Chapter 57
Fifty-Seven
ROME
As my army takes care of the men outside, Mateo, Julian, and I charge through the front door and kill everyone in our wake, fanning out through the house. It takes all of six seconds to find Rizzo and my firefly in the living room off the kitchen, but I stop cold as I take in the scene.
Loveland is dead at Eloise’s feet.
What the fuck? Loveland was in on this?
Rizzo holds his daughter in front of him, his weapon pressed to her neck.
And I can tell that her shoulder isn’t right.
This son of a bitch.
“If you let me live,” Rizzo says, licking his lips nervously like the piece of shit that he is, “I’ll let you marry my daughter. We can join forces, form an alliance.”
I tilt my head to the side. “Or?”
“Or I kill her right now.”
Eloise’s eyes are on mine. She’s fucking terrified. She’s trembling, and she’s in agony. There’s so much blood on her that there’s no way she’s not injured. Shot. Stabbed.
Jesus, baby.
“You know, it’s interesting,” I tell him, not taking my eyes off my firefly.
I came in this side of the room alone. I can already see Mateo approaching Rizzo soundlessly from behind, and Julian is to my right, just out of sight.
“I plan to marry your daughter with or without your blessing. Your approval doesn’t mean dick to me. ”
Her lip quivers. She swallows hard. Her gaze drifts away from mine as if she’s disassociating from the pain she’s in.
But I need her with me.
“Firefly.” Her gaze whips back to mine. “On me.”
“We can work this out,” Rizzo says with a sharp, nervous laugh. “Damien no longer wants her since you’ve fucked her and taken her virginity.”
Now my girl scowls, and it almost makes me laugh.
Almost.
“I wasn’t a virgin when I ran away,” she says, and Rizzo’s face reddens.
“You’re a fucking whore,” he growls in her ear, and while he’s distracted, Eloise flies into action. She stomps his instep and reaches up with her good hand to poke him in the eye and doesn’t miss.
Rizzo howls in pain.
“Down,” I shout as I raise my gun and shoot her father right between the eyes.
He falls over Loveland, and I sprint to Eloise, who’s trying to crawl away from him.
“Come here, baby.”
“It hurts so fucking bad,” she says, crying out when I tug her into my arms.
“I’m taking you to the hospital. Where are you bleeding?”
Christ, there’s so much blood.
“Did he shoot you?”
Julian, Mateo, and Luke rush in, and Luke immediately helps me look her over. She’s crying too hard to answer me.
“She’s not hit,” Luke says, shaking his head.
“Landed on me,” she says between sobs and looks down at Loveland.
“It’s her blood?” I ask her and feel relief flood me when she nods.
“Thank God. I’m going to carry you, baby.”
“No.” She shakes her head. “I have to walk. You’ll jostle me too much.”
“We have a car right outside,” Julian says. “All of Rizzo’s men are dead. We need to clear out before the cops get here.”
“Wait.” Eloise tugs on my shirt, and I lean down, pressing my cheek to hers.
“What is it, firefly?”
“I love you. I didn’t think I’d get to tell you again because he was going to k-k-kill me, and oh God—”
“I love you, too. I’m right here. You’re safe, my love.”
I have so many questions, but the answers will have to wait because I need to get my girl looked at.
“No hospital,” Luke says as we rush out to the car. “I have Dr. Asgood waiting at the infirmary with a full staff.”
I nod and help Eloise into the car. She winces and cries out as I try to get the seat belt on her, and every moment of her agony is a wound to my soul.
“I wish I could take this away for you,” I murmur as I lean in to press my lips to her head. “I wish it was me, firefly.”
“I’m alive, and I’m with you. I’ll be fine.”
Luke turns a corner and hits a pothole, and Eloise gasps and then loses consciousness.
“Fuck, I’m sorry,” he says.
“Do it again, and you’re a dead man. I don’t give a fuck if you’re family.”
Again, every minute drags on and on, and Eloise doesn’t regain consciousness.
Did he hit her in the head? She has bruises spreading on her face, and that makes me want to go back and burn it all down.
I hate that the fucker had a quick death when he deserved to suffer for days on end.
For what he did to my girl today—I’ll never unsee her being used as a motherfucking human shield—and all the years of abuse she suffered.
I have her in my arms, but I don’t know what she suffered for those few hours when I couldn’t get to her.
I’ll never forget seeing her with him breathing down her neck, believing he could strike a deal with me—as if I would treat her as a pawn on a chessboard.
And Loveland? She was part of hurting my firefly?
I need to know what, exactly, happened, and if any more of my people are fucking traitors.
Because they’ll all die.
“You have Matthews in the cell?” I demand as I bury my lips in Lulu’s hair.
“Yep.”
“How alive is he?”
“Plenty alive,” Luke confirms and watches me in the rearview. “How long is he going to stay that way?”
“Days.” I grin at him. “It’s going to be a long, slow death for that piece of shit. I need answers, and he’s going to give them to me.”
“Christ, you’re scary,” Luke mutters.
“That’s my whole job, remember?”
When we make it to the parking garage beneath my building, I carry Eloise up to the infirmary, and we’re immediately surrounded by Dr. Asgood and her people.
“Lay her on the gurney,” Dr. Asgood directs, her voice tight and strong. She’s good under pressure, which is one of the reasons I hired her to begin with.
It’s often a matter of life and death in this room.
“Where’s the blood coming from?” she demands, and I shake my head.
“It’s from someone else. We checked her over, and she’s not bleeding.”
“Get the scissors,” she barks. “I want these clothes off. Her left shoulder is dislocated. Everyone out while I take an X-ray.”
Everyone files out while she drags a big machine over and manages to get it settled over Eloise to take images.
“You too,” she says to me.
“I’m not fucking going anywhere.”
“The radiation—”
“I’m. Not. Going.”
She sighs, leaves the room, and there’s a beeping noise before Dr. Asgood and everyone else return to continue working on my girl.
“Dislocated,” she says again. “No fracture. She’s been hit in the face, the ribs, her legs. Lots of bruising. I would guess that her ribs are bruised as well. She took one hell of a beating. Poor girl.”
Jesus Christ.
“Why is she unconscious?”
“Pain. Fear. The body will do whatever it needs to do to protect itself. You know that.”
“If she doesn’t live, neither do you,” I snarl at the woman, who narrows her eyes at me.
“She’s going to be fine. Now get out of my way so I can finish examining her.”
“I’m staying right here.”
Dr. Asgood shakes her head and wisely keeps her mouth shut as she continues to look Eloise over.
“No head wounds,” she murmurs. “No facial fractures. Her jaw will be sore, though.”
For fuck’s sake.
“Wake up, firefly,” I whisper and kiss her hand. “Wake up for me.”
“You might want to leave the room while we reset this shoulder.”
“Absolutely fucking not.”
“It’s not—”
“Do it,” I bark at her.
“She might come to while we do this,” she warns me. “And she might come up swinging.”
I fucking hope so.