Trained To Kill (29 page)

Ten minutes later, or what felt like
an eternity to Alex, Coltello walked in.

“
I’m impressed. You got
pretty far.”

Alex said nothing.

“
No…” Alex
moaned.

“
Sh. It’ll all be over
soon.” Coltello dragged Alex’s head back by the hair, and lifted
the pliers; Alex hadn’t even seen him pick them up. He strained
back against the chair, trying to get away from him.

“
Why are you doing
this?”

Coltello paused with the pliers half
way to Alex’s face. “You haven’t figured it out
Detective?”

“
You want to protect
Rafael? This won’t help him.”

“
Wrong.” Coltello let
Alex’s hair go and his chin sunk to his chest. “I’m doing it to
keep you away from Isadora. Rafael loves her and he doesn’t need
the likes of you around her. She’s like a sister to him. He wants
her to be a part of our family. I wanted…he wants me to marry her
so she will be a part of our family.”

Alex stared at him in shock. It wasn’t
because he was a cop. It was because he got close to
Isa.

“
But, my cover was blown
before I met Isa.”

“
Because I knew you were
an undercover cop in Isa’s club.”

A crash sounded outside the room.
Coltello stopped and straightened up, shoving the pliers in a
pocket. He pulled his gun put of its holster.

“
Stay here,” he said with
a light slap against the side of Alex’s head.

Alex waited, listening, trying to
learn who was there. He thought it sounded like Rafael. Shit, he
didn’t know what to think. He had stopped Coltello, but for how
long? Would Rafael let die to protect his brother? Gunshots
penetrated his foggy brain, it sounded like he was swimming under
water but he heard the muffled pops. What the hell?

The door burst open and Alex blinked
at the light. “Alex!”

“
Iz?” Alex blinked trying
to bring her into focus.

“
Oh God. Alex.” He watched
her lower her arms from where she had been about to hug
him.

“
Isa, I’m ok. I think. I
probably look worse than I am.”

“
I’m going to get you
loose. You just…just try to stay still.”

Alex heard tears in Isa’s voice and
struggled to reach her. “Hey don’t cry, I’m ok.”

“
I know. You’re going to
be fine.” She looked up at him from where she was squatted down
untying him from the chair. “Just do me a favor and try not to
move. Ok?”

Alex didn’t answer; he just stared at
the top of her head unable to believe she was there. He felt like
he was hallucinating.

“
I have to call the
police.”

Her voice floated to him out of the
fog. It took Alex a minute to realize she wasn’t speaking to
him.

“
I understand.”

Alex moved his head from where it was
hanging on his chest and saw Rafael in the doorway.

Together Rafael and Isa settled Alex
on the floor. It felt good to be out of that chair, but now he knew
he would pass out. He lifted his hand to Isa’s cheek and smiled
before passing out.

“
Alex!” Isa shouted.
“Shit.” She dug out her cell and dialed 911. After giving them the
location, she hung up and dialed Captain Williams.

“
You can go Rafael. I’ll
tell them about Coltello but I won’t say you had any involvement.
They may come around asking about him though.”

“
I can handle the
police.”

“
Do you think he’ll come
back to you?”

“
Eventually.”

Isa looked at him with a blank face.
“You know what I’ll do to him if I catch him.”

“
I know,” Rafael
stood.

“
Will you hide him from
me?”

Rafael looked away from her. Walking
to the door he said over his shoulder, “I do not know
bella.”

Chapter 36

Alex spent a week in the hospital.
They were worried about infection. The knife wounds Coltello had
inflicted were cause for concern, and he still had an elevated
temperature. Isa never left his side. Once Alex had become slightly
more coherent, he had talked to Isa and Williams about what
Coltello had done to him, at least everything he could remember.
Isa had barely managed to stay in the room without crying. If
Rafael thought for one minute he could keep his brother from her
she wouldn’t hesitate to kill him too.

She was struggling with the guilt.
Coltello had done this in order to punish and ultimately kill Alex
so he could be with her for Rafael’s sake. Alex told her not to
give it a second thought that it had been the whim of madman, but
it was hard to tell that to her heart. She had almost lost him. She
didn’t want to lose him like she had lost Anna. She wouldn’t
survive if she did. She had barely survived the grief over Anna.
Alex deserved better than this. His family would be devastated if
anything happened to him.

