Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Enzo
The day after Christmas, things shifted. Knowing that an attack was imminent had put both Gianina and I on edge, and I went into security mode.
After I triple checked all the cameras, locks, sensors, and weapons, I stood guard at the window, my shotgun propped between where I stood and the door.
“Are you going to stand there the rest of the time we’re here?” Gianina asked from behind me.
The corner of my lips curved. “Maybe.”
She sighed as she wrapped her arms around my waist from behind. “I just want this all to be over so we can go back to how things were.”
I placed a hand over hers. “When this is over, things will never be the same.”
She rested her head in between my shoulder blades. “Do you think we could have something outside of here?”
A lump formed in my throat. “You mean back home?”
I felt her nod against my back.
“Doubtful. If your dad knew about us, I’d end up in a body bag.”
She responded with a heavy sigh. “I don’t want us to end.”
I squeezed her hands. I didn’t want us to end either. She’d chipped away at my hardened exterior and burrowed inside, making a place for herself that felt like home. “Let’s just focus on making it out alive right now. We can worry about us later.”
Her face fell but she nodded. “Okay. So what’s the plan?”
It was hard to come up with a definite plan when I didn’t know exactly how things would go down, but I had a general idea. “If we see them coming, I think it would be best to draw them to the basement; make them come to us.”
Her grip on my waist tightened. “And if we don’t see them coming?”
My jaw tensed. “Get to one of the guns fast and go from there.”
She didn’t respond.
“And Gia?”
“Yeah?”
“If I say run, you run.”
She stiffened. “I won’t”
I let out an exasperated sigh and turned to face her, tipping her chin up to look at me. “I mean it, Gia. You need to run if I tell you to.”
Her mouth set in a frown and she narrowed her eyes at me. “I won’t leave you. I’d be good as dead out there without you anyway.”
She was probably right, but I wouldn’t accept that. “Please, Gia. Just do as ask this one time.”
Her gaze softened and her eyes searched mine for a few seconds. “Fine.”
I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I caressed her cheek with my thumb, then pressed a quick kiss to her lips. “Thank you.”
The rest of the day was uneventful. I stayed at my post except when I had to go to the bathroom, and even then I took my tablet with the camera footage with me to keep watch.
Then, sometime after dark, my proximity lights went off.
Even before I saw them, something in the air shifted; a pressure, a weight.
Then the tree line moved.
Not from wind.
From men.
One shadow. Then two. Then many.
Shit.
My whole body tensed. They had found us.
We had about a minute before they reached the cabin. Several would be taken out by my traps, but not all of them. I waited until I was able to count all the men as they emerged from the trees.
Nine.
I chortled. They should’ve sent more.
A scream of pain cut through the still night. If I had to guess, I’d say one of them stepped on a bear trap.
“Gia,” I called out, low and steady, grabbing my shotgun by the door.
She came out of her room, pulling her hair into a messy ponytail. She was wearing leggings and one of my sweaters that hung off her shoulder.
She froze when she saw my face.
“What is it?” Her voice was tight. “Did they find us?”
“Yes.” I took the pistol from the hall closet and held it out to her. “We have less than a minute until they get here.”
She didn’t even reach for it at first — just stared at it, eyes widening.
“I don’t… Enzo, you know I don’t really know how—”
“You’re not going to shoot anyone,” I stated gently, trying to reassure her. “It’s just in case I go down.” She started to shake her head before I finished talking, her eyes becoming glossy. “Stay behind me and if I tell you to run, you run. Got it?”
Her breathing went uneven, her throat bobbing as she swallowed hard. “I won’t leave you.” She gripped the pistol in both hands — awkward, tense, her fingers too high on the slide. I fixed her grip quickly, guiding her hands with mine.
“Keep your finger off the trigger unless you have to,” I instructed, pulling her towards the basement.
The cabin creaked — a board on the porch. Then another. A shout sounded and a small commotion broke out.
I smirked. One of them must have hit the trip wire.
I killed the lights and guided her down the basement steps.
Upstairs, the front door slammed open, banging off the wall so hard it shook dust loose from the rafters.Multiple sets of boots thudded across the hardwood floor.
Gia gripped my forearm with her free hand. I moved her behind the water heater, out of sight and the path of gunfire.
The basement door rattled on its hinges. One hard hit away from giving.
I raised the shotgun, aiming it at the door. My eyes had already adjusted to the darkness and I was glad I had that advantage.
The next hit splintered the frame and then the door burst open.
Two men flooded down the stairs.
I fired once — the blast filled the basement with smoke. One man crumpled onto the steps like a dropped sack.
The other ducked, firing wild, bullets splintering the shelving to my right as he crept down the stairs. Gia gasped and ducked down, trembling.
“Stay down,” I told her, low but firm.
The gunman charged. He was big, but reckless, almost desperate it seemed.
Good. Desperate men made mistakes.
I sidestepped, grabbed his wrist, and slammed it into the railing until his fingers opened. The gun dropped. I hooked his leg, drove my knee into his ribs, and sent him crashing back into the staircase. His skull hit concrete.
He didn’t move again.
Gia peeked out. Her breathing was fast and thin.
More boots above us.
“I counted nine earlier. Two went down outside. Then, these two. Five left,” I told her.
She nodded, clutching the pistol tight again. She looked scared out of her mind — but she didn’t panic.
“Stay out of sight,” I instructed.
The next wave hit hard; three men rushed in. One fired immediately. Gia yelped and dropped back down to a crouch, covering her head.
The lights came on. I took two steps toward the stairs, angled my shoulder, and fired. The blast sent the first sprawling down the stairs, piling on top of the other two bodies.
The second leapt over them. I grabbed the beam at the bottom of the staircase, swung my weight, and drove my boots into his chest, sending him falling backward as I shot into his chest.
The third tackled me before I could reset.
We hit the ground hard. Pain spiked through my ribs. The man grabbed for the shotgun. I slammed my elbow into his jaw, grabbed the back of his neck, and smashed his head against the steps twice.
His body went limp.
I was on my feet instantly, scanning for more. Two more appeared in the doorway and started firing. I dove for cover behind a stack of boxes.
“Just give us the girl and we’ll let you live, Wolf.”
I made eye contact with Gia. “Over my dead body,” I snarled, peeking around the side of my cover.
A bullet whizzed past my face, making me jerk back.
“Suit yourself,” the man replied.
Both men came down the steps at the same time. I waited until their footsteps sounded close enough to where one shot would take them both out.
Then, I jumped out, pulling the trigger. But only one of the men got hit. He collapsed as the other tucked and rolled just in time, then kicked the shotgun out of my hands.
He aimed at me but I swatted his arm away as he shot, sending his gun flying as well.
Then, we both charged, colliding in a flurry of punches. I tackled him to the ground and started punching.
“Enzo!” Gia yelled, but it was too late. One of the other men must have come to and had hooked his arm around my throat, pulling me off his associate.
I slammed my head back into his, making him lose his grip. I was able to free myself, but not before the other tackled me.
The breath knocked out of me from the fall and the man’s weight on me. He began punching me, and from the corner of my eye, I saw the other guy slowly starting to get up.
Panic seized me. I couldn’t let them get her; I couldn’t fail her. “Gia, run!”
A shot rang out, and the first man fell back down. I punched the one on top of me and flipped him over, pinning him under me.
He kneed me in the balls, making me see stars as I fell over in pain. Then, he was on top of me again, punching me in the jaw.
Another shot rang out and sharp, stinging pain pierced my arm.
“Shit, sorry!” Gia shrieked.
I blocked a punch as I yelled, “Did you really just shoot me?”
Another shot, but this time I heard it fly in between my attacker and me.
“Fuck,” Gia cursed.
All I could think was I was going to die because my chick had terrible aim.
“This is going to be easier than I thought,” the man stated smugly. “I’ll just let her take you out, and then I’ll overpower her and take her to Don Sorello.”
I gritted my teeth, snarling. I punched the asshole in the nose, and blood immediately started pouring out. His hands instinctively flew to his face as one final shot rang out.
Then, he fell to the side, a bullet hole in the center of his chest.
I smiled proudly; my girl hit her mark.
She rushed to my side. “Oh my God, Enzo, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to.”
I winced as I sat up. “I know, princess.”
More footsteps sounded and two more men appeared at the top of the stairs. Guess I’d missed a couple earlier when I counted. Gia shot at both of them as I grabbed my shotgun and leveled it at them.
One collapsed down the stairs, landing on the pile of bodies at the base. The other froze, hands raised, face pale.
I cocked the shotgun.
“Walk away.”
He did just that. His boots sounded above us as he ran out of the cabin. Then, silence.
The basement went still.
Gia’s gaze flicked over the fallen men — not with horror, but disbelief.
Then she looked at me.
“You… did all that.”