Burned Dreams - Page 74

“There are two bodies by the gate and three more along the perimeter wall.” I take out five diamonds from my pocket and hand them over. “Can you dispose of them for me?”

“Sure.”

I watch as he pulls away in the other vehicle, then take the body bag out of the car and throw it over my shoulder.

Rocco and the body of the male from my SUV are already arranged in the kitchen. It might not be the ideal location, but the natural gas furnace is right underneath, so the kitchen will suffer the biggest damage when the heater explodes. I add the female’s body to the scene, collect the body bag, and take it back out to the vehicle Felix’s guy delivered. I shove the empty jerry cans into the cargo space, then transfer the stuff out of mine to the replacement SUV. When everything is done, I start the vehicle and turn on the heat, then head back inside the mansion to get Ravenna.

“Ravi.”

I open my eyes and squint at Alessandro. He’s crouching next to the bed and, although he looks tired, his eyes are sparking in the dim light.

“It’s time to go, baby.” He reaches out and brushes my cheek with the back of his hand. “I’ll take your bag to the car.”

“What’s going on?”

A smile pulls at his lips as he leans forward to drop a quick kiss on mine. “In order for us to get away, we need to die first.”

He collects his laptop and some papers off the floor and leaves the room.

As I’m descending the stairwell ten minutes later, I’m hit with a strong smell of gasoline. The odor is so overwhelming that my eyes begin to water and a sudden cough seizes my throat. I bury my face in the crook of my elbow and run across the entry hall as fast as I can to get outside.

Alessandro is standing by an unfamiliar black vehicle, holding the driver’s door open for me. He has a gas mask around his neck, and in his other hand, he’s holding a bottle with a rag sticking out of it.

“Drive to the gate and wait for me,” he says. “I’ll be there shortly.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Looks like the guys who installed the new furnace for Rocco may have fucked up. There’s a serious gas leak.”

“When did it happen?”

“In about twenty minutes.” He pulls the gas mask over his face and heads inside the mansion.

The last time I drove was a year ago when I borrowed the car from Melania to take my mom to see a doctor, so I need to concentrate on the controls. Creeping up to the gate, I decide to stop just at the bend in the road, which allows me to see both the estate entrance and the mansion's front doors. When I turn around to look through the rear window, Alessandro is nowhere to be seen. The bottle with the rag that he had in his hand is left on the driveway where the SUV had been.

I spend the next twenty minutes switching my gaze between the clock on the dash and the back window, waiting for Alessandro to come out. My patience is running thin and I’m considering going back to look for him when the front door opens and Alessandro steps out.

He casually strolls to the middle of the driveway, then stops and removes his face mask. My phone starts to ring. I answer the call while keeping my eyes on Alessandro, who is holding his phone to his ear.

“Cover your ears, Ravi baby,” his voice comes through the line.

“Okay,” I whisper and watch as he puts away his phone and bends to collect the Molotov cocktail off the ground.

My heart begins to gallop as he turns to face the house and takes something out of his pants pocket. I’m too far away to see what it was, but the tendril of flame that seems to spark from his hand lets me know that it’s his Zippo lighter. He brings the bottle over the flame, lights the rag, and launches it at one of the house windows on the ground floor, breaking the glass.

Alessandro is already running toward the car when a thunderous boom reverberates through the air. As if I’m watching a scene from a Hollywood film, my eyes are glued to his huge form emerging from a cloud of smoke, while the flames at his back are rising toward the night sky, casting an orange glow on everything within the vicinity.

I yank on the door handle and get out of the car, wanting nothing more than to make sure he’s okay, but I don’t get a chance because the instant Alessandro reaches me, he pulls me into his arms and slams his mouth to mine.

“Would it be weird if I ask you to marry me the same night you became a widow?” he mumbles into my mouth.

“I don’t know. Would it?” I laugh.

“Who cares? We’re officially dead anyway.” He leans away and fixes me with his gaze. “Will you marry me, Ravi baby?”

I take his lower lip between my teeth and bite it. “Yes.”

Epilogue