Pink Walls

The Carmosinos [Part IV]✓

"Door or window, boss?"

The broken pieces of glass crunched loudly beneath my boots as I pulled away from Ron and the now open window to examine the rest of the room.

An uncountable number of bullet holes had turned the wall behind us into a pincushion and the once pristine floor was now splattered with enough blood to fill a soup bowl.

There were eight bodies lying in the bloody mess of wasted rounds, paint chips and furniture cushioning, and all but one of them had a bleeding hole in the center of their forehead.

They had all been killed with a single shot courtesy of Alex's more than impressive marksmanship.

If he hadn't been here, I and Ron wouldn't have gotten through this unscathed. Then again, that was probably why she had brought him along.

He was our safety net.

"You really shouldn't stay so close to the window, boss," I told Saffron while slipping on the gloves I had found in the pocket of Alex's coat. He always kept a second set on him—along with a butterfly knife and cable ties—just in case.

"I'm just enjoying the view," she said, and I could almost hear a lazy smile in her voice. "The moon looks especially beautiful this morning. The snow is almost glittering. . ."

Without saying a word, I stepped over Antonia's dead men to kneel beside the one that had almost strangled me. I pressed two fingers to his neck then turned to Ron in surprise when I found his pulse. "This one's alive."

And he somehow managed not to get shot too, I added silently.

She nodded and ran her hand over the fur on her jacket. A look of contemplation crossed her features before she said, "Tie him up then. It's his good fortune."

"You're not going to kill him?"

"We both know you'll be upset if I do." She flicked her fingers dismissively in my direction. "Just do it, Kay."

"Is this what you meant by me being here causing Antonia to make a mistake?" I asked when I was done binding the man's wrists and ankles with the cable ties. Beside him, I found the cord he had attacked me with. I picked up its two pieces then shoved it into my pocket.

If he had used a gun instead, things would have played out a lot differently. Of course, I trusted Alex to keep the both of us safe, but having to choose who to save first between I and Ron would have been a tough call, and that moment of hesitation could have gotten either of us killed.

"Since we were children, Antonia has always wanted my toys. Obviously, she thought you were one so she wanted to play with you for a bit before killing you, just to spite me," Ron sounded a bit miffed. "Your reputation as my lover came in handy, didn't it?"

"Is that why you kissed me?"

"That's one reason," she said but didn't elaborate further.

"And?"

"And I knew it would annoy Alexiares." She grinned.

"Why would Alex be annoyed?"

Before she could answer me, a canister soared through the broken window and landed in the space between us. I barely had time to duck out of the way before the room was filled with the grey smoke pouring out of the grenade.

I held my arm over my nose and mouth and felt my way to the window. "Boss?"

"Kay!" She coughed and ran right into me.

"Don't breathe." I held her face to my shoulder and squinted at where I knew the door was.

Either we went through it or jumped out the window.