The shouting started somewhere above me, muffled through the ceiling but getting louder by the second.

I squeezed my eyes shut tighter, bracing myself for the knife and the pain, or whatever Vittorio was about to do to me. But the blade never came.

Instead, there was an explosion. Not a real explosion, but the sound of a door being kicked in so hard it must have splintered off its hinges. Then gunfire erupted everywhere, so loud it made my ears ring.

I jumped out of my skin. Oh God, I got ...