43. Ambush
Ambush
Liliana strolled around the side of the stables, her cheeks rosy and radiating with the glow of a woman who’d just had an orgasm. I snorted when she flashed me a cheeky smile and flopped down on the bench beside me.
“Looks like it was a good one.”
“Better than average,” she said coyly, brushing the last strands of hay from her dress and eyeing the two soldiers strolling past with a bright smile. When they were out of earshot, she whispered, “But I wouldn’t get too excited. I practically gave it to myself.”
I laughed, thinking she was joking. “What do you mean? Weren’t you just with Vito and—“
“Yessss,” she hushed me, glancing around. “But I don’t think I can come from sex, so I touch myself when he’s inside me.”
“Ah,” I said, understanding.
“Is that normal?”
“Some women can’t. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. But he should be the one making you come. He has fingers, too, doesn’t he?”
She shrugged, her cheeks blushing. “Can I ask you something else?”
“Sure.”
“Is it normal for them to be… like… silent?”
My eyebrows tensed. “Silent? During sex?”
“Si.”
“You mean he doesn’t make any noise? At all?”
She shook her head, chewing her lower lip. “I don’t even know if he’s enjoying himself until he comes.”
I burst out laughing, imagining what that must be like. One of the sexiest things was hearing Maddox’s groans and filthy words. She hit my arm, but she started laughing herself.
“What about when he comes? Surely he makes a noise then?”
“No! He doesn’t. He just kind of opens his mouth, hunches and shakes.”
“Oh my God, stop!” I wheezed. “Do you know what image I have in my head? You know those inflatable tube men they always have outside gelato shops? The ones that flop over every few seconds?”
She wiped away the tears from her eyes as her shoulders shook with laughter. “No, it’s more like a man trying not to sneeze in church.”
I fell into her lap, laughing so hard that my stomach hurt. “Maybe he’s just trying to be quiet so you don’t get caught.”
“I don’t think so. He asked me to run away with him today.”
“Poor Vito,” I cried, shaking my head. “You’re about to break his little heart.”
“Luckily, I won’t have to, because the heir is paying him an insane amount of money to work for him in Russia. So that was officially our last tumble in the hay.”
“Aleksandr? Oh, no. I forgot about that,” I frowned. “It’s so weird that he requested Vito in the alliance.”
“Can you believe the way he looked at me when he thought I was a maid? What an arrogant ass.”
“I mean,” I grinned. “Kind of. You act like it.”
She hit my arm again, and I giggled.
“You’re in a good mood today.” She smiled, turning to face me.
I was in a good mood today. I felt lighter than I had in weeks, not only because of the night of mind-blowing sex with the man I loved, but also because Santino had taken it better than I’d expected. Once he’d thrown a few punches, of course.
I’d missed having him in my life, with his flair for the dramatic.
He made me feel hopeful. He was on my side and, albeit reluctantly, would help sort out the mess with the Russians.
Though I had no idea how he did it, Sani always had that effect.
He made everything feel as if it was going to be okay, even as the world burned around you.
I was also happy for Maddox. He’d been waiting nearly his entire life for this day.
He’d get revenge for his family and for all he’d suffered at the hands of Sean.
“Today is a good day.”
“Oh, speak of the devil,” Lili groaned, her eyes darting over to the convoy of expensive black cars that were creeping up the driveway. “It might not stay that way. Look who’s arrived.”
Gio and some soldiers strolled down the steps towards them as Aleksandr and his entourage of intimidating men piled out of the cars. I frowned, slowly rising to my feet.
“What’s wrong?” Lili asked, her voice laced with worry the second she saw my face.
“Aleksandr is supposed to be in Belgium. What is he—“
My sentence stopped dead. So did my heart. The man I hated with the heat of a thousand suns climbed out of the car behind Aleksandr’s, calm as anything, unbuttoning his suit jacket.
Sean McKenna.
The world slowed. From this distance, I saw it happen in fragments.
Gio reached for his weapon, but Sean already had his arm raised, a gun in his hand.
Gio’s body dropped to the gravel. A raw scream pierced the air.
Not mine. Liliana’s. Then… chaos. Gunfire erupted everywhere.
Glass shattered. Men shouted in three languages.
Italian. Russian. Irish. Bodies scattered for cover.
Then it hit me. The ambush wasn’t ours. Sean had known all along.
The Russians had gone against us. Aleksandr had handed my family a location in another country and emptied our house of the most ruthless men capable of defending it.
They were working with McKenna. They were here for Aria. And to slaughter every one of us.
