In the car Coop stole, we drove to a park and sat out in the cool air, surrounded by the beauty of the ancient Roman buildings.

Jack looked over the note again. It seemed like maybe his eyes were more focused on the blood stains than the words.

I spoke softly, "So we have to go to the Vatican?"

Coop gave me a look, "What?"

I nodded, "The Curia, it's in the Vatican."

Coop nodded, "Oh right, yeah. I remember that from The Da Vinci Code."

Jack looked at both of us blankly, "Are you two kidding? Did you not pay any attention in school? Caesar's Curia is the Curia Julia. Julius Caesar wasn't a Roman Catholic. The first ruler in Rome to be a Catholic was Constantine. Caesar died almost 400 years before Constantine became a Catholic on his deathbed. Caesar's Curia became a church for a while." His voice trailed off as he grabbed his phone and started to Google, "Yes, it was a church for some time before it was restored. According to the articles, it was taken back from the church and restored. The Curia is across from the Basilica. It's all ruins and ancient grounds. I can’t see it being open to the public at dusk."

Coop frowned, "That's probably what they're counting on, no one being there to witness our deaths."

"Great."

Jack nodded, "Yes, great."

I sighed, "I can’t even imagine how this is going to work, let alone how my mother is going to keep the kids safe and bring Steve. Mitch isn’t stupid. The things I've told him will lead him to start to question other things. He's going to figure out that we are in major shit."

Jack winced, "I think he already has. I've been monitoring his web usage and the things he's been looking up have been a bit intense. Very conspiracy-theory based but whatever."

"Great."

Coop ran his hands through his hair, looking around at the park and the city behind us. Watching his steely-blue eyes, I could almost watch the ideas form and fade away as he contemplated it all. He looked at me after several minutes, "You're going back."

I scowled, "Home?"

He laughed in my face, "To Servario." The grin on his face made my stomach sink.

"Why?"

He nodded, "I have a plan."

We huddled like it was football practice and he ran us through his idea. I had to admit it would work.

Jack emailed as I spoke the words to him, "My Dearest Rhett, I have missed you and seeing you last week reminded me of our time in Italy where we ate a Caesar salad and you made the funny jokes about the Basilica. It made me miss Scarlett more than I can bear. I wish she were with us again at Tara. Love and miss you all, Mammy!"

Jack gave me a weird look, shook his head and pressed send, "I saw you as more of a Melanie."

I laughed, "You've seen Gone With the Wind?"

He scoffed, "Please, in the real world I have four sisters. My fav is obviously Austen, Persuasion I think."

I sighed, "Jack, why couldn’t you be my age?"

He swallowed hard, "I don’t have a response for that so I'm going to walk that way and see you all at the spot later?"

Coop was laughing but I gave him a grim look, "Okay, time for Mammy to do her part."

He nodded, "Be good at this, Mammy."

I swatted him, "It's not as fun when you say it."

Jack interrupted us, "She woke up. They are driving her to the Canadian Embassy now."

I sighed but Coop looked upset. He bit his lip and followed me across the grass, even though we were meant to separate. "What if she and James had been together? What if she isn’t on our side?"

I grabbed his arms, "We can’t let this separate us. What if James thought the room was bugged, or he knew I was there? She might not have even known him, it might have been fake."

He gave me a look, "I trust you, Evie. In this whole f**king thing, I trust you and that is it."

I nodded, "Me too, Coop."

He brushed my hair to the side, looking down on me. I could see the weight of the world in his eyes. I lifted to my tiptoes and softly brushed my lips against his. There was something about kissing him that I couldn’t shake, even if he built emotional walls the size of the Great Wall and used meanness to keep me at a distance. His fingers dug into my sides, pulling me in. He kissed me back with fervor and then pushed off, walking in the direction he was supposed to go.

I turned and walked away, gently touching my lips and thinking a thousand things I shouldn’t have.

Chapter Eleven

The End of You

I walked into the hotel and pressed the button for the elevator. My feet were aching and my heart was vibrating from it's attempt at closing itself off. When I got off the elevator, Servario was standing there, looking down on me with a smug grin, "Missed me?"

I nodded, "Something like that."

His right eye twitched, "I would ask if you wanted to come in, but I think you are here to lure me to my death."

My eyes narrowed, "What?"

