MARCELLO
"Did you put a detail on Violet?" Luciano asks me.
I look up from the papers I'm signing, and a deep chill runs down my spine. "No. Why?"
"Someone's following her."
"Shit," I grab my phone and hit her speed dial number. I'm already out of my chair, moving toward the door while swearing at her. Answer it, dammit. Meanwhile, I'm barking, "Find out where she is," at Luciano.
She picks up after the second ring. I don't give her a chance to say anything. "Ping me your location. Stay where you are. I'll be right there."
My jacket hangs behind my chair, and I grab it. Luciano closes in, and we head out the door.
"I don't like this boss." He mutters.
"Neither do I. Call a team in to meet us there.
" I order, while my mind races a hundred miles an hour.
This is exactly why she ended things with me.
She was worried someone would come after her because of me.
It's only been four days since she broke up with me, and they might not have realized what she did.
Or they think—not incorrectly—I still have feelings for her.
Whoever has been following her must have been doing so from the beginning.
Alejandro, the driver and guard I assigned to her, didn't pick anything up on it, but that has to have been the case.
So why did they start showing themselves now?
"It's a trap." Luciano and I say simultaneously.
"You should stay back," Luciano advises. The fucking elevator is taking forever to take us down to the street.
"The hell I will, double the team and let's get some answers.
" If this is Margarita's attempt to punish me for her lover's death, she's going to be in a world of hurt.
I haven't heard anything from or about her since the body was delivered.
This is one of the times I miss my sister the most. She would know what's going on with Margarita.
I still haven't heard from or about Sophia, either, and it's driving me insane.
Luciano looks pissed, but he nods. As my second-in-command, it's his job to keep me safe, and I appreciate that he isn't pressing the point now. We both know I won't stay back.
No matter what I've been telling Luciano these past couple of days, I have feelings for that stubborn woman. Why else would I have allowed him to keep in contact with her?
A car is already waiting for us when we exit the lobby at a run, pushing some pedestrians out of the way who curse after us.
Fuck.
I call Alejandro while climbing into the large SUV, nodding at Marco, the driver, "When you were driving Violet, did you ever have the sense that you were being followed?"
"No, sir. Never. I would have informed you." He answers. That's what I thought, but I needed the confirmation. I don't respond and hang up.
"The team is almost there," Luciano advises.
"Dammit, Marco, who taught you how to drive. Hit the gas." I yell at him.
I pull my gun and check it. I know it's locked and loaded, I make sure of it every morning, but my hands need something to do. Soon these bullets will end the assholes who think they can lay a hand on my Violet.
"If anything happens to her," I mutter, not liking the idea at all. There is only one way now to keep her safe, and I vow to take it. I don't care what she says, like it or not. She's in.
I don't feel guilt, only relief that she will finally be mine, the way it's supposed to be. To hell with her objections.
The restaurant appears ahead, and I notice four men in dark suits entering. I'm already unbuckling as I yell, "Stop the car," and jump out.
"Fuck, Marcello," Luciano yells and follows suit. Both of us have our guns at the ready.
A scream sounds out over the noise of New York traffic.
"It's from the alley," Luciano yells, and we change direction from the main entrance to the alley behind the restaurant, while Luciano is barking orders into his phone.
From nearby, I hear the screeching of tires.
There is no time to turn and check if it's friend or foe.
It doesn't matter. If it's foe, I will take them out.
Adrenaline pumps through my veins in anticipation of the fight.
This is what I live for. But for the first time in my life, I'm afraid.
Not for me. For Violet. If something happens to her, I will wade through blood to avenge her.
The streets will spill over with it and drown anybody stupid enough to cross me.
I don't think I'm breathing until I see her.
Two men must have waited for them in the alley, anticipating that she might try to flee that way. That means the other four men will step out of the side door at any minute now.
My blood turns to ice, as it always does before a battle.
The two men have their backs to us. They haven't noticed Luciano and me closing in, too preoccupied with trying to corner Violet and the redhead beside her.
