The shooting starts. Ronan’s yelling, Gavino’s shouting, it’s total chaos. The smoke’s so thick I can’t see more than an inch again. I shove Mirella down, getting her close to the floor as more bursts and clatters of shooting break out. Mirella yells something I can’t hear over the deafening booms of high-caliber rifles, but the screams of the maimed, wounded, and dying manage to waft through the club. The Somalis are going to be pissed. I’ll make it right with them.
“Stay low,” I growl in Mirella’s ear and instead of pulling her back to Gavino like we planned, I drag her forward toward her mother. A soldier appears in the gloom and he fires first, winging my arm, but I catch him in the chest. He drops, gurgling. I grunt with pain and effort, my cane discarded, Mirella taking some of my weight as we move forward at an agonizing stoop.
In the gloom, up ahead, two figures appear. One’s a soldier with a square head and the other is Mirella’s mother. She’s struggling against the guy, and he’s looking around with frightened eyes, waving his gun all over the place, searching for his enemies. The smoke’s too thick to see more than five feet in front of him though, and I push Mirella aside as I take aim. The guard has a second to spot me before I put a bullet through his forehead, dropping him hard.
Mirella’s mother screams as Mirella runs forward. “It’s okay, it’s okay,” Mirella shouts, gathering the older woman into her arms. “Nico got us, it’s okay.”
“This way,” I yell and pull them both. We backtrack across the dance floor. I slip in some blood, sticky and thick, and barely catch myself. Mirella’s right on my back with her mother in tow, and the gunfire is still heavy. I’m cursing, breathing hard, in a lot of pain and waiting for that one random bullet to appear that might end me and end Mirella, but fear will ruin me now. If we stop, it’s over.
“Fynn!” Gavino’s voice ahead. It’s close and to my right.
“Here, brother, right here!”
Gavino appears. He’s bleeding from his leg and glaring at me. “I fucking hate guns,” he says and takes my arm. “You okay?”
“Been better. Mirella and her mom are safe.”
“Good. We got the far end cleared. Better fucking run, Nico’s raining hell on these bastards.”
“How many did they bring?”
“Not enough.”
We start sprinting. Well, they sprint, I hobble after them as fast as I can. Mirella moves to wait but I shove her on. “Go,” I growl. I need her to escape. I need it so badly it hurts.
Gavino’s soldiers hold the far hallway. We emerge from smoke into a relatively hazy passage that curls past bathrooms, kitchens, storage, and out an emergency exit into an alleyway. The Range Rovers are already running and waiting, and I make sure Mirella and her mother get into the back seat of the lead vehicle.
I go to shove the door, but she stops me, grabbing my shirt.
I yank her forward and slam my lips against hers.
“I love you,” I say into her mouth.
“I love you,” she whispers back, and it’s like my heart swells a thousand times larger, bigger and bigger, so big it might burst.
I push her back, slam the door, and bang on the roof. The driver peels out, moving fast.
Gavino’s leaning against the wall, grimacing in pain. “Now I know how you feel.”
I laugh and palm his shoulder. “Not quite yet, brother. Get in a car and get out of here. I’m heading back inside to make sure Nico’s okay and help clear this mess up.”
Gavino grabs my wrist before I can go. “I’m going to gather more men and tell Casso what happened. Cillian’s dead, which means the gang alliance is weak. We’re going to break it today.”
“I doubt you’re doing much breaking with a leg wound like that.”
“Well, maybe the other Capos will do the dirty work.”
I laugh and nod. “Good thinking.”
“I’m glad you got her back. You really love her, don’t you?”
“I really do.”
I grin at my brother, shove him to the line of waiting Rovers, and stalk back into hell with my head held high and my gun ready.
Chapter 33
Mirella
Mom looks dazed as she sits in the main dining room of Villa Bruno and sips a coffee. After we got back to the villa and were looked over by a private doctor, we were allowed to shower, given clean clothes, and then deposited here. Karah’s bustling around, making sure we have everything we need. She keeps stopping to hug me and keeps saying me how worried she was, which I have to admit makes me feel pretty good. I was worried they wouldn’t care.
“You should’ve seen the boys,” Olivia says. She’s sitting next to Mom and smiling like this is the most natural thing in the world and we didn’t just witness several men get murdered. “They were beside themselves when Mirella ran off.”