Chapter 6: What He Saw

Raffaele was at the window with a gun in his hand before the second shot landed.

Three black cars had stopped across the gate, and men were firing from behind the doors.

His driver lay on the gravel by the front step, one leg bent wrong, calling for someone to pull him back.

Raffaele's own men were pinned behind the stone wall of the garden.

"Stay in this room," he said to the girl on the chaise.

She was already on her feet.

Her face was grey and her eyes were too bright.

"Stay here," he said again, and he went through the door and down the stairs.

The front hall was full of smoke and shouting.

He took the steps two at a time and flattened himself behind the doorframe.

Four of his men were down in the courtyard, and the fifth was crawling.

Two bullets chipped the stone next to his head.

He fired back and counted the muzzle flashes.

Six shooters, maybe seven.

The Orsatti had finally come to his door, three nights after his wedding.

Someone had told them the house was thin.

Someone had told them the guards changed at one, which was a secret fewer than ten people knew.

He swore and fired again.

Then he saw her.

She came out of the side door in her red dress, barefoot, with her hair down.

She ran across the open gravel, bent low, while the bullets cut the air above her head.

For one second he did not understand.

He thought she was running for the gate.

He thought she had called them, and that she was going to meet them.

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