30. Leona #2
“Get down!” I shouted, grabbing Wynn’s arm and diving behind the pleather couch.
His arms wrapped around me, his back toward the couch, when bullets shattered the glass all around us.
The gunshots slammed into the back of the couch, and I waited for one to tear through my body, but nothing happened.
More bullets flew into the shop, and it took every fiber of strength in my body not to scream, not to run after my men.
I just had to trust they’d made it to safety somehow.
Finally, the onslaught paused.
“Wynn,” I whispered. My hands searched his chest for blood. “Are you okay? Did you get shot?”
His palm tightened around the back of my neck. “I’m fine, I’m fine, darling. Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
I swallowed, shaking my head.
“Status!” Obi shouted from somewhere to our right.
“Leona and I are clear,” Wynn answered.
“Clear,” Ciel said from behind us.
“Clear!” shouted Ryu from deeper inside the shop, now on the other side of the counter. “Cas is with me.”
I shuddered, releasing a heavy breath as I pressed my forehead to Wynn’s chest. Holy shit .
“Where is Orik?” Wynn called.
“I grabbed him and yanked him back here,” Ryu said back, voice getting closer.
I craned my head behind us to see Ryuji with his assault rifle, leaning over the countertop and aiming at the now-shattered windows and whatever enemies waited beyond.
On this other side, Cas did the same. “I’ve got you. Cas and I have cover fire prepared.”
Wynn hopped up, grabbing my shoulders and pulling me to my feet. He kept a palm on my head while we both crouched. Obi and Ciel moved beside us, and the four of us kept beneath the window line as we retreated farther into the shop.
“Wait,” Cas said, squinting into the lights. “I hear Italian.”
He was right; I heard it too. I frowned. If it wasn’t Albanian reinforcements, then who the fuck was it?
“Hey!” Cas shouted. “We’re not Albanian!”
Everyone seemed to pause on both sides.
“Goddamn it,” Ryuji hissed.
“It’s Max,” added Cas. “Max! Stop fucking shooting at us!”
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” my arch-enemy said from just outside the front door.
I was closest to him, judging by how close his voice sounded. I pushed off Wynn’s arm and stood, training my gun on Max’s chest.
Blood covered his right temple and dripped down his torn shirt. His assault rifle pointed at the ground. At the same time my eyes locked on him, his locked on me.
“What the hell happened to you?” I asked.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Max asked.
“None of your fucking business,” Ryu hissed, palming a knife. Shit. All my guys were tensing. “Can I kill him now? I think it’s time to kill him.”
The click of a gun drew my attention over my shoulder, where Cas faced down Daniele’s assault rifle. He must have crept it on us through the bays. My heart leapt into my throat.
“Wait—” I said, keeping my gun on Max.
“Daniele, back off,” Max barked. Daniele sneered, lowering his weapon slightly and stepping back. Cas didn’t take his eyes off him.
“Where’s Orik Vokshi?” Max asked. “His men?”
Orik still sat bound and gagged at Ryuji’s feet. He was hidden behind the counter, so Max couldn’t see him.
“Why?” I asked .
His eyes narrowed. “Because I’m going to fucking kill him, that’s why.”
“Sorry,” I said with a shake of my head. “That’s not happening.”
“Is he dead?”
A muffled shout came from behind the counter, along with Ryuji kicking the asshole to shut him up, but the jig was up. Max heard him.
“Give him to me,” Max demanded. His eyes flared with rage. “Now, Leona.”
“No. We got here first.”
“He hit my casino tonight.”
I took him in again. His blood-spattered shirt. His clothes askew. He must have been chasing Orik all night.
“We were closing in on his safe house when he bolted,” Max added. He must have run here to meet up with more men. That must be why they looked like they were waiting for us, except they weren’t waiting for us; they were waiting for Max. “Give him to me. He’s my kill.”
“He’s ours.”
We sounded like bickering children again, but I didn’t care. Vokshi was our kill. We needed his information.
Tension radiated from all my men. Obi’s chest pressed against my back, and his arm curled around my waist. Ciel and Wynn flanked us, while Ryuji palmed two of his knives. With one throw, his blade could land in any of Max’s men.
“Back off,” Wynn demanded.
“Leave, Volpe, before you regret it,” added Obi.
Max sighed. “Must we do this again? Your threats to kill me lose their sting after a while, you know.”
I grimaced. He wasn’t wrong, and it was like rubbing salt in a wound. We should kill him, but now?
A flash glinted for only a moment before one of Ryu’s knives embedded in the doorframe behind Max’s head. A small drop of blood oozed from a cut on his cheek.
All hell broke loose.
Guns went back up. Max shouted. Daniele swung at Cas, but Cas blocked his punch and clocked him in the jaw. Wynn and Ryuji leapt at Max. Obi tried to maneuver me behind him, but I shrugged him off.
An all-out fucking brawl in an auto-repair shop.
A hand clamped on my leg, and I screeched in surprise. Orik Vokshi clawed at me, hands digging into my ankle. The ropes tying him were nowhere to be found. I stumbled back, tripping into Obi’s back.
Suddenly, Orik’s head snapped back, a spray of blood exploding behind him. His hand on my leg loosened, and he face-planted the ground. Dead.
The entire room turned to see Wynn, gun in hand, eyes manic with terror. My chest heaved while I tried to catch my breath and process what just happened.
Obi clutched me to his chest. “Are you all right?”
I nodded. He sighed with relief.
“Wynn—” I started.
“Jesus fucking Christ,” Ryuji grumbled. “He didn’t even have a goddamn weapon. We were supposed to torture him. What are we going to do now?”
Wynn’s eyes darted between Orik’s body and me. His free hand fisted at his side while he blinked rapidly and his face crumpled. I glanced at my ankle to see red scratches, but nothing life-threatening.
“Fuck,” Max said quietly, running a hand through his hair like he always did when he was thinking. Trying to solve a problem. After a moment, he deflated. “What a waste of fucking time.”
We all stood around, staring at Vokshi’s dead body. Now what ?
“I thought he had a knife,” Wynn said quietly. “I couldn’t let him hurt her.”
I reached for him. “It’s okay, Wynn. You?—”
“We’re done here,” Obi said, pulling me backwards. The rest of my guys did the same, retreating the way we came.
“Let’s go. Before the cops come.” Max snapped his fingers at Daniele. He cast me one last look, eyes dragging all the way down my body, lingering on the blood spatter on my face, before he turned.
As quickly as we’d all come, we disappeared just as fast.
It wasn’t until we got back to the SUV that Vokshi’s leer burned behind my eyelids. His words echoed in my ears.
And my hands started shaking.