The Hitman's Secret

Ch. 3: Firearms and Fantasies

VALENTINA

Val stepped out of Matteo's Alfa Romeo and blinked at the massive warehouse in front of her. Dark windows lined the exterior, blacked out to prevent any passerby from peering in. The brick exterior could've used a wash, and only a handful of security cameras perusing the parking lot gave the indication that the building hadn't been abandoned.

"I hope you didn't bring me here to murder me," she teased, squinting up at the ugly structure.

"Funny," Matteo muttered, dry. He rounded the front of the car and speared toward the warehouse's entrance without glancing in her direction once.

Val frowned but hurried after him.

In the days since her engagement party, Matteo had taken to speaking in predominately one-word sentences and grumblings. He avoided touching her at all costs and barely looked at her. And, somehow, he almost always managed to have another guard on duty with him, preventing Val from truly asking for an explanation for his behavior.

Not that she needed one. She'd seen the unease shrouding Matteo's hard features after their encounter with Girardo Mazza. He'd been angry when Luca nearly caught them in the garden at Adriano's wedding, but when the Mazza don smirked and leveled a weighted warning toward him... Matteo was scared.

Of course, Val hadn't particularly enjoyed Mazza's interruption either, but, after three days passed without a sign of any consequences, she chose to relax. Matteo, clearly, did not share her sentiments. He'd even willingly chosen to play the radio on their ride to the warehouse, as if the thought of having a real conversation with Val was worse than listening to Billboard's Top 100.

"Seriously, this looks like the place you'd take one of the famiglia's prisoners to play," she commented, ignoring the shudder that threatened to sneak down her spine at the prospect of finding a full torture-room inside.

One corner of Matteo's mouth quirked at that. "Only sometimes. Today, we're using its facilities for something else."

Val couldn't imagine what else would require them to drive to a warehouse at the edge of the city but decided to bite her tongue. She trusted Matteo, whatever his reasons.

He kept a healthy distance between their bodies as they reached the front door, unlocked a heavy-duty latch, and pushed into the warehouse. When Val's eyes adjusted to the building's dim lighting, she was surprised to find herself standing on the edge of a massive gymnasium.

A sizable boxing ring at the center of the warehouse dominated the space, with spotlights illuminating the platform. To the ring's right, half a dozen cushioned mats lined the floor with life-size dummies sprinkled throughout. On the left side of the gymnasium, a six-lane shooting range extended to the far wall, where target after target waited to be shot at.

"Dio," Val whispered in appreciation, eyes widening as she struggled to take in the expansive gym. "Does this belong to the famiglia?"

Across the room, a handful of young men stopped their training on the sparring mats and watched them enter. Most of them didn't wear shirts and wiped at their sweaty chests with towels as they muttered amongst themselves, but Val couldn't make out their words. Nonetheless, they didn't seem particularly happy to see her in the gym, their brows furrowed and lips drawn tight. Val stepped a bit closer to Matteo's side.

"It does," he answered, steering her away from the boxing rings and wrestling mats toward the shooting range.

"I had no idea we had something like this." Val's eyes landed on a locker room, where three other men stood in the entrance with towels wrapped around their waists. She immediately averted her eyes.