10. Marco
Marco
P etrov might be a greedy motherfucker, but the man sure is good at his job. His intelligence finds Nova's hideout—an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of town.
They spot him real quick and now I'm wondering why they hadn't found him yet if they're this good. I guess Matteo's offer was more mouthwatering than I thought.
Just before we set out, the Bellanti and the Bratva assemble for a small pep talk.
Petrov's lieutenant reveals Nova keeps records of the crimes committed by almost all the powerful families in the city.
He says it's Nova's insurance, his weakness, and also reveals the exact location of the safe where Nova keeps all these files.
I can't deny how good these guys are. The Bratva Intelligence is indeed intelligent. Once done, both forces arm themselves, ready for a fierce battle as we all storm out of the building.
We locate the warehouse and there, war breaks out. Rapid gunfire fills the air as we take down Nova's men. It helps that we take them off guard, but those fuckers are highly trained mercenaries, so the fight is quite intense.
The Bellanti brothers and I spread across the building, guns held up before us as we shoot the enemies in our eye sights. Splitting up is the only way to cover more grounds and efficiently find Olivia.
Alone, I shoot my way up metal steps, my shots sharp and precise. My victims' bodies thud to the floor. Some roll down the steps as I ascend.
I get to a hallway from the blueprint of the warehouse registered in my head. I know the location of Nova's files is the room across the hallway.
Just as I'm about to take a step forward, I hear a muffled noise from the room to my right. My eyes narrow and my gun points toward the room. I'm almost certain that's where Olivia is being holed up.
I glance at the room up ahead, but the files aren't why I'm here—she is. So, fuck the files. I kick the door open and barge into the dimly lit room, my gun pointing ahead of me.
“Olivia!” I call out when I see her sitting strapped to a chair with a gag over her mouth.
My instincts kick in and I raise my head, only to find an enemy aiming down at me from the staircase above. I pull my trigger a lot faster than him, and his lifeless body falls off the staircase. I shoot down a couple more men before my gun clicks empty
This entire time, Olivia's shuddering in her seat, her hands strapped to the chair, gagged. I drop my empty gun and run to her, dropping to my knees at her feet. My fingers tug down her gag and a gasp comes forth.
Before I can ask if she's okay, her eyes widen in horror and she screams, “Behind you!”
I turn around, deflecting a powerful punch and retaliating with mine. The impact forces Hunter to stumble backwards, spitting blood.
His eyes blaze with fury. “You'll pay for that.”
I take my stance, ready for hand to hand combat as he lunges at me with dangerous speed. Hunter's surprisingly good with his fists, swinging deadly blows and dodging mine.
The air is electric with the sounds of our thick grunts as we exchange kicks and punches.
The fight intensifies as neither of us will yield to the other's strength.
Soon, our blows leave us bleeding and weak.
Hunter resorts to turning anything at his disposal into a makeshift weapon—broken pieces of glass, sand, wooden chairs.
“Do you think she loves you?” he bellows. “After you abandoned her for three fucking years? You're fucking delusional, Marco! I'm gonna kill you; she's gonna be mine!”
I deflect and dodge all of his attacks as I unleash my pent-up rage. Maybe I was holding back at first, but the idea of Hunter having his way with Olivia unlocked something in me, something primal.
Now, it's like I'm a beast on a rampage. Every punch lands—jaw, cheek, gut, ribs—anywhere I aim. Hunter’s staggering, bleeding, but I don’t let up.
He stumbles backwards and crashes to the ground. I'm so angry that I miss the knife he unsheathes. As I reach down to grab him by the collar, I feel the blade piercing my flesh. He kicks me off of him and as I fall on my side, a hand over the wound on my abdomen, he launches an attack on me.
“Stop!” Olivia calls out at the top of her voice.
Hunter freezes in his tracks and slowly turns in her direction. I shift my gaze to her—
And there she stands with a gun in her hand, an AK-47, which she points at Hunter. Her stance is perfect and majestic, like she knows how to use it.
“Back away from him or I swear…” She cocks the gun, her eyes filled with rage. “...I will shoot you.”
I couldn't be more proud of her. She somehow freed herself and picked up the discarded gun of a dead man. She looks so badass, so fierce and sexy.
Hunter chuckles. “You won't kill me. You're not a killer.”
“You'll make one out of me if you don't stand down,” she warns, aiming at his chest.
I can see in her eyes that she's not kidding—she can pull that trigger.
Hunter doesn’t see what I see. He underestimates her and disobeys her warning.
Wrong move.
As he raises his hand in readiness to attack me, she squeezes the trigger and a loud gunshot fills the room. The shocked expression on Hunter's face is the last look on his face before he falls to the ground. Dead with a bullet hole in his chest.
Just before Olivia can take a step forward, Nova appears behind her with a knife for her throat. “Let's wrap things up nice and easy, shall we?”