Page 28 of Alessio DeLuca

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Alessio

The first man goes down before he can even bring his gun up, his throat shredded by a burst of close-range fire. He hits the ground gurgling, blood frothing at his slack lips as he twitches and stills.

I don’t waste time watching him die. I’m already moving, my own gun barking with those of my men. We cut through Ghost’s meager defenses like a sharpened knife through rotted meat, the air thick with the scent of powder and the copper tang of fresh spilled blood.

I vaguely register the graze of a lucky round scoring across my bicep, the wet heat of my own blood soaking through the shredded fabric of my shirt. But there’s no pain, the wound is barely an afterthought.

Maty. Have to get to Maty.

I glimpse her through the smoke and chaos, tied to a chair in the center of the room. Her clothes filthy and torn, but her eyes…god, her eyes. They blaze with defiant fire even now, refusing to bow under the crushing weight of all she’s endured.

Pride surges through me, fierce and hot. That’s my fucking girl. My fucking steel-spined, unbreakable queen. I’m gonna burn this place to the ground and pull her from the ashes, take her home and spend the rest of my life worshiping my love.

But first…

I advance, a feral snarl pulling at my lips as I spy him through the haze. Ghost. The sadistic fuck who dared to lay hands on what’s mine.

He’s pressed back against the far wall, all his bravado gone in the face of our assault. His eyes are wide, the whites showing as they dart frantically between me and the door, searching for an out he won’t find.

Because this only ends one way. With his blood on my hands and his brains decorating the floor.

“Look at me, you fucking coward,” I growl, stalking forward with murderous intent. “Fucking look at me!”

His gaze snaps to mine, naked terror shining in his eyes. He scrabbles for his dropped knife, fingers clumsy with panic.

I kick it away with a flick of my boot. It skitters into the darkness, the skritch of metal on concrete drowned out by his pathetic whimpers.

“No,” he begs, throwing up his hands in a futile gesture. “No, wait… please…”

But I’m done waiting. Done listening to his poison, his twisted justifications for the nightmare he’s put my woman through.

I descend on him in a rush, one hand clamping around his scrawny throat as I slam him back against the wall hard enough to bounce his skull off the brick. I feel the crunch of cartilage, the desperate flutter of his pulse against my palm as he claws at my wrist.

“You dared,” I seethe, leaning in until we’re nose to nose. “You dared touch her, fucking hurt her. Use her in your sick little games.”

I punctuate each word with a punishing squeeze, relishing his choked gargles and the way his eyes bulge in their sockets.

“Did you really think I’d fucking let that slide?” I hiss, my lips peeling back from my teeth. “Did you think for one second I wouldn’t fucking hunt you down, wouldn’t spend the rest of my life peeling the flesh from your miserable fucking bones for what you’ve done?”

He’s fading now, the struggles weakening as his brain starves for oxygen. But I’m not ready for this to end, not yet. I want him conscious. I want him to feel every second of the agony I’m gonna inflict.

I relax my grip just slightly, letting him suck in a thin, whistling breath. His eyelids flutter, a thin string of saliva swinging from his gaping mouth.

He stares at me for a long, airless moment, his eyes clouding with some unnameable emotion. Then, to my shock, his ravaged lips pull up into a ghastly semblance of a smile.

A bark of demented laughter, tainted with the gurgle of blood. “She was mine first, DeLuca. And she betrayed us.”

I rear back, revulsion twisting in my gut.

“You sick son of bitch,” I spit, rage spiking through me in a white-hot flood. “She trusted you. Cared for you. And you dare blame her when you were the one stupid enough to get caught?”

My hand tightens once more, cutting off his retort. I’m done talking to this piece of shit. Maty was never his, never anyone’s but her own. Until she gave her heart to me.

And I’ll spend the rest of my life earning that gift. Being the man she deserves.

Starting now.

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