Chapter Five
Intruder Alert
“What is that?” Tony demanded.
Kit said nothing. He raced over to a closet in his bedroom and yanked open the doors. Tony rushed over and saw a bank of screens. Kit had cameras everywhere. In one of them, he saw a dark car at the gates.
“Who is that?” Tony asked.
“A friend,” Kit said before hitting a button. The gates began to swing open.
“A friend like you had in Paris? Another hitman?”
Kit only turned and smiled, saying nothing. He raced from the bedroom, leaving Tony and Carter alone in the room.
Tony turned to Carter. “Get our bags. We might need to make a run for it. Stay out of sight… I’ll come get you in the bedroom if we need to go.”
Carter nodded, looking concerned.
Tony lifted the gun he wore at all times and checked the ammunition before walking out to find Kit. After moving through the house, he found Kit standing in the courtyard of the villa, beside the parking car.
Tony lifted his gun, aiming it at the driver’s side door as it began to open.
Ian’s familiar face appeared above the window. “Is this how you welcome an old friend?”
Tony frowned. How the hell had Ian gotten to them? He hadn’t found the phone yet.
“What’re you doing here?” Tony demanded.
Ian closed the car’s door and tossed a thumb in Kit’s direction. “I sent him to save you.”
Tony lowered his gun and turned to glare at Kit. “You could’ve told me Ian sent you.”
“Would you have believed me?” Kit asked.
Likely not.
“Plus, this was more fun,” Kit said with a smile and a wink.
Ian walked closer and gave Tony a bear hug. “Good to see you, my boy.”
“Good to see you, too. I’ve needed to call you—but someone refuses to give me my phone. Let me introduce you to someone.” Tony walked over to the front door and called for Carter to come out.
“What took you so long to get here?” Kit asked Ian.
“I’ve had eyes on me the last few weeks. I had to have them taken care of before I felt it was safe enough to meet you down here.” Ian looked up at the Italian sky. “Although, I wish I’d waited longer. It’s too hot.” He lowered his gaze before a smile spread across his face. Ian walked forward and past Tony. “I finally get to meet the infamous Carter. The man who stole Antony’s heart.”
Tony turned to see Ian moving closer to Carter. He took Carter’s hand in his and shook it before turning to look at Tony.
“You did good, Antony.” Ian looked to Kit. “Have you a pot on?”
“No,” Kit said before heading for the door. “I’ll put one on now.”
“Good, good,” Ian said. “We can become better acquainted over a cup of tea. Do you drink tea?” Ian asked as he turned Carter toward the door and propelled them both after Kit.
Tony was left all alone outside. He chuckled and followed them all inside.
He listened to the two of them prattle on. Ian had a way of getting people to talk, and Carter had fallen under the older man’s spell. They took a seat at the dining room table. Soon after, Kit came out with a tea service and began pouring cups.
When Kit sat down, Tony decided it was time to find out a little more about Ian’s connection to the man they’d just bedded. “So how do you and Kit know one another, Ian?”
Ian turned, smiling. “I have you to thank for that, Antony.”
Tony frowned. “How so?”
“You introduced me to his mother, who I fell deeply and madly in love with. I made her my wife. Kit became my stepson.”
Tony frowned even harder. “Who did I introduce you to?”
“A woman with a child… who needed safety on distant shores. You sent her to me to restart her life. Little did I know, she would restart mine.” Ian grinned, but the smile faded. “I only wished she’d lived longer.”
Tony’s mind spun. He looked to Kit, realizing this was the young boy he’d helped save all those years ago
Kit held his stare.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” This was the reason Kit wanted to help him. Two lives for two lives.
“I’m a grown man. I didn’t want you to see me as a child in your mind,” Kit said.
“Wait,” Carter said. “Kit and his mother… they were the ones you couldn’t kill?” Carter turned to Ian. “Tony just told us that story this morning.”
“Antony has a heart of gold. It’s just buried really deep,” Ian said. He lifted his cup of tea to his lips, and it shattered in his hand.
Tony blinked a few times, time moving slowly.
Ian’s eyes went blank. Tony saw the open wound between those eyes.
