Page 41 of Undeniable

Obviously, I don’t know the details and we definitely didn’t talk about it. I had to fuck her within an inch of her life against a tree just to get her to calm down. Which wasn’t exactly a hardship for me, but still.

At first, she said that there were people, but then she specifically mentioned ahe. Thathewould kill me, kill my son. I am not an idiot. A beautiful woman like her, terrified for her life by some man most likely meansheis an ex of some kind. It has me wondering if she has been hurt before, ifhehas put his hands on her before. My fists clench on instinct as my anger begins to simmer inside of me.

After I snuck a kiss from her before I left this morning, I called Luca and asked him if we had anyone that needed to betaken care of. I am in a blood thirsty kind of mood, and I don’t think much else will suffice. I am pissed that she thought she could just run away from me and that I would be okay with it. I am pissed because there is someone out there that is threatening her safety, and I am super pissed that she tricked me into claiming her as mine. I mean she isn’t. We are just casual. I just said that to keep her here.

Deny, deny, deny.

Unfortunately, instead of a hit, I find myself at the docks. Luca wanted me to oversee our incoming shipment just in case the Chernoff’s try to pull some shit again. We still haven’t found the little fucks yet, which could also be a contributing factor to my vile mood. Wherever they are operating from, it’s good. Weeks of us scouring the streets of New York, chasing dead end after dead end and we haven’t found so much as a breadcrumb. This is feeling like the Farelli all over again and though it ended in our favor last time, I don’t want to go through all of that bullshit again.

I lean up against the car with my morning coffee as I oversee one of our Capo’s, Daniel, and his soldiers handling the shipment. We have our supplier package it all into flour bags of a legitimate company that Luca just so happens to own. It is the perfect cover since there is nothing that would raise any red flags. To anyone from the outside, we are just picking up our flour for distribution inside of the US.

When everything is all sorted and the product is in our possession, I signal to the guys that are with me, Jack and Bruno, to head out. They both hop into the front of our SUV as I get into the back. In my opinion, I don’t need men with me like Luca does, people aren’t as likely to target me as they are Luca, but the stubborn fuck wouldn’t give in since everything with Mario went down. He said that you never know where your enemies lurk and that we all have to be on guard. Even Benjamin has at least 1 guy with him at all times. Occasionally I can get away with just driving myself, but it is not often.

“How is the family, Jackie?” I ask with a teasing smile.

He grunts at my use of the nickname he despises before a smile crosses his face.

“Good. Aleah is 4 now and Lisa is about 4 months along.”

I smile. “Pulling for a bouncing baby boy?”

He shakes his head. “God willing. I don’t think that I can take any more estrogen. Aleah got her mother’s attitude that is for sure. When they gang up on me, I usually have to go hide in the garage until it is over.”

His expression is serious and annoyed, but you can see the twinkle of happiness in his eyes. He loves his girls and his fast-arriving baby more than most do.

Jack is a good man and has been with us for about 5 years now. He used to have some gambling problems and owed us a ton of money. The guy is an ex-marine and built like an Ox, so Luca gave him two choices. Pay off all of his debt in a week or join the family. Obviously, he made his choice. We knew that he would be useful muscle, but we didn’t expect him to be such a loyal member of the family.

“Hey, Gio. Looks like we got company,” Bruno says as he glances into the rear-view mirror before speeding up.

I turn to see a blacked-out Mercedes G Wagon making every turn that we are. The windows are too tinted to see who is inside, but it doesn’t take a genius to guess. I reach under the seat and grab the AR-15 that I keep for instances just like this. I watch as Bruno and Jack both reach underneath their seats as well and pull out several handguns. We are nothing if not prepared.

“Incoming,” Jack alerts us seriously as the Mercedes speeds up before whipping to the side.

I look through my window and see one of theirs lower before a barrel sticks out of it.

“Gun!” I shout as shots begin firing from the vehicle.

Bruno swerves and makes a quick turn onto a different street. Unfortunately, they follow and continue their onslaught. Both Jack and I roll down our windows and lean out with our guns pointed at them as we begin to unload on them. I clip the man in the driver’s side backseat enough for him to fall back inside the car. I try to shoot the driver, but the glass is bulletproof, and I am getting nowhere wasting my own ammo with that.

The empty click that sounds when I line up to shoot the next guy closest to us sends my stomach to the floor.

“Shit, shit, shit. I am out,” I say as I dig around underneath the seat for an extra clip. I usually keep a couple under here somewhere.

When my hands wrap around the sleek magazine, I breathe a sigh of relief before I yank it up and slap it into place. Before I can get my gun aimed out of the window, I watch as the Mercedes swerves into us so that the back driver’s side window is right up to Jack’s rolled down window.

Almost in slow motion, some glass bottle is thrown from the Mercedes before shattering against Jack’s face. A blood curdling scream erupts from him as he drops his gun and brings his hands up to his face. The stench of burning skin instantly fills the car which tells me that it wasn’t just an empty bottle.

In the same moment, I see the man lift a gun up to Jack’s head. I raise my own and rapidly fire, pumping the guy full of as much lead as I possibly can. When he is good and dead, I aim for their tires. It takes about 3 shots before one finally blows, sending them crashing into a brick building.

I toss my gun to the side as I lean forward to look at the damage that Jack is suffering while Bruno pulls over onto a side ally a few blocks down. As soon as the car is stopped, I yank my door open before pulling Jack out of his door and laying him down on the ground. Bruno hustles to the back and grabs our emergency kit as well as several bottles of water.

It must have been some type of acid concoction that they threw because Jack’s face is literally melting away in front of my eyes. The bones of his face are beginning to peek out as his flesh sizzles away. I have seen a lot of fucked up shit, I have done a lot of fucked up shit, but this has to be the most gruesome sight that I have ever witnessed.

Jack’s screams are incoherent babble and ear piercing. I hear his wife’s name a few times as well as his daughter’s, but I don’t understand what else he is saying. The cries and shouts that are coming from him make my stomach twist and clench painfully.

I quickly grab the water bