Twisted Games of Revenge (Sinners of Ravens Hollow #3)

Chapter 39

The room descends into a flurry of activity as rich men and beautiful women run for the exits. When it’s just those of us on the stage, the police commissioner, and Marco left, Alessandro closes the back doors, and Ricky and Maddox get the side ones, trapping us all in.

The commissioner’s gun digs sharply into my back as he yanks me upright, the cold steel a stark contrast to my clammy skin.

“Let go of me!” I scream hysterically.

“You’re mine now, beautiful.” His warm breath ghosts over my neck, the overwhelming scent of his expensive cologne making my stomach roll.

Alessandro approaches the stage, his body language exuding confidence even with his wife held at gunpoint by a creepy psychopath. “It’s over, Enzo. After the stunt you pulled tonight, there isn’t a soul in this town willing to save you.”

Enzo glances confidently toward the police commissioner, seeking reassurance. He receives a nod in return. Despite everything, their cockiness remains intact. They still think they’re going to get away with this. “What do I need saving from, Son? It doesn’t matter the shit you put on me, no cop in this town will arrest me. I’m so fucking high above the law there is no one that can bring me down. Not even you and your whore.”

With a determined glint in his eyes, Alessandro darts onto the stage, heading straight for us. His anger flares, turning on the commissioner, his eyes burning with fury I have never seen before. “Get your filthy fucking hands off my wife.” His voice booms off the walls.

The commissioner adjusts the way the two of us are standing to show him the gun positioned at my spine.

Alessandro backs off, his eyes meeting mine with determination that tells me to stay calm.

Enzo approaches him, a hand on either side of his shoulders, their eyes locking. A vulnerability flashes over Alessandro. His papa still has some fucking hold over him. “Since we’re in the casino, why don’t we play a game? Raise the stakes a little. You always did love a game, didn’t you. This time I’ll let you play with your brother,” Enzo taunts, ever the puppet master trying to manipulate even when he has to know he’s truly fucked. At least I hope he is.

The vein in Alessandro’s neck looks like it’s going to pop, and without warning, he swings his arm toward his papa, slamming him right across the face. “What the fuck are you on about, old man?”

Enzo rears back, ready to take him on. Surprised his son had the audacity to hit him.

Marco moves in, his muscles tense as he shields Enzo, clearly picking his side once and for all. Pain radiates through my chest at the loss of my brother. Who he used to be to me and the awful man he grew into. Unlike Enzo’s other illegitimate spawn, he really is the spitting image of his papa.

Marco sizes Alessandro up, ready to fight him, a cruel smirk coming across his lips. “If you win my game, you can have her back.” His attention comes to me briefly with disgust, like I’m not worth it. “If you lose, you give it all up to me. The city, the casino, the whole lot, and Palmer will take her. What will it be, Brother, is this little slut really worth losing everything you’ve worked so hard for your entire life?”

His words stab at my soul like tiny little knives, because I know he’s right. I’m not worth it.

Alessandro’s haunted eyes meet mine with a silent message that tells me he will do whatever it takes to get me back. I see his love for me and it kills me even more. I don’t want him to get hurt for me. Any of them.

“Don’t do it, Alex,” I cry. “He’s just trying to trick you.”

“What game? Looks to me like you’re out numbered anyway, little brother.” He takes a step forward so he’s head-to-head with Marco. Alex stands a good two inches taller, his dark eyes boring right down on him. “You have to know I would never be so stupid to gamble with my beautiful wife’s life. She is the only thing that matters. This fucking city, this shithole casino, and every fucking business we were trained to take over mean nothing. My life was nothing until I had her. I feel sad for you that you think winning means owning this city. That shit will earn you nothing but pain. Just ask Enzo. Is that who you really want to be?” Alessandro shoves Marco back, taunting him.

Marco’s attention snaps to me, a dark scowl etching itself onto his face, making him look savage. “You’re going to let her manipulate you. We could fucking have it all if we work together.”

Enzo’s eyes light up, full of greed. “The boy’s right. You boys working together would be unstoppable.”

“Us boys working together.” A wave of laughter erupts as Alessandro’s chuckle is met by Maddox and Ricky’s echoing amusement. The three of them sound like they have lost their minds. And maybe they now have. The events of the past twenty-four hours too much for event them to take.