He leapt across the table, knocking Carter down to the ground. They rolled, Tony taking the brunt of the hit. After he was sure Carter was fine, he took out his gun and crept to the window. He returned fire, as Kit moved over to pull Ian onto the floor and into his arms.
Tony glanced at Kit a moment before another hail came their way. “Why didn’t your alarms go off?”
“I don’t know,” Kit murmured, staring down at Ian.
“Kit!” Tony growled.
Kit lifted his stare to Tony’s before jumping to his feet and disappearing.
Fuck.
As the next hail quieted, Tony stared outside, looking for targets.
Kit returned a few minutes later, carrying two rifles. “Two targets. East side. I know a way to approach without them seeing us. Follow me.”
Tony turned to Carter. “Crawl to the bedroom and stay down.” He then followed Kit to a door at the back of the house. Kit paused and handed Tony a rifle, the dead look back in his eyes. He opened the door, and Tony saw a set of stairs leading down. “Where are we going?”
“There’s a tunnel that leads to a spot just outside the gates. They won’t be expecting us to come from behind. You good with a long-range rifle?”
“Yeah.” Tony was impressed. They traversed the tunnel and came out about two hundred yards away from the gates amid a few trees. They had a perfect view of the gunmen.
Kit got low to the ground and took aim. “We hit them as one—don’t give either of them a chance to run.”
Tony got into position. “I’ve got eyes on the one on the left.”
“Got it. In three… two… one…”
They both pulled the trigger. Both men crumbled to the ground. They both waited, staying low. Kit likely for the same reason Tony was. They were waiting to see if there was anyone else they hadn’t seen who’d been drawn out by the fire.
When no one else appeared, Tony rose from the ground.
Kit stood, as well. “We need to get back inside and clean things up. I’ve got another safe house where we can hole up for a while.”
“Now that they might know you and Ian are involved… we might not be safe with you,” Tony said.
Kit turned to look at Tony. “No one knows where our safe houses are.”
“They found this one,” Tony spat.
“Likely after following him here,” Kit said before stretching his neck. He looked ready to explode. Ready to shatter.
How could Tony walk away from the man now? He’d just lost a man he clearly respected. If not loved.
“We go… take care of Ian. And we leave. Together.”
Kit turned to him, a shine of emotion gathering in his eyes. “Okay.”
Not long after, they laid Ian out on the dining room table. Carter had gathered a quick bundle of lavender from the garden and placed it in Ian’s clasped hands.
They had their bags over one shoulder, ready to depart.
After they paid the man some respect.
“He was the best friend I ever had,” Tony said. He turned, sensing Kit’s pain.
“He was the best dad I ever had,” Kit said.
Carter was between them. He took Tony’s hand in his and wrapped his free arm around Kit. “I’m sorry you’ve lost him.”
“Me, too,” Kit spat. He walked closer and pressed a kiss to Ian’s cheek before lifting a lighter in his hands.
He set aflame the kindling they’d placed under Ian’s body.
The kindling was slow to light, but soon grew until it engulfed the body. Kit took a bottle of wine from the sideboard, pulled the cork out and took a deep drink before passing it to Carter.
Carter took a drink, as did Tony. Tony passed the bottle back to Kit.
“Now your turn, Papa,” Kit said before tossing the wine into the flames.
The fire roared up and spread to the walls. They backed out and quickly left the villa behind. They’d tossed oil and wine all over the house, trying to ensure it burned to the ground and left no trace of who’d been there. Kit had cleared the security system and taken the hard drive with him.
Once outside, Tony turned to Kit. “Where is this safe house of yours?”
Kit was silent.
“Kit?”
“They won’t stop until you’re both dead,” Kit said. “I’m not a part of this… I’m running for no reason.”
Tony tensed. The man had just lost his father. He might not have been thinking clearly. “We need to go.”
Kit shook his head. “Maybe we need to end it here and now…”
Tony reached for his gun, but saw Kit already had one trained on them.
“Gina gets what she wants and this is over,” Kit said.
“Kit, no… you can’t do this,” Carter said.
“Oh, I can… and I will,” Kit said.