Every member of his family had come by
at one point. They had told them very little, claiming police
business, open case, etc…and they hadn’t pushed too much. It was
hard not to tell them she was responsible. She could barely look
his father in the eye.

Being at the hospital hadn’t given her
much time to hunt for Coltello. She had her laptop to do some work,
but every movement Alex made distracted her. She wasn’t getting
anywhere. Finally, the Doctor Ok’d Alex to go home, but he was
still on bed rest and antibiotics for another week. The nurses were
sad to see him go. Isa had caught more than one of them flirting
with him when she thought she wasn’t paying attention. She didn’t
care, she was just glad he was alive for them to flirt
with.

Isa and Renée got him settled. There
was a small, sedate welcome home party waiting for him consisting
of a few cops and his family. But they hadn’t stayed long after
seeing how tired he still was. Isa helped him to take a bath in the
jet tub which he claimed felt almost as good as sex.

“
Almost. Why don’t you get
in here with me?”

“
I don’t think so. You’re
on bed rest.”

“
You automatically assume
I would try something?”

“
Well you are male, and
you.”

Alex chuckled and shut his eyes
resting his head on the edge of the tub, enjoying the jets. Isa
brushed his wet hair back from his forehead and dabbed at his face.
He still had some bruising along his jaw that was dark. He was so
beautiful it almost broke her heart to say no to join him in the
tub.

Her feelings of guilt had slightly
abated. She knew it had been Coltello’s own doing. Isa couldn’t
help how Rafael felt about her, and she certainly hadn’t encouraged
it. Nor could she help how Coltello had reacted toward Rafael’s
perceived unhappiness.

Once Alex was up and about she would
get down to seriously hunting Coltello. Alex wasn’t safe as long as
he was out there, and she probably wasn’t either. She hadn’t heard
a word from Rafael one way or the other which made her think he
knew where he was. She would find out soon enough.

“
Iz,” Alex had opened his
eyes and the brown of his eyes was so intense she could feel
herself falling.

“
Yea?”

“
I know what you’re
thinking about Coltello,” Alex paused.

“
And?”

“
And, I want
in.”

“
In? You mean you want to
help me find him?”

“
And stop him.”

“
Stop him?”

“
We don’t have to kill him
Isa. He kidnapped and tortured a cop. When we bring him in, he’ll
be gone for good.”

Isa sat back on her heels, studying
Alex’s face. “You’re saying you want to help me so I won’t run off
and kill him myself.”

Alex rolled his head on the edge of
the tub and rubbed is eyes. “Partly,” he sighed. “But I want to
bring him down myself Iz.” Alex played with the water, cupping it
in his hands and letting it slide through his fingers, not looking
at her. “After what he did to me, you can’t think I’ll be satisfied
by watching you take off to avenge me.”

He gave up with the water and leaned
over the tub, putting his arms gingerly on the side. “If we do this
together, find him together, we can both be satisfied.”

“
Turning him in will be
enough for you? What if Rafael gets him out?”

Alex studied Isa’s face for what
seemed like an eternity then said, “I don’t know. Would you kill
him?”

“
Yes,” Isa said without
hesitation.

Alex nodded and sat back in the water,
“Then I wouldn’t try to stop you.”

Isa was silent for a long
time.

She stood up and took off her clothes.
She got in and sat between his legs very slowly with her back to
his chest. Isa turned her head and Alex leaned down and kissed
her.

“
Alright then. We’ll do it
your way first.”

The End

###

Thank you for reading my book! It was
my first. If you enjoyed it, please leave a review with your
favorite retailer.

Thanks!

Emily Marie

Look for Isa and Alex in the next book: Trained
to Run

Prologue:

He ran through the alley, breath
coming in gasps. He was going to have a heart attack.

She was coming.

His legs were shaking and sweat poured
from his body. He couldn't move another step. He slammed up against
the brick wall. It was a dead end anyway. Sliding down the wall,
trying to breathe. He knew he would die.

About the
Author

Emily Marie lives in a
small town in southern West Virginia. She is 31 years old and this
is her first novel, so go easy on her!