POV: Aria
"Down!" I screamed and slammed into Luca's chest just as the glass wall behind him broke into a shower of sparkly knives.
The world went crazy with gunshots.
He was knocked flat on the marble floor when my body hit him hard. It was so loud that I thought my heart would beat out for us. Glass shards fell on us, cutting the air like frozen rain. As I held him down and protected him with everything I had, his strong, pleasant cologne filled my nose.
Luca's voice sounded like a growl in my ear.
Luca asked, "What the hell are you up to?"
Aria, taking deep breaths, says, "Saving your life."
The chandelier above us was hit by another bullet. Crystals broke like stars falling to the ground. He grabbed my arm and pulled me closer to him. It burned through my silk dress because of his body heat. His chest moved up and down under my palm.
"Escorts don't run into bullet holes," Luca said with narrowed eyes.
Aria (pushing calm): "Maybe I like expensive investments intact."
His lips moved in a way that was half amused and half suspicious. He looked at me like he could see through every lie I told him. Fire stopped firing for a moment, leaving only the sound of our ragged breaths.
Then again, it broke. There was another shot that broke the air. It was only a few inches from his head.
Luca grabbed me by the side and threw me and myself behind the heavy wood dinner table. As another bullet went through the wood, the smooth surface shook.
Luca clenched his teeth and asked, "Who sent them?"
Aria said with a tight jaw and a fake innocence, "You tell me." I thought no one could hurt a king like you.
Luca laughed in a low, dangerous way, "Kings always have enemies." Queens too. Hi, Selene. Who are you?"
I felt cold when I heard his voice. He didn't buy my name. He didn't buy anything.
The gunshots stopped. My breath caught. Too quickly. Too clean. The person who was shooting at him wasn't just careless; they were skilled. Highly skilled.
I looked over the edge of the table and stopped moving.
He saw a small red dot move across his chest.
Aria, in a scared whisper, says, "Sniper." Don't move!"
I tried to push him down, but he grabbed my wrist and turned my attention back to him. His face couldn't be read; it looked like he was trying to decide if I was a danger or a rescuer.
He asked Selene in a soft but sharp voice, "Why do you care if I die?"
The question cut me right through. My throat got tight for a second. Because if you die, my mission and my revenge will also die. Because I don't know why seeing that red dot on your chest made my heart try to stop beating.
"Because dead men don't pay," Aria said in a cold voice that hid the truth.
Even though he smiled, I could tell his eyes were not fooling around.
All of a sudden, the lights in the mansion went out. The darkness sucked us in. Through the broken glass, you could only see the faint glow of the city skyline.
It was dark, so Luca spoke softly and almost in a close voice: "You're not just an escort." You can't hide the way you move with silk or lies. You know what to do now. It was Selene who sent you. My foes... or my fate?"
His rough hand touched my face and rubbed against my skin. It was hot like fire. It made me want to slap it away. I was ready to lean in. I was almost torn in two by both emotions.
Before I could answer, I heard loud footsteps coming from outside the broken glass wall. Men with guns. Black clothes. Guns ready.
Aria: "We need to move right away."
Luca told them, "No." We're staying. They come to me. "Always."
The first man rushed in. Luca stood up and pulled me up with him. He had already pulled his gun out of a concealed pocket. He didn't think twice before firing. Two shots, two men down. His moves were art that killed, quick, and cruel.
I really shouldn't have been pleased. But I was, God help me.
Luca told me in the middle of the fight, "Pick up a gun."
Aria asked in shock, "What?"
With a growl, Luca said, "Don't play helpless with me." When you hit me, you moved like a soldier. "Pick up the gun."
My blood turned cold. He saw it. Way too much. Not soon enough.
But life won out over fear. I took a gun from one of the dead men, and the weight of it reminded me of a part of myself that I had sworn I had buried. My heart rate stayed the same as my hands moved on reflex.
I fired. A man fell.
He looked at me with his eyes. I thought for a split second that he looked almost... proud.
"And here I thought you were only good at pretending," Luca said with a dark grin.
"Shut up and keep shooting," Aria snapped.
People's bodies fell. Glass broke under the boots. It smelled like blood and gunfire in the air. My silk dress was dirty and torn. My mask, which I had worked hard to make, was falling apart thread by thread.
Finally, there was quiet. The last person fell.
As I stood there with my gun still raised, my chest hurt. It wasn't fear that made my hands shake; it was the rush. It had been years since I felt this alive. That scared me more than the bullets.
Luca moved closer and lowered his gun. His eyes darted over me in a way that scared me.
Luca asked in a whisper, "Who are you really?"
I squished my lips together to make a scary smile.
As Aria lied again, she said, "Still Selene." Your expensive distraction is still there.
Luca said with a cold smile, "Liar."
I didn't have time to respond because he moved so fast. He reached out and grabbed the back of my neck, pulling me close until our mouths were just a few inches apart. His breath was hot and smelled like smoke and danger.
With a low growl, Luca says, "Women don't die for me." If they're not mine, of course. Selene, if you're mine, don't run away.
It hurt my heart.
Headlights shone through the broken glass before I could answer. Black SUVs stopped outside in a screeching sound. More men. More danger.
Luca smiled and pulled me closer.
He said, "It looks like you're coming with me."
Having a hard time, Aria says, "You can't just"
Then Luca cut her off and said, "I can." "And I will."
He rushed in and surrounded us with his men. Guns, masks, and dark spots. I wasn't alone and was stuck.
Luca's lips brushed my ear as he whispered the words that sealed my fate.
I told him, "Tonight you leave with me." You either leave or don't leave at all.
The men snatched me up and pulled me toward the SUVs that were waiting. My heart was racing, and my lies were coming apart faster than I could hold them together. My task was getting away from me because I was stuck with the person I was meant to kill.
The last thought that kept going through my mind was very simple but scary: had I just saved Luca's life... or signed my own death warrant?