Page 33 of The Hitman

Three days ago, I was supposed to marry the man that I thought was the love of my life, but now I’m about to die next to some old ass fucking grapes. Don’t tell Zoe. Also, don’t tell her that I close my eyes and pray. She would be so mad I didn’t kick him or something. All our lives together, and she still doesn’t understand that she’s much braver than me.

A loud bang rends the air, and I jump at the sound. Something heavy hits the ground, and I jump again. My ears are ringing. I smell smoke. I’m waiting for the pain. I’m waiting to die.

I hear a voice instead.

“Zahra.” Someone with a very thick accent says my name, and I jump again before I realize that I recognize that voice.

I open my left eyelid only, just in case. I see Giulio standing above me. His face is full of concern and rage. Am I hallucinating him? Can a dead woman still be horny?

“Zahra,” he says again, and steps over something to get to me.

My gaze dips, and I see that the thing is the body of the man I’d run into before. He’s face-down in the dirt in front of me. The gun I’d seen up close and personal is lying next to him.

“Zahra,” Giulio says again. I only just now realize how gentle his voice is.

“G-g-gun,” I stutter.

He looks down at his right hand, and I do too. I jump when I see a gun there. He moves both hands to his back. When they reappear, there’s no gun.

I turn to look at the other gun, but he doesn’t seem to notice what I’m seeing. How can he not see the gun a dead man had pointed at my face?

“I need you to stay calm, tesora,” he says, crouching down in front of me.

Ridiculous. Calm is not a word I understand anymore. “What are you doing?” I whisper. I have to whisper because I seem to have screamed my voice hoarse.

He kicks the gun near me away, and I exhale a harsh breath in relief. “I’m searching him,” Giulio says matter-of-factly and then pushes the corpse over onto its back.Hisback.

“What the fuck?” I whisper.

“I need to see if he has any identification on him,” he says.

“A-are you a police officer?” I whisper hopefully. I don’t know what the fuck I’m hopeful for, but Giulio dashes those hopes anyway, so it doesn’t matter.

His wry laughter fills the air. The suspiciously calm air, now that I think about it.

“No. Non sono la polizia,” he says.

I get the gist. “Then, who are you?”

He doesn’t answer me. I watch as he pulls a leather wallet from the man’s coat and shoves it into his pants pocket.

“Who are you?” I ask again as he moves closer to me.

We make eye contact, and he frowns. “I told you,” he says quietly.

I try and swallow, but my mouth is too dry. “Not a good man,” I say, thinking about how different the world seemed just a few minutes ago when he was pushing his hand between my thighs.

“No,” he says and then offers his hand to me. “Come, tesora.”

I should scramble away. Like full-on kick my shoes off and run like a white girl from a horror movie, but I don’t. Zoe would be so angry if she were here and I once again missed a moment to get the fuck out of here. But Zoe’s not here.

It’s just me and Giulio and the dead body between us.

I take his hand and let him lift me to my feet. I let him lace his fingers with mine and lead me out of the grapevines. I don’t know what it means that I don’t run from him. And I surely don’t know what it means that I should be afraid of him, but I’m not. I don’t know anything anymore.

14Zahra

I thinkI’m in shock. I’m not entirely sure what shock is or what it feels like, but I’m very certain that something’s not right.