I stand behind Maxim Nikulin, and my entire body shakes with rage. He has yet to notice he has company.
The small woman tied to the big wooden X is unrecognizable. Her face is swollen, her eyes are black and bruised, and now, because of this sick fuck, she has a jagged gash trailing the length of her face.
I don’t know this woman, but if Julius chose her, those are all the credentials I need to see. And right now, she’s being cruelly brutalized.
No.
That just won’t do.
Pistol in hand, lightning fast, I snake my arm around Maxim’s neck and pull him into a chokehold. Dropping the knife, he begins to struggle. He elbows me, pinches me, tries to move me in any which way, but all it does is fuel my rage. Before I know it, I’m throwing him into tables and knocking chairs down by slamming his head into them. The longer the struggle, the hotter the embers of my fury burn.
Maxim’s fight weakens until all he can do is gasp for breath.
The plan was to let him pass out, tie him up, and then deliver him into Black’s custody. But as I stand here with this madman choking in my hold, I look over at the broken woman he’s marked, and I know, in this moment, I can’t do what I originally intended.
I will break my promise to Black, and it will likely cost me my freedom, but I can’t let Maxim Nikulin live.
The man in my hold falls in and out of consciousness, falling to his knees before me, and I follow him down. Head lolling to the side, I release him and lift my hands to either side of his head, grasping him tight. With a swift jerk, multiple snaps sound and I let go of him. He falls to the ground with a thud, his eyes wide open but crossed, mouth parted, his head slumping at an unnatural angle.
Without another thought, I make my way to the naked and scarred, unmoving petite female tied to the cross and loosen the knots at her feet and arms, letting her down to the ground.
My heart sinks. It doesn’t look like she’s breathing.
“Ana?” I gently tap her face. No. She’s definitely not breathing. My panic rises. “Ana, fuck! Stay awake. Shit, wake up.” My only thoughts are of Julius finding her like this. I growl out, “Live, goddamn it!”
My eyes close in dejection as her small, limp body lays on mine. She’s so small. So tiny.
No. She’s not leaving without a fight.
“Live. Come on, girl, breathe. Do it.” I lay her down on the ground, place my hands together between her breasts and pump. I do this a long while, but… nothing.
No.
Julius can’t lose another person.
Pulling her up onto me, I rock her body as if one would a child, and I beg her to not let my best friend bury another person he loves. I whisper in her ear, “If you can’t do it for Julius, do it just to spite those motherfuckers.”
“Twitch, I need you to hold her still,” a soft feminine voice sounds, and I look up to find my sister coming toward us with a shot. Evander follows close behind. I hold Ana still as Manda opens her mouth and injects her under the tongue.
Then we wait.
Manda mumbles, “Come on.” But a minute passes and nothing happens. “Come on, Ana! Fight, damn you!” Manda looks to me and orders, “Lay her flat on her back. Now.”
I do as I’m told and watch in shock as my sister clenches the fingers of both hands together to make a giant closed fist. She lifts it high and brings it down hard onto Ana’s chest. Teeth gritted, she growls out between blows, “You. Are not. Going down. Like this.” She delivers another blow, then yells, “You hear me, Ana? I can do this all night!”
Four blows pass, and when Manda lands the fifth, harder than the others, I watch in amazement as Ana’s body goes rigid. She opens her eyes as wide as she can around the bruising and takes in a gasping breath. And the moment that happens, Manda bursts into loud, noisy sobs, falling back against her Evander, who holds her tightly in support.
Ana’s eyes close again, but her chest moves as she breathes deeply.
“Julius,” she croaks out, holding her shaking hand out to a man who isn’t there.
I move to take that hand, and that’s when I hear him.
“I’m here, baby.” With eyes for nobody other than his woman, Julius moves to kneel by her side, taking her good hand and squeezing it tight. “I’m here.”
Her voice no longer working, she breathes out, “I love you.”
