“Elie, two boats coming this way fast. I don’t like the look of it. Heading down to get the guards inside.”
“I’ll warn them, you stay inside.”
“Already headed out back,” she said. She was at the hall entryway. She knew one guard had stationed himself out back and she was going there first. “Warn the front guard.” She hung up on Elie and texted the guard out back to get inside even as she ran to the kitchen to exit that way, calling to him.
She yanked open the door, and the guard—a younger cousin of the Ferraro family named Leone Palagonia—shoved her back as the sound of gunfire erupted. He had his back to her and he returned fire. She yanked on his jacket, pulling him into the kitchen and slamming the door closed. Immediately she hit the security lock that dropped into place all the plates that supposedly protected the windows and doors from bullets and blasts.
Brielle turned and ran toward the front entrance, where Raimondo Abatangelo, another younger cousin of the Ferraro family, was assigned to guard her. He was already in the house and coming toward her. His gaze moved over her quickly and then to his cousin. Relief flashed over his face and then was gone.
“Elie doesn’t want us to do anything unless they manage to get into the house. He’s very certain that won’t happen, but he’d like you to go to the safe room, Brielle,” Leone said.
Brielle gave him her fiercest scowl. “I’m a rider, Leone. I can step into a shadow and I’ll be gone. You’re in far more danger than I am. I want to see who we’re facing, not act like some fainting damsel in distress.”
Raimondo coughed into his elbow and exchanged a quick look with Leone, who turned his head away, but not before she caught the faint grin he exchanged with his cousin. Her phone growled at her. If she didn’t answer the growl, it would turn into a roar. She’d programmed that to be the ringtone for Elie’s text messages because he reminded her of a saber-toothed tiger sometimes. Or a caveman.
She glanced down to read his message. You aren’t in the safe room, are you?
She counted to ten before she answered. A slow ten. Not yet. I want to get a good look at these jokers first. You said the house is secure and I believe you. I’m getting a picture for you. Leone and Raimondo will protect me. That was a line of crap. She intended to protect them.
Sheesh. She knew all riders were assigned personal protectors. Leone and Raimondo were Stefano’s first cousins. They were sweet, too. Both of them. She liked them, even though she felt it was silly to waste either one of them on her. She’d been told in no uncertain terms she wasn’t going to be utilized as a rider. That meant the Ferraros should free up these men to protect other shadow riders.
If Elie really insisted she needed a bodyguard, she’d accept one, but not one of Stefano’s elite guards. That was just plain silly. And a waste. Besides, Leone and Raimondo were just too sweet to be put in a position of taking a bullet for her. She wasn’t at all comfortable with that.
The tiger growled again. Somehow the sound managed to be increasingly scary. I’m on the way. Val and Dario are as well. We can get all the photographs and information necessary ourselves. They’ve called for a cleaning crew. Wouldn’t want anyone to shoot the wrong person. Stefano is informing Leone and Raimondo now, giving them instructions.
She wanted to do her own growling. She should be able to give her personal protectors instructions, not someone off the premises. How would Stefano know what to do when he isn’t even here?
Brielle clenched her teeth as she made her way back into the kitchen, ignoring Leone’s call to her. If they were going to insist she go to a safe room, she wasn’t going to make it easy on them, at least not until she had her picture and her laptop. Neither man wanted to put his hands on her. That was a distinct disadvantage to them. She could have stepped into a shadow and she would have gotten away with anything, but she was willing to play fair as long as she could.
“What the hell, Brielle?” Raimondo demanded. “You need to stay away from there.”
“I’m getting a few pictures and then my laptop. I can figure out who they are, Rai. That’s what I do.” She kept her voice calm and decisive. “It will only take a few seconds. Then I’ll head to the safe room and you can lock me in if it makes you feel better.”
“It will keep Elie from beating the shit out of us,” Leone said.
“Well, don’t slow me down then,” Brielle said. “And just so you know, Elie isn’t really as mean as he likes everyone to think he is.”