He folded his huge arms across his chest, "You want to come inside and make me want you, then you'll poison me or trick me into something, and I will agree because I would give you the world on a platter. So let's save me a small measure of humility and pride. Just tell me why you are here."

My lower lip trembled, "I need you."

I watched the war inside of him through his eyes. Finally, he pulled me off the elevator, wrapping himself around me. He kissed the top of my head, "You will be the end of me, Evie."

I nodded, "I know. I don’t want to be, but you never let me in on anything so it is inevitable I will cause both our deaths."

He chuckled, "I'm still not telling you anything."

I slapped his chest, "I need your help. Isn't that enough?"

He pulled me back, "No. I want you to tell me you need my cock." He said it so matter-of-factly, I had to laugh at his boldness.

Without batting an eyelash, I nodded, "I need your cock."

He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and led me into the suite, "I really want you to try deep throating again."

I shook my head, "No. You can pay someone for that. I'm not even bothered. If we ever ended up dating, and we were committed to each other, I still wouldn’t care if you paid someone for that. I'd pay for it for you."

He laughed, "I think I love you most days, and then you say something like that, and I know." He grabbed my face, holding it up so I could see his green eyes, "I love you, a lot. I always have."

I nodded, "I know. My dad told me."

He shook his head, "This is a problem for me."

I nodded again, "I know." I didn’t really; I just didn’t want him to think I was that naïve, but I was.

His eyes were pleading with mine, "Evie, I can't love you. I just can't. You have to not love me back. You have to promise you could never love someone like me."

Tears filled my eyes without warning. I nodded and lied the least-convincing lie ever, "I will never love you, Gustavo, never."

He nodded, "Now, we deep throat."

I shoved him back, "You going to try first?"

He winked, "I'd be happy to show you how it's done. Did you bring the gift I got you for boot camp?"

I laughed, "No. Luce stole it." I felt my tears drifting away rapidly, "How do you know how to do it?"

He shrugged, "I've seen it done loads of times."

I grimaced, "Oh gross. I think we need to talk about my hemorrhoids a few times before we get busy."

He shook his head, "I want to take a shower. We can talk about whatever you want in there."

I followed him into the bathroom and started stripping my clothes off. My stomach was in knots, but I climbed into the shower and let the hot water wash over me until he climbed in and stole it all. He leaned down on me, "Did you find what I wanted you to on that phone?"

I nodded.

He smiled, "Your mother's boss is James' boss."

I swallowed hard, "My mom is bad?"

He shook his head, "No. The head of MI6 is. I switched phones a while back. I suspect Steve is working for them. His number was in the phone because they have called him. I changed it to make it look like it’s me calling from my other number so Steve isn’t suspicious."

I shook my head, "You really need to improve your background checks on people. Roxy and Steve?"

He sighed, "I don’t want to talk about that."

My eyes lit up, "Wait, so the Asian girls getting molested on the buses, that’s not you?"

He scowled, "What?"

I made a face, "Jack found all kinds of really pervy sites on the phone. Dirty ones with old guys f**king Asian women dressed like teenagers on buses, sort of a non-consent, fetish site."

He backed away from me, "You thought that was mine?"

I laughed at how insulted he was, "You are a sex addict."

He looked outraged. The green in his eyes was dark from the furrow of his brow, "Evie, I'm not a bloody pedo, and I don’t watch non-consent anything. I have a very strict consent rule, in fact." His accent had thickened considerably.

I put my hands on his chest, "I'm sorry. We just assumed."

He gave me a desperate look, "Is Jack out there in the world believing me capable of that?"

I bit my lip. He growled. I laughed, "I will straighten it out, right away." His look didn’t improve. I rolled my eyes, "Well, who knew you had such morals, Mister Drugs and Arms Dealer."

He gripped my arms, "I have a very strict rule about children." His voice lowered as if we were being watched, "I always kill anyone who tries to sell kids, and then free the children. Always."

I stood on my tiptoes, kissing him softly, "Okay. I'm glad to hear it."

But the mood was over. He was done. Whatever I had said had hit home for him. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know about that. I watched his eyes as I realized he was going to tell me, "My father let his men have whatever they wanted. Age was never an issue. It was my deciding factor to joining your father and the Burrow. I wanted to end his life and the lives of anyone who agreed. I came to the warehouse where he was having a party once. A shipment had come in, he had a boatload of young girls from Thailand. They were young, maybe fourteen."




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