Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 126060 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 630(@200wpm)___ 504(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126060 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 630(@200wpm)___ 504(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
Calen rode a fast shadow with his partner, a young man of around the same age straight into the box where Taviano, Nicoletta, Ricco and Mariko waited. The four Ferraros closed in on them while Matteo Ferraro followed them into the box. Calen and his companion went from sheer confidence to shock and horror, realizing too late that their victims were waiting for them.
Ricco took control of the knife, turning it on Calen while Matteo snapped his neck. It was Taviano who blocked the weapon the stranger wielded, and Mariko administered justice. The two assassins were dead within seconds of entering the box. Matteo and Ricco took the bodies into the shadows to dispose of them a great distance from the theater.
Owen Boutler and Martin, a distant cousin discovered through genealogy research on the internet, rushed through the shadows into the box where Dario, Val, Emme and Elie sat watching the performance of Romeo and Juliet. Val and Dario looked up at the two men as they entered, Val raising an eyebrow, Dario smirking.
Owen tried to stop his forward momentum, ducking behind Martin, nearly skimming the poisoned blade of his knife across his cousin’s back as he half turned to face the man emerging from the darker side of the box. Elie Archambault had a well-earned reputation for being very fast. He moved with blurring speed, kicking the knife from Owen’s hand and catching his head in his hands, snapping the neck almost in one move.
Elie turned to help Emmanuelle with Martin, but Lucio was already there, not that Emme needed any help. She’d already disarmed Martin, and Lucio was behind the assassin, meting out justice and dragging the body into the shadows. Emmanuelle calmly returned to her seat as Elie removed Owen’s body.
Parker Boulter rode the shadows into the box nearest the stairway. The box contained cousins who had come from Los Angeles to watch Geno’s fiancée perform. Severino, Veila and Remigio should have been watching the last act with rapt attention, but only Veila faced the entrance to the box and Parker. She smiled sweetly at him, ignoring the knife in his hand as if she didn’t even see it. Warily, Parker looked around the box seats before he took a step toward Veila.
The moment he took that step, he knew it was a mistake. Her brothers emerged on either side of him, gripping him with tremendous strength so he was unable to wield the knife. Behind him, Santo Ferraro from San Francisco caught his head in his hands and wrenched, breaking his neck. Santo calmly pulled him into the shadows while his cousins seated themselves to watch the fight play out between Paris and Romeo in the tomb.
At the last box on the far left, Max and Tore sat in the seats, swinging around to face two strangers as they emerged from the shadows. Both stood slowly, waiting in place as the two Boutler assassins came closer. Vico and Marzio closed in on either side of the two men. Instantly, Max and Tore moved with blurring speed, both going for the wrists holding the poisoned knives while behind them, Brio, their cousin from San Francisco, caught first one neck, then the other, administering justice.
Romeo had killed Paris by the time Tore and Brio dragged the two bodies into the shadows to take them away from the theater.
I believe all the Boutlers have been disposed of, Stefano said as the cousins checked in with one another. With the exception of Lincoln, and we haven’t identified him as an enemy.
That wasn’t so. The leader, Lewis, was still unaccounted for. They didn’t have his location, and worse, that radar telling Geno something was very wrong was stronger than ever.
Come on, Brielle, he murmured softly to himself. I need to know where he is. He knew the investigator would never give up. She would take it down to the wire—the very last minute.
Geno placed both hands on the balcony railing intent on the scene taking place onstage. Romeo embraced Juliet and then plunged a dagger into his heart, taking his life. The note the friar had sent explaining the plan never made it to him, and he believed his love was truly dead.
Lewis Boutler is Lewis Mainlander. Mainlander was his mother’s name, Elie related. He has worked for years in the corporate office of the Australian Ballet. He’s here in New York and is attending the ballet.
By now, Boutler would know his plan had failed. He would choose his time during the scene in the shadowy tomb, and all eyes were on Juliet as she awakened and realized her beloved was truly dead. That’s when he would strike.
Geno knew timing was everything. A dozen shadows played over the stage. He kept his gaze fixed on the front of the stage. Lewis was seated in front, Geno was certain of it. The man was waiting for that moment when Juliet would plunge the dagger into her breast and take her life. That was the perfect moment to kill Amaranthe. Lewis would need to pick the perfect shadow to get onstage, get behind Amara, use his poisoned knife and get back to his seat before anyone knew what had happened. Lewis was bound to find deep satisfaction in killing Geno’s fiancée in front of an entire theater and all the Ferraros.