“Matteo, talk to me. I’m on the second floor, back stairwell, last room,” I say, waiting to hear from them via the earpiece.
It’s been radio silent for a while. Too long for my liking.
Did his men stop Matteo and the soldiers at the rear entrance? There’d been a firefight, but I’d sent additional units to help.
Was it not enough?
Luka is in the corner, behind the last two guards protecting him.
They fall, but it isn’t over.
Gunfire erupts from behind us, taking out my guards. Caruso shoots at us from the opposite side. The smoke is a thin haze, allowing me to see the men with guns shooting at us.
A dozen soldiers are armed with their guns pointed at us. The reinforcements aren’t my men.
Static crackles through the earpiece.
Are they jamming our signal, or did they kill every one of my men?
“Surrender, and I’ll let you live,” Luka shouts across the room at me. He takes several long strides toward me.
There’s nowhere for me to go. If I shoot Luka, I die.
His gun is aimed at my head, the safety off, and a dozen other soldiers have their weapons pointed at me.
Fuck.
“What’s it going to be, Jace?” Luka asks.
I’m stalling. Hopefully, it won’t end in my death. “How about we make a deal?”
Luka’s laugh is dark and sinister. “Do you think you have something worth bargaining for?” He shakes his head, glancing me over. “There’s nothing you can offer me that I want. You murdered my father. I want you dead.”
“Word on the street is you didn’t even like your old man.”
“What? Do you expect a thank you for killing him and allowing me to run the city?” Luka asks. He’s silent for a second. A dark smirk crosses his features. “There is something I want, and maybe I’ll let your little girl live. You, on the other hand, I’m prepared to bury.”
“You won’t touch my daughter,” I seethe, my top lip snarling in disgust.
Luka shrugs. “Or what, you’ll kill me? You’ll be dead, old man.” He chuckles and shakes his head, keeping the gun poised at my temple. “Better yet, I bring that tight girlfriend of yours into my home, fuck her like she deserves from a real man, and give her the family that you can’t. The one that you stole from her.”
My mouth goes dry. I stare into his cold gaze, daring him to kill me. To end my suffering.
Gunfire erupts from behind the soldiers.
Static crackles through the earpiece again. “Boss, we’ve got your back,” Matteo says.
I’ve never been so happy to hear his voice in my life.
The guards turn toward the approaching gunfire, protecting their don, leaving him vulnerable to me.
It’s Luka versus me. But it feels like I’m fighting the world for survival. If Luka wins, my family is in danger. Not just my mafia family, but Astrid and Olivia.
I refuse to go down without a fight.
“You’ll leave my family alone!” I yank the barrel of the gun upwards and away from his grasp.
His knee smashes up into my groin, causing me to see stars. The bullet graze hurt, but this is crueler.