“You piece of fucking shit.” Alessandro swings his fist, colliding with Marco’s face. Then his hands are on his shirt, shoving him onto the stage and coming down on top of him.

“The only one being manipulated is you, Marco,” I force the words through my clenched teeth, knowing it’s already too late to get him back.

The commissioner yanks my hair back, his teeth grazing my cheek. “You will shut the fuck up if you know what’s good for you,” his words vibrate through my body, causing my heart to feel like it’s going to burst right out of my chest with the stress I’m under. Terrible pain throbs through me, with the harsh way he’s holding me only adding to my discomfort.

“Enough!” Enzo’s voice booms throughout the room.

Alessandro pulls back from Marco just slightly, his breathing ragged and crazed in a way that tells me he was ready to end Marco for challenging him.

Marco swipes the blood now leaking from his lip with the back of his hand, smirking at him, tilting his head in a deranged way that makes my skin crawl. He’s a fucking monster. There is no good left in him, not one bit. “I wouldn’t listen to my sister, she’s delirious from blood loss. I would say it’s too late to save the baby. But it’s not like we ever really knew whose it was anyway. Probably not a great loss.”

My chest radiates pain of the loss as I try to suck in ragged breaths so I don’t pass out. “Fuck you, Marco,” I seethe. I know he’s right, but it’s the first time Alessandro and the other boys realize the commissioner’s tight grip on my arm is the only thing holding me up. I see it in their panic, and it kills me all over again.

I close my eyes, not able to handle seeing his pain. Any of theirs. They might be here to save me, but it’s too late. Tears leak from my eyes in a constant flow. I can’t stop them now when it’s all so hopeless. I never knew how much I wanted this baby until I found out I was pregnant, and ever since then, it’s all I have been able to think about. But I know how much pain I’m in. Mix that with the crippling nausea swirling through me, and I know I’m running out of time, if it isn’t already too late.

I feel the commissioner’s low dark chuckle vibrate through my body; it forces me to open my eyes. He’s focused on the doors to the back of the building, as if he is expecting something or someone to arrive and save them.

With a violent crash, the back doors swing open, slamming against the building’s back wall, a sound that shakes the structure. A group of men in crisp, blue police uniforms appear in the empty space.

“Looks like the cavalry have arrived. Last chance, boys, are you real Morettis or are you ready for Marco to take the lead?” The commissioners voice booms through the room.

Dirty cops move through the opening toward the boys, there would have to be at least twenty of them. Their faces, contorted in snarls, filled with menace knowing they now have the upper hand.

“Maddox!” I scream in warning as one of them creeps up behind him, ready to fight. He spins around and captures the man in his massive arms, slamming him into the brick wall behind.

All hell breaks out around us, fists flying, men cursing and grunting as they try to outpower each other. My scared eyes search the room, a sea of bodies before me, each one moving in a different direction. The stench of sweat and metallic tang of blood hangs heavy in the air as the boys desperately fight off the dirty cops closing in from all sides.

“I’ve seen enough,” the commissioner says, taking me around the waist, dragging me away from them and closer to the wings where Valentina waits with a cunning-as-fuck look on her face.

“Guess you really did get what you deserved in the end, princess. The commissioner will teach you a lesson or two for messing with my boys,” she sneers. Her words, laced with venom, drip like poison from her ruby-red lips, followed by the sound of her cruel cackle.

Shots ring out, and I realize Geovani must be here after all, hiding somewhere up high where he has a clear shot and good vantage point. He takes out man after man, protecting the boys from the onslaught. I crane my neck, peering up into the brightly lit fly loft, searching for him amongst the ropes and pulleys. But the stage lights are too bright and blind me.

“Take her through the back, there is a car waiting for you,” comes Valentina’s voice. I blink back at her, the cruel smirk painting her lips.

There are so many things I want to say to her. But I’m too weak to keep fighting.

My body sags, and it’s not until I hit the ground that I realize the commissioner has let go of his tight grip on me. I glance up and see he’s behind me now, blood pooling around him where he’s been shot. Geovani must have got him.

I scramble over to where the commissioner dropped his gun and snatch it up. Clutching it in both my shaky hands, I prop myself up on my elbows, searching for Geovani. Or anyone who can get me out of here. I need medical help, and I know I’m running out of time.