And for the first time in my life, I see my brother cry. His shoulders shake in silent sobs as tears trail his cheeks and he lowers himself down to her swollen face, pressing soft kisses to her lips, and whispering, “I’m so sorry, baby. Love you. Love you more than a man should love his woman.” His tired, trembling words cause a lump in my throat. “Thought I lost you. Wanted to die. Just take a bullet and blow myself out of this world.” He sighs in relief. “We’re going away from here. Moving away from all this badness, okay? We’re going to live, you and me. No more of this bullshit, okay?”
Ana’s lips move, but no sound comes out. “Okay.”
Julius gets up to his knees and looks to Manda. “Thank you.” He turns to Evander. “I owe you.”
But when Julius looks to the third person, the stranger wearing the half mask, the one he swore was in the room, he doesn’t find him.
I’m already gone.
Your wife is alive.
As I sit on the bed, looking down at the hogtied man lying bloody on the floor with the makeshift muzzle around his mouth, I keep telling myself the danger is over. I have her now, and I’ll keep her safe. But I am a realist, and that real part of me knows that promising to keep somebody safe is not only stupid, but also an impossible vow to keep.
She’s safe.
Then why doesn’t my heart stop racing? It’s almost as if I’m afraid to hope it’s all over, that we’re permitted to live a life free of repercussion.
If Ana is alive, that means Ling could be too.
“Where’s Ling?” I ask him, and from around the muzzle, his lips turn up into a feeble smile, his dull eyes blinking softly.
He’s close to passing out, and I need to act quickly if I want answers.
Making my way over to him, I pull down the cloth muzzle, freeing his mouth, and I crouch by him. “Listen, you got nowhere to go, and you might think this is as bad as it gets”—my eyes hood dangerously—“but I promise you that what I will do to you should you not answer my questions will make what you did to Ana a cake walk, you get me? Now, where’s Ling?”
He blinks down at the ground, and wheezes out a hushed, “I don’t know.”
I’ll get back to that. Right now, something that has been bothering me from the very beginning needs an answer. “You knew Dino didn’t do it. You knew he didn’t kill Raul. Why didn’t you vouch for him?”
His speech slow and slurred, he murmurs, “And miss my opportunity at eventually being king? No. I loved him, but this was my shot at something big. I would’ve been stupid to guarantor for him. I hated losing him, but he was in my way when business was concerned.”
That’s honesty, plain and simple. I have no reason to doubt his answer.
I look down at this man with disgust. Although I want to bash his brains in and show him every bit of torture he showed my woman, she’s alive and needs me to be of sane mind, because she has a long recovery ahead of her. When times get tough and her hope dissipates, she’s going to need someone to leech off, and that person’s going to be me, so I got to save all that good energy for when she needs it. I plan to be there, by her side, every difficult step of the way.
Nothing in this world was made right by two wrongs taking place.
I’m exhausted. I just want this to end.
“Tell me one thing, Gio, and I swear I’ll make it quick.” He glances up at me, eyes shining, as I ask, “How did you know where to find Alejandra?”
He smiles again, albeit weakly, and his eyelids flutter closed. “Got a snake in your midst, Carter.” His grin intensifies, but his voice wanes. “A snake with bright… red… lips.”
I hide
my emotions well, but my heart stutters.
Motherfucker.
It seems the devil wears winged liner so sharp it can cut a bitch.
The mistake is mine and mine alone. I was a fool to trust a creature as feral as she.
Nothing would save Ling from the painful death I was going to deliver. I would have her head, hack her to parts, piece by piece, until there was nothing left.
Nobody fucks with my family.
Ling Nguyen will never see me coming.
Word will spread. She’s officially a dead woman walking.
I lift my gun and shoot a smiling Gio Gambino in the head. And I shoot until there are no bullets left to discharge.
Right now, I got a wife to get back to.
“How’s she doing?” My words are spoken quietly so as not to wake Ana.
Four days have passed, and Manda Rossi, Ana’s best friend and doctor, gazes over at me with half-glazed eyes before turning back to peer at the small woman in the center of the king-sized hospital bed in the sterile but private room. Manda organized for the weeklong stay at the small private hospital, and I am grateful for the quiet. It’s obvious that she’s tired, but she stays, probably for the same reason I do.
We’re both afraid we’ll lose her again.