24
Iwas thankful I’d kicked off my shoes earlier as I ran through the grass and even as my feet collided with the path’s hard cobblestone. Leni was beside me, keeping up despite bleeding profusely from her arm. I held her hand as we dashed toward the reception area, and my heart stuttered when we came upon a body. I didn’t recognize the older woman, but I assumed she was a friend of my parents. She’d been shot through the forehead and maybe her neck. There was too much blood to be sure.
“Fuck, Leni.”
“No…” she gasped, lifting her eyes to the other three bodies scattered on the pathway. “Silas.” She tore her hand from my grasp and bolted, and when she reached the opening of the tent, she came to an abrupt stop.
My mind raced a mile a minute, chest tightening as every twisted scenario crossed my thoughts. “No…no…”
I squeezed the handle of the gun I’d taken as I cautiously stepped toward the entrance. Silas was first to come into view, covered with spatters of blood. Desperation was etched onto his face like he couldn’t reach the woman he loved fast enough. It was then I saw Kai. He’d been running to Leni as well, but the moment our eyes connected, a host of emotions passed over him all at once. He mouthed something I couldn’t quite make out, but I stopped trying the moment his body crashed into mine.
“Did they hurt you? Baby, please tell me you’re okay.” His hands were frantic, patting me down, searching for the origin of the blood painting my skin. At that moment, I was almost too stunned to speak. “Amalia, look at me. Look at me, baby.” He cupped my cheeks. “Where is it? Tell me so I can help you.”
My hands came up around his, a frail smile on my face. “It’s not mine. The blood…it isn’t mine.”
Kai released a haggard breath and tugged me to his chest, arms wrapped around the back of my head as he squeezed and kissed my hair. “I thought they… And then, when I saw Leni and not you. Fuck—don’t ever do that to me again.”
“What happened? Is everyone else okay? My parents? Gio? The baby?”
“Fine. Security is doing a sweep. Two men attacked me and Silas.”
“Kai, this is an inside job. The men who ambushed Leni and me were part of the security detail. We can’t trust anyone.”
“Shit. We have to get these people out of here. The kids and Milly are in a safe room in the main building—” He froze, eyes wide. “Can we trust her?”
“Of course. She’s been with me since I was Valentina’s age.”
He sighed another relieved breath.
“Eva and Derek are on the north side of the property with some of your father’s men. Should we be worried?” He was punching in messages to Derek before I could reply.
“I wish I knew. But we left one of them alive. He’s down near the lake. Leni made sure he wouldn’t escape.”
Kai peered past me, his jaw set tight.
“I’m taking her to get this taken care of.” Silas was carrying Leni. His eyes were red-rimmed, worry creasing into his brow. He jerked a nod in my direction and mouthed his thanks before making his way out of the tent.
Leni peered from around him. “Amalia, give them hell.”
There was something uniquely thrilling about hearing the cries of a piece-of-shit man when faced with his mortality and all the creative ways one could find to test the threshold of just how far the human body can be pushed. Ten bloody nails and four teeth lay on the wooden table of a special cellar beneath the stables of my home. The bearded man’s head bobbled back and forth, bloody drool staining his chin and the facial hair that had once been a salt and pepper color. He peered at me through swollen eyelids and mouthed another “fuck you.”
“Kai.” With a tilt of my chin, I gave him the go ahead. Clearly, this asshole needed more persuasion.
My husband fisted the top of the man’s hair, yanking his head back and forcefully prying his mouth open. Muffled cries filled the dimly lit space as Kai removed another tooth.
“Please….” he begged, spittle spraying into the air as he wailed.
“Answer my questions, and I promise I’ll make it quick.” My patience was running thin.
“I don’t,” Derek growled from behind me as he paced idly in the background, practically foaming at the mouth for a turn.
I had no plans to take it easy on a man who’d set out to kill me and crashed my fucking wedding, threatening my family and guests. But if I only offered him a tortured death, then what incentive would he have to speak? I needed to know who was behind this and the attack at the compound, because there was no doubt in my mind they were related.
“I can’t help you… Please, let me go. I have a family.”
“I have a family,” Kai taunted, his fingers still wound tightly in the man’s hair. “Somehow, you think that will garner sympathy.” I’d never seen this side of Kai. I knew he was in there. He was a Cain, after all. But fuck me if I wasn’t already dripping wet. “You ruined her dress, and I liked that fucking dress.” The sharp blade of a knife pierced the top of his hand, impaling it to the table. “You tried to kill my wife. I’m going to rip off your head.”
Hell, Kai. I hadn’t realized I was staring and biting my lip. It was wildly inappropriate, considering the circumstances. But as I’d always said, there was nothing sexier than a man defending his woman’s honor in blood.
Feelings of jealousy toward Helena seemed so damn trivial now because Kai had never looked at Leni like he had me. And I would own that. He was mine. Temporary or not.
He was mine.
The man’s mouth gaped open, and hoarse grunts replaced the shrieks from just moments ago when another knife effectively nailed both his hands to the table.
“Shit, shit…please stop.”
“You know what you need to do. Now, give me names. Who gave the order?” I demanded through gritted teeth, leaning on the table’s edge.
“I don’t know. You know better than anyone how this works.”
I pounded the table—just an insignificant lackey. Those men at the bottom who are anonymously given orders in return for a payday. It was insurance for scenarios like these because, no matter what, spineless men ultimately broke—every single time.
Twisting around to a stone-faced Derek, I nodded, giving him the green light. A devious grin crawled across his lips as he unfolded his arms and reached for his blade.