19. Tommaso #2
I feel fuzzy. I’m struggling to keep myself conscious with all of the blood loss and the bullet wound.
The room erupts in gunfire, and I tense up, prepared for the worst, but Butches body goes falling to the ground along with his gun a split second later. Whoever shot him took a risk.
I realize as I look up through blurry vision that it’s my own brother, Carmine. A determined and angry look tugging at his face as he storms through the room and right up to Dante.
Two guards have been shot and are struggling to get up from the ground while the room is filled with Trish, Jake, and Carmine all pointing their guns at Dante.
“You’ll never defeat us,” Dante sneers. Overconfidence laced in his tone.
“We already have,” Carmine insists. “Upstairs, there’s over twenty guns taking out every single member of your family one by one until we get to the last. The best.”
Dante’s face goes white.
“What did you expect, that I would let you kidnap my brother and not come after him?” Carmine shoves his gun in Dante’s face, and the man suddenly doesn’t look so powerful.
Several more guards come running down the stairs, looking at though they are trying to escape something, or someone, but as soon as they see the danger they try to turn back around.
They’re cornered as more of our men come up behind them and shoot them directly in the head.
Gunfire is going off like crazy upstairs, and I hear the screams of the Bianchi family highlighting every sound. It must be a blood bath up there.
My eyes close. I can’t keep them open anymore.
“Tommy,” a familiar voice rings in my ears.
Aleksandr.
“Has anyone bothered to check that he’s okay?” he asks through a growl of irritation. I don’t need to open my eyes to know he’s rushing over to me, and I feel his hands on the sides of my face.
“Oh, baby,” he whispers. “What did they do to you?” His voice cracks and I can hear the anger in it.
His forehead is drawn to mine and I forget about every single ache and pain in my body for a moment. All I can feel are his hands cradling my face. All I can taste is his breath against my mouth.
“Alek,” I mumble weakly. “You came.”
“Of course I came,” he says, his fingers curling against my skin. “I’m going to fucking kill them.”
Aleksandr’s mouth presses to mine, and despite the cracks in my lips and the blood dripping down my chin, I kiss him back.
“Get him out of here,” Carmine orders.
Alek moves back from the kiss and pulls a knife out of his side holster, cutting me free from my bindings. “Can you walk?” he asks me.
“I don’t know,” I mumble. “I’ll try.”
His hands slide under my arms and he helps me up from the chair. I stumble forward slightly, my legs feeling weak and heavy. I manage to stand up and steady myself enough to not fall back into the chair, but I’m not so sure I take a step forward.
“I got you,” Alek insists, putting one arm around my waist and the other in front of me.
As he’s leading me toward the stairs one shaky step at a time, Dante lunges for me. Trish sends a bullet into his leg and Jake into his head as he’s falling to the ground.
Getting up the stairs is the hardest part. I can hear the gunfire going on up there as Alek guides me up one step at a time. I wince in pain as I step down on my wounded leg.
Someone starts down the stairs from the top, one of the Bianchi crew, and Alek lifts his gun for them before they can draw theirs on us.
They’re falling down the stairs toward us with blood splattered all over their chest before I can blink.
Alek pulls me to the side as their body tumbles past us and then pulls me forward.
“Get him to a safe house,” Carmine’s voice comes from behind us. Everyone in the basement is dead.
“I’m going as fast as I can, besides, we still have to find Stephan,” Alek insists.
“I’ll find him, don’t worry about it,” Carmine says.
“No,” Alek growls. “He’s mine.”
I know exactly why Alek wants to be the one to find Stephan, and I don’t blame him, but I’m not exactly in the best shape to fight along side him.
We get to the stop of the stairs and into the hallway. It’s much easier from here. Down the hallway into the entry way. Carmine and the other two rush past us to go help the others. Cassian is coming down from upstairs, covered in blood and panting.
“Stop him!” he yells.
My gaze shifts over to the front door where Stephan Bianchi has a hand on the knob and the other with a suitcase in it. He’s splattered with blood but otherwise looks uninjured.
“Stop right there,” Carmine demands, and everyone in the room has their gun on him.
Two shots ring out from upstairs, and I hear Damian’s voice call out “All clear upstairs!”
The floor is absolutely covered in blood, and seven bodies lay all around us, I realize quickly that two of them are from the Rose and my stomach sinks.
“You’re making the wrong move,” Stephan tells us. His voice is calm, but the look in his eyes is anxious.
“I don’t think so,” Alek spits at him.
“Why shouldn’t we kill you right here and now, end all this?” Carmine asks him.
Alek looks annoyed that Carmine is even asking. I look over to see his finger twitch on the trigger. I can see how badly he wants to pull it. To send a bullet right through Stephan Bianchi’s head and be done with it.
Frankly, I don’t know why he hasn’t yet.
I feel his body tense against mine as I lean on him for support.
“Alek,” I whisper as spots of black start to invade my vision. “I’m fading.”
Alek growls and grips his gun tighter. “Why are we talking to this fucker?”
“I want to know,” Carmine insists. “Give me a reason not to end you after all you’ve done.”
He steps closer.
Stephan chuckles softly. “I don’t need to give you a reason.”
“Get on your fucking knees,” Alek demands.
Stephan looks amused at the order.
Alek lets go of me and I lean against the edge of a wall nearby. I watch as he stomps over to Stephan and shoves him down by his shoulder. Forcing him down onto his knees.
“Don’t act like you have any say over how this goes,” Alek hisses. “I could kill you right here and now. You’re surrounded.”
“It’s over,” Carmine agrees. “Your men are dead. We have the guns you got from the Carvels. You have nothing left.”
Stephan huffs. “I’m the least of your problems, Dresvanni,” he tells us.
Carmine eyes him. “What do you mean?”
“You’ll soon find out,” Stephan smirks.
“Maybe we should take him back to the estate, question him,” Carmine ponders.
“No,” Alek says, suddenly panicked. “No! This ends now. After everything he did.”
As my vision starts to fade completely and I start to slide down the wall, one of the last things I see is Alek press his gun to Stephan’s head.
“What did I ever do to you?” Stephan asks.
“You killed my wife, you fucking maggot,” Alek yells at him. “You killed dozens of families, you didn’t even care who was in that building and…fuck! Why am I telling you any of this I—”
“Alek, no!” Carmine tries to stop him.
It’s too late. A gunshot rings out and I hear a body fall to the floor.
It’s not the last one though. Two more shots ring out.
“Fuck you, fuck you!” Alek growls.
Two more shots.
“Alek, he’s dead!” Jake says.
“Fucking motherfucker. Fucking monster, what kind of…” Alek’s voice is the last thing I hear before everything truly disappears.