Move, Soraya. Move.
I spun around and grabbed Lili’s shoulders as tears slid down her cheeks. “You have to hide. Lili, listen to me. You have to hide in the stables right now. When you see an opening to escape, get on a horse and ride. Lili, are you listening?”
Her bloodshot eyes were fixed on Gio’s unmoving body. My brother. Her papi. The Boss of this family, face down on the driveway. As much as I wanted to fall apart, I couldn’t.
Her whole body shook as sobs tore from her.
She wasn’t listening, and we were running out of time.
I grabbed her hand and yanked her towards the back of the stables, my pulse hammering in my throat.
I shoved her down into the straw of an empty stall, then searched for a weapon.
Grabbing a pitchfork, I thrust it into her hands.
“Stay here. When you don’t hear anything, mount a horse and get as far away as you can.”
I snatched a hay bale hook off the wall and moved towards the door.
“Where are you going?” Lili cried. “Don’t leave!”
“I have to,” I said, glancing back at her one last time, memorising her face in case it was the last time I saw her. “Don’t wait for me. Don’t come looking. No matter what you hear, just get out.”
Before she could say anything, I pushed open the stable door and ran, keeping low and hiding behind trees and bushes.
Twenty metres from the house, I saw my bodyguard, Ivano, crumpled on the grass, shot in the back, his gun still loose in his outstretched hand.
Guilt and sadness washed over me in a violent wave, knowing he must have come looking for me.
Making my way towards him, I dropped to his side, pried the gun from his fingers, and hauled myself through the music room window, tumbling onto the floor inside.
My heart slammed against my ribs when I heard them: Irish and Russian men storming through my house.
“Tie them all up. Where are the women?” His Irish voice shook the walls like a hurricane, so recognisable it sent bile clawing up my throat. “Find Soraya and Arianna. Now. I want them alive.”
A scream echoed from somewhere in the house, either from Olivia or Arianna, followed by the brutal scrape and thud of a woman being dragged down the stairs against her will.
I pressed my back to the wall and squeezed my eyes shut.
Think. Think. My family was scattered throughout a house filled with killers. Who did I help first?
A body slammed into the wall on the other side of the door. Grunts and the brutal sounds of two men fighting for their lives filled my ears.
I edged towards the doorframe. Raffaele was pinned on his back, a soldier straddling him, a blade trembling between them. Raff had both hands locked around the man’s wrists, arms shaking as he tried to keep the knife from his throat. His face was reddening with the effort. He was losing.
Stepping out into the corridor, I lifted the gun and shot the soldier in the back of the head. He slumped over Raff’s chest, a dead weight. Raff shoved him off, his chest heaving, brown eyes staring at me through the blood splattered across his face.
“Raya, watch out!”
An arm clamped around my waist and ripped me off my feet.
Remembering what Maddox taught me in the bunker, I twisted and hooked my arm around his neck.
Then I yanked the hook up and drove it into the side of his neck.
The soldier’s eyes bulged, mouth falling open.
I hauled with every bit of strength I had, tearing the metal sideways and ripping through flesh and cartilage.
Hot blood squirted all over me, and his arms fell from my body.
He dropped to his knees and then face-planted on the floor.
“Monster’s rubbed off on you, Soraya.”
Sean’s smug, amused voice sent shivers down my spine as I slowly turned around. I swallowed. Raff was on his knees before him, Sean’s fist gripping his hair, a bloody knife pressing against the softness of his throat.
“Drop them,” Sean commanded calmly, nodding at the gun and hook in my hands. “Or I’ll open up this pretty boy right here and let you watch him drown in his own blood.”
My eyes flicked down to my nephew. He shook his head, barely, just a fraction of a movement. His eyes screamed at me not to do it. He’s going to kill us both anyway, so don’t give up your only chance.
I ran through the odds in my head. Could I raise the gun, aim and fire before Sean’s wrist twitched and cut? A cruel smile tugged at his lips, as if he could read my mind, and he yanked Raff’s head back roughly, baring more of his throat.
“Try it, Princess.”
Slowly, I lowered the gun and hook to the floor before kicking them away.
“Raya, no–” Raff choked.
“Good girl,” Sean crooned. “You have a soft heart and a fightin’ spirit, Soraya. I knew that about you the moment I met you. That’s why I knew you were the right girl to bring Monster to his knees.”
“Fuck you,” I hissed as two Irish soldiers stormed towards me, roughly grabbed my arms, forced them behind my back, and tied them with cable ties.