulder, and Joe and I took off. We leapt the fence and ran toward the beach. I heard someone shout, but I didn’t have time to worry about who was chasing us. I had to get to Lane before Alan had a chance to get him off the property.

I heard shots and glanced back. Joe was shooting at the men who were chasing us.

“Go on,” he called. “I’ve got this.”

“Take out anyone you need to,” X said. “I’ll deal with the aftermath.”

That was what I’d needed—permission to kill. Alan was