A bloodcurdling scream rips through the air, making me flinch and look back to where Valentina had been standing in the wings just moments before. Sloane tips her head in acknowledgment, wearing a subtle smile. She holds Valentina from behind with a knife to her throat and wastes no time in using it, killing her the exact way Enzo killed her best friend.

My heart heaves in my chest at the awful sight. My attention shifting to Enzo wondering if he saw. He’s not far from me on the stage. His eyes go wide, and his skin pales, watching the horrible scene before him as Sloane drops his wife and obedient servant of thirty odd years’ body to the stage floor below. “Do something,” he calls to Marco.

But as I glance around for Marco, I can’t find him on the stage or down on the floor where the boys are.

Two of the Stryker brothers, Asher and Jagger move stealthily past me from behind the stage and approach Enzo.

I look back toward Sloane and notice she’s not alone, Dani and Malachi are with her, with him embracing Dani protectively as a cop runs at them. Sloane fights him off easily sending him crashing to the floor below. Relief floods over me when I realize Dani’s still alive. And the Iron Strykers are here to help. They must be coming in through the back of the stage, where Valentina and her goons found me earlier, it’s the only explanation, it must be how Geovani got his vantage point above me as well.

In a matter of seconds, the place fills again; this time, though, it’s Strykers creeping in through from both sides of the backstage, quickly outnumbering Enzo and his men. They move in to stand behind Ricky and Maddox. An army of men ready to fight for me.

Enzo bursts into laughter again, but this time, it’s the nervous chuckle of a man who knows he’s outnumbered. “You’re all going to fuck up the rest of your lives for her. Divide this town in two for some pathetic little girl. After everything I’ve done for you.” His eyes shift nervously between them.

Alessandro approaches him. “The only one who divided this town is you and the scum-of-the-earth corrupt cops who have been protecting you all these years.”

Maddox moves in closer as well. “It ends tonight, Enzo.”

“No more games,” agrees Ricky. The three of them banding together looking stronger than ever.

“Grab him.” Alessandro nods toward the Stryker brothers.

Jagger and Asher take hold of Enzo, dragging him down the stairs off the stage.

The rest of the cops all look like they’re gone, taken out by the brothers or the Iron Strykers, but the tension in the air is thicker than ever.

In one swift move, Marco startles me, stealing the gun from my hands. Where the fuck did he even come from. Towering over me, he aims it at me. “I’m not letting you steal away everything I have worked for,” he seethes, bitterness spitting toward me.

I look him dead in the eyes, my heart racing in fear. “Go on, kill me then just like you did my papa. You’re a fucking coward hiding behind Enzo to sneakily get what you want. Be the fucking man you want to be and end me like we both know you want to.”

His finger twitches, and I know he’s considering it. “Let Enzo go and the two of us walk out of here.” His voice trembles, and I see the fear in his eyes. He’s gone too far and picked the wrong side, and now he knows he’s fucked. But it’s too late for him to change his mind. He sided with Enzo the day he killed my papa and forced me into this hell.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I find Geovani finally. He moves quickly from his vantage point and jumps down to the stage, closing in on him. “Marco, you lay a finger on her and your life won’t be worth living.”

Tension hangs heavy in the air as they all watch him like a hawk. Both Ricky and Maddox have their guns aimed at him, but if they shoot, they risk him shooting me. I find Maddox’s eyes. Marco was like a brother to him. They grew up together, pledged to the family together, their bonds were thick well before any of them knew me.

“Do it,” I whisper, knowing this shit won’t end until they both do.

Maddox looks me over, and I see the way he’s assessing the situation. He knows the second he pulls the trigger I’m dead as well. But what other choice does he have? They can’t let him, and Enzo continue their reign of terror.

Dani, her hands shaking violently, appears on stage behind us with a gun drawn. She’s a mess, her cheeks tear-stained, her once designer dress torn and marked. But there is a look in her pretty eyes that tells me she knows exactly what she’s doing. “Put your fucking gun down, you piece of shit.” A woman in pain, she screams at Marco, her voice raw with anguish, the sound echoing through the air. He cruelly used and then discarded her, leaving her heartbroken and shattered.

Marco’s angry gaze shoots up to meet hers. A wave of irritation washes over him as he surveys the scene. He lets out a low laugh. “What are you going to do, sweetheart? You couldn’t fire a gun if your life depended on it. You’re pathetic, Dani, you can’t be surprised I discarded you after you served your purpose. After all, every man does.” He averts his eyes from her, the silence heavy as they land on me. He’s not worried one bit that she will hurt him.