The other girl's holding up a trashcan lid like a makeshift shield.
Useless as a weapon, maybe—but it's keeping the bastards at bay just long enough for us to shift the playing field.
"I want at least two of them alive," I snarl at Luciano.
Luciano nods, his eyes hard and focused on the attackers in front of us. We move swiftly, our footsteps are silent on the pavement as we close the distance in the narrow alley filled with the cloying smell of garbage and old food.
In one swift movement, I charge one of the two, my adrenaline fueling me as I tackle him to the ground. He grunts in surprise, his grip on Violet loosens, who takes the opportunity to break free.
The redheaded girl next to her swings the trashcan lid with surprising strength, catching the second man off guard. When he stumbles back, Luciano is quick to move in, disarming him before he has a chance to recover.
Suddenly, the side door bursts open, and the remaining four men spill out, their guns glinting in the dim alleyway. I step in front of Violet and her friend, shielding them from the incoming danger. Luciano positions himself beside me, his own gun at the ready.
Without warning, gunshots ring out by the back entry, and the sound echoes off the grimy walls.
Luciano and I return fire, our movements are fluid and practiced as we engage the men who thought they could lay a hand on my Violet.
Two of the assailants stay concealed by the door, but one of the others goes down with my bullet embedded in his chest.
Violet stays right next to me; I can feel her trembling body.
"Stay down," I command.
Pain sears me as a bullet whizzes by my head, grazing my face. Looks like more assassins have arrived from the back.
"Get the girls back into the restaurant," I yell at Luciano as we duck, saved by luck from a spray of bullets. But eventually, our luck will run out. Probably sooner rather than later. We need to get the women out of here.
Ignoring the newly arriving assassins, I aim at the men blocking the door. Three bullets, three hits.
"Go!" I yell at Luciano.
He is too well-trained to protest, but I can read the anger in his eyes at not being given a choice. He grabs Violet by the arm and pushes her around the dead men, while I dive for cover behind a large dumpster and shoot at the newcomers.
From the corner of my eye, I see Violet enter the restaurant, followed by the redhead. Luciano positions himself by the door and opens fire at the men by the alley entrance.
I want to curse him out, but I run out of bullets and have to switch magazines while he keeps the assailants busy. No matter how quick I am, Luciano just saved my life by defying my orders. Fucker.
I wait for him to need to reload, then open fire again, keeping the men, five of them, from advancing.
Two more appear on top of the wall dividing the alley from whatever building is on the other side.
"Duck!" I yell at Luciano as I take the first down, but two more appear.
Luciano throws a dark look at me: I told you it was a trap.
"Get over here, I'll cover you," Luciano alternates shooting ahead of him and over his back to keep the assailants at bay.
Not seeing an alternative, I follow his advice. Ducking and shooting, I sprint the short distance from the dumpster to the side door.
"Where are our men?"
"Almost here," Luciano presses out.
Violet lets out a small scream when she sees me, but the redhead stops her from jumping at me. Whoever she is, the woman has a good head on her shoulders.
Screams from the restaurant's main area announce the arrival of more enemies.
"Shit," Luciano curses and yells into his phone.
With both exits blocked, we're sitting ducks. I spot an office. It's not ideal, especially since there's no window inside, but it will have to do.
"Over there," I tell Luciano and grab Violet, trusting the redhead to have the smarts to follow us. In any case, she's not my concern.
"We'll be trapped," the redhead points out.
"Backup is on the way," Luciano informs her.
We usher the women in. "Get behind the desk."
"Marcello," Violet's eyes are pleading with me.
"Get down." There's so much more I want to tell her, but right now, my priority is to keep her safe.
Luciano and I move two large, metallic filing cabinets in front of the door and stand on either side, guns drawn.
We only have seconds before the first fist pounds on the door, and then a barrage of bullets hits it. Luciano and I throw ourselves to the floor, and I pray Violet and the other woman are doing the same.
This is going to get a whole lot uglier before it gets better.