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"Carmine," she said The sound of his name on her lipswould ever overpower it He stared into her deep brown eyes, and it seemed as if time stopped It alould, he realized Caro on without her

"I love you, too," he said, struggling to fight back the emotion so as not to scare her "Sempre"

The moment he said the word, the black sedan rammed the back of their car They skidded off the side of the road toward some trees Carmine threw his hands out instinctively to protect Haven, knowing it was too late to stop it He thrust forward and hit the steering wheel, pain ripping through his chest as the air left his body

Blackness stole hi deployed with a loud pop, silencing Haven’s screaasped for air, unable to take a breath until it deflated She glanced at the driver’s side, her chest on fire as she tore off her seatbelt Car splattered with blood fro to find son of life, and she cried out with relief as he took a shaky breath

The slam of a car door nearby alarside the road, everything hitting Haven at once as four men approached, all of them shrouded in black masks

They were a blur in her panicked state, their rapid approach severing any grip sheto run, but she wouldn’t leave Carmine when he couldn’t fend for himself "Carmine, I need you! Please!"

Her distress skyrocketed as thearound the front seat, she spotted Carorously She hesitated for a split second before grasping it with tre hands

Soger as a reflex It sounded like an explosion in the confined space, and she yelped, reun so it didn’t slip out of her hand The bullet shattered the driver’s sideand grazed the rasped his cheek and turned as soround a few feet away

The first man ripped off his nized Nunzio He whipped out his pistol and reached into the , grabbing Carun to his teun pressed to the back of her head

The person behind her spoke, his voice heavily accented "Drop the fucking gun, sweetheart"

She let go of it instantly as the ed her out of the car He threw her to the ground and picked up the weapon, checking it as Nunzio sla wheel

"Please," she screa sick as the word rolled from her lips "Please don’t hurt hiun "Did your boyfriend teach you how to use this thing? I never understood what Sal saw in hianization He doesn’t have the brains for this"

He glared at her, an eerie silence surrounding theun into his coat "Get her up We don’t have time to dick around"

The man yanked Haven to her feet and pulled her toward their car She hyperventilated, frantically looking for solancing at their partner on the ground His voice also carried an accent

"Leave him," Nunzio said "I would’ve killed him, anyway"

"And the kid? DeMarco?"

Haven’s heart felt like it stopped in that instant, pain radiating out through every inch of her body She screa her knees buckle The"Please don’t kill hiht! Just don’t hurt hiun and pointed it at Car so so loudly her own ears rang Bothhard sla her

"Shut the fuck up," theblow that knocked her forward

"Please!" she screa what happened to her as long as they didn’t touch Carmine He was still alive, and she needed hi! Don’t shoot hi to catch her breath

"That’s enough," Nunzio said "We need her in one piece Just leave DeMarco before she gives un as Nunzio pulled her to her feet, eyeing her so intently her skin crawled He pulled her close to hi her cheek She could sainst her "He’ll die soon, anyway"

She held her breath, revolted, and collapsed to the ground when he let her go

"Put her in the car," Nunzio said, walking away Ared her toward the road She could faintly ht of hi the last of her resolve She screa he would hear her and wake up

Thedown on his hand Her teeth tore his flesh, repulsive blood filling her ive her a chance to slip frorabbed as soon as sheto play nice?" Nunzio asked, dragging her back to their vehicle He forced her into the backseat as the others clirabbed a s out a needle full of clear liquid "It’s a sharasped her around the throat She struggled, sla to knock the needle out of his hand He jabbed it into her thigh and held her tightly for ainto unconsciousness

"Caristered in Carmine’s ears, but the voice was h, and he strained to hear

"Car was black but oddly hazy, like he was sub

"Conized his father and tried to respond, but he couldn’t get words to for his chest