He carries the same cockiness that Enzo does. They both think women are good for one thing only. But from the corner of my eye, I see it. She’s more powerful than he ever believed, and he just gave her the bait she needed to pull the trigger.

I nod just the once, giving her the go-ahead. This man is dead to me anyway.

Marco stumbles back, and it takes me that long to register she shot him right in the chest. She did exactly what he thought she was too pathetic to do. And I couldn’t be prouder of her.

He drops to the ground, clutching at his chest, blood seeping between his fingers. I stare back at him, watching as he takes his final breaths, numb like I’m watching a movie of this happening to someone I don’t know at all. Not the man who helped raise me.

Behind him I see Dani fall to her knees, completely devastated, she wails in pain as she clutches her head in her hands, tears streaming down her face.

I crawl to her, throwing my arms around her. “You did good,” I whisper through my pain.

She sobs uncontrollably, gripping me so tightly her fingernails dig into my skin. I’m horrified for her. She really loved my brother, but she knew it was the only way.

I hold her back, staring at him, thinking I should feel something seeing him slowly bleeding out. He clutches his chest in agony, but we all know there is nothing he can do now. He’s lost too much blood, his crisp white shirt now a scarlet red that seeps over his fingers. His attention focuses on us, blinking back as more blood gurgles up and out of his mouth.

Alex moves into his side and positions his gun to his forehead. “You chose your side brother,” he says, pulling the trigger close range, making sure there is no question if he was going to die or not. He’s gone.

Malachi and Geovani are right there with us. Malachi pulls Dani back toward him as she falls apart completely. And Geovani is right there on the stage with me, cradling me in his arms. He draws me in close, so close I can feel his erratic heart racing out of control. “How bad is it, Red.” His eyes search mine for answers I can’t give him.

I shake my head, strands of sweat-drenched red curls falling across my face like a curtain. “The baby.” A soft sob escapes my lips.

“Fuck.” His eyes flicker to Ricky, a silent communication passing between them that I understood instantly. We need to get out of here.

Geovani collects me in his arms, cradling me carefully. The fear in his eyes scaring me.

Ricky joins us on the stage, looking me over with concern, his hand coming to my forehead. “We have to make this quick, she needs help,” he tells Geovani.

“Sorry it’s not the poetic ending you wanted for him, Red.” Geovani offers me a half smirk, something in it making me huff out a laugh.

My anger turns to Enzo, the pathetic man whimpering in the arms of two oversized Stryker brothers. They have had their fun messing him up a little while we were preoccupied with Marco. He now sports a solid black eye, and both his front teeth are missing. There is also a good amount of blood leaking from his forehead. Geovani carries me down the stairs of the stage. I wince in pain with every step, but I know I need to do this. Just like Dani needed to make sure the man who took everything he could from her, then tried to sell her, met his maker.

Alex hands me his knife. My knife. The one Geovani originally gave me to protect myself and the very same knife I killed their cop friend with when he attacked me.

As we approach Enzo, he thrashes against the men restraining him. “Make him kneel,” I tell the boys as Geovani helps me down to standing.

As I have instructed, they force him to his knees in front of me. He stares up at me, a quivering mess. “The big powerful leader reduced to a sobbing sack of shit,” I say, making sure to meet his bloodshot eyes. I want to be the last thing he sees. For him to know why I’m the one taking the final blow to him. “You stole my family, my fucking life. You stole all of our lives and thought you could get away with it too. But let me get one thing very fucking clear. I am not my mother, and I will never fucking bow for you. You however look perfect at my feet.” I stumble, sucking in a labored breath, too weak to hold myself up.

Maddox is right there by my side, holding my hand to give me the strength I need. I hold up my blade, watching the way the metal shines in the light. Then I suck in a deep breath, filling my lungs. I have waited for this moment for so long I can hardly believe I finally get to take what I need from him. Like he has taken so much from me.

In one quick move, I use all the energy I have left to plunge my knife deep into the side of Enzo’s neck, just once, right as Geovani taught me. It’s all I had in me, and it’s all I needed. He will bleed out quickly now.

His face blurs, blood gushing out as he cries out in pain. A slow smile stretches across my face as I collapse back into Maddox’s arms, and I succumb to the radiating pain that now controls my body, and everything goes black.