Chapter 50
SILAS
Idon’t wait for my men. The moment I stop my car, I jump out.
Gun drawn, I move stealthily through the darkness toward the house.
Nearing the front entrance, I see one of my men lying face down on the gravel between the fountain and the front steps, his blood pooling beneath him.
Fuck.
I walk past his body and keep moving.
There will be time for him later.
As I approach my front door, the thunderclap of a twelve-gauge shotgun rips into the night, coming from inside. I bolt through the door, my mind alert and my heart hammering.
If Konstantin has hurt any of them, I’ll cut off his cock and then his balls and force-feed them down his throat. Death won’t come quick enough for him.
I tear through the dark house, my eyes and ears alert for any of Konstantin’s men. I hear yelling deeper inside the house and move quickly toward the ruckus.
I find them in the living room. Konstantin slumped against the wall with one arm raised to shield his face. In the stone wall behind him is a ragged hole the size of a watermelon.
Gia is on her ass on the floor, the shotgun still clamped in both hands and pointed at Konstantin.
The recoil from when she pulled the trigger must’ve knocked her off her feet.
Leonore is crouched beside her, as if she’s been flung across the room, and the relief I feel when I see they’re unharmed is immediate.
“You crazy bitch!” Konstantin snarls. “You’re fucking crazy—”
He doesn’t finish.
That’s when he sees me, and after a moment’s pause, a cold smirk curls on his lips. Things just got even more interesting.
Before he can say anything, two of his men come through the bar room entrance at a sprint, drawn by the sound of the shotgun. I aim and shoot, taking them both down with four shots.
Outside, the night erupts with gunfire as my men arrive and press Konstantin’s men.
But in the living room, there are just the four of us.
Walking toward Konstantin, I level my gun at the face of Leonore’s monster. “You’re in my house.” My tone is cold, and that panic I felt before washes away as I take control once again.
His black eyes gleam in the half light of the fire. “Your sister has made quite the impression.”
I grit my teeth. “Get on your knees.”
He doesn’t move. He just studies me with cold, empty eyes. He’s not afraid of the gun.
“On your knees,” I repeat to Konstantin. “I won’t ask again.”
He smiles, and it’s a thin reptilian smile with no warmth. It’s not human. And I want nothing more than to permanently remove it. But no sooner have I thought it than I feel the press of cold steel against the base of my skull.
“Lower your weapon.” The voice comes from behind me. It must be one of Konstantin’s men. “Slowly.”
The probability of me turning around and shooting him before he can pull the trigger is not good. The barrel is pressed against bone. At this range, I’d be dead before my finger found the trigger.
I lower my gun.
The smirk widens on Konstantin’s smug face as he takes my gun from me. God, I want to unload a clip right in the middle of it.
“You know, I was going to take Antonia and leave you to bury your men and mourn your bruised ego. But now that you’ve killed two of my men in front of me, I’m feeling less generous. I take these matters rather personally, you see.”
He steps closer.
“I think I’ll let you watch. Before I kill you, that is. I’ll let you see what I do to her first.” His smile widens. “I think you’ll like it. It hits differently when you hear her screams.”
Behind me, the man with the gun presses the barrel harder into my skull. A reminder not to make any sudden movements.
Konstantin turns toward Leonore, and every cell in my body screams at me to fight this asshole, even if it costs me my life.
But a dead man can’t fight back or protect her.
I have to play this smart. Wait for a moment when the man holding the gun to my skull moves or is distracted just enough for me to disarm him before he even knows what’s happening.
But as long as his attention remains on me, that’s the best that I can do right now.
The moment arrives seconds later when the gun at my head disappears. I hear a loud crack behind me, and the gunman falls to the floor in a heap.
Swinging around, I see Nessa standing over him with a tire iron in her hands, her teeth clenched and a fierce look of determination on her face.
“That’s quite enough, Mr. Vescari,” Konstantin says, and when I look back at him, he is pointing my gun at me.
For one frozen heartbeat, we face each other. His finger is on my trigger. A victorious smile on his face.
“Goodbye, Mr. Vescari.”
The shotgun blast is deafening. Sound detonates through the space, ripping through the standoff like a physical force.
For a split second, there is only impact and shock. The kind that doesn’t immediately translate into meaning.
Konstantin jerks violently to the left as the blast hits him, slamming into the wall hard, leaving blood spatter in his wake. The gun is ripped from his hand and clatters across the floor.
Silence crashes in after it.
Heavy. Absolute.
He doesn’t fall straight away.
He stays upright for a fraction too long, like his body hasn’t caught up with what’s just happened. Fingers twitch against the wall, his expression frozen in something between disbelief and pain, blood oozing, bottom jaw missing.
Then his strength gives out.
He slides down slowly, leaving a smeared trail of blood behind him until he collapses at the base of the wall, completely still.
The monster is dead.
Leonore is six feet away, holding Gia’s shotgun. Her face is pale. Her eyes wild. Blood that doesn’t look like her own is smeared against her lips, and most likely has to do with the chunk missing from Konstantin’s cheek.
Like the predator that she is, she only needed a second of an opportunity. But the way she breathes in and out, I can see she’s fighting herself to come back to her senses.
“Leo,” I say, and she points the gun at me, that feral, crazed part of her fully at the surface. This must be one of her violent episodes she’s told me about. The little psycho.
I smile then, so proud of her as she carefully watches me, but her gaze goes back to Konstantin’s body on the floor and the blood spreading beneath him.
“I’m jealous when you look at another man, my Little Raven,” I say to her, and she snaps her attention and the gun back to me. Gia seems unsure what to do, but I signal for her not to do anything. I’ve got this.
Beautiful things obey.
Only for me. As she is the only woman I will ever lose my control and mind over. And if she shoots me because of that psychotic part of her that I love so much, then so be it.
Recognition seems to spark in her eyes, and I watch as she takes control of herself again. Then she lowers the shotgun and looks at me. Her legs buckle. But I reach her before she falls and pull her into my arms.
“It’s over,” I say, whispering into her hair.
She shakes in my arms and lets out a sob.
“You did what you had to do,” I whisper into her hair.
“I’m not crying because I shot him. I’m crying because it feels fucking amazing.” She begins to laugh, a maddening, crazed sound, and I can’t help but find it contagious as I laugh with her. I can sense Gia and Nessa looking between one another, but I don’t fucking care.
This is part of who my beautiful woman is, and it calls to me on such a primal level.
“I’m so relieved. He’s gone. He’s really fucking gone.” She blinks back tears. “No more running.”
I nod in agreeance. “No more running.”
Over her shoulder, Nessa slumps against the doorframe with the tire iron still in her hand. It’s as if it’s the first time Leonore notices her, and I try not to take it personally when she rushes over to her.
“Oh my God, Nessa, I’m so sorry,” she sobs, sounding more like herself.
“I’m so sorry I didn’t know what you went through,” Nessa blurts out. I focus on Gia, who walks over to the liquor cabinet and begins to fill a glass for herself.
Before bringing the glass to her lips, she points it toward Leonore. “She’s a bit crazy, but I like her.” And then she takes a sip. Though in the way her eyes glisten, I can tell she’s happy about the result.
I nod, agreeably. “She’ll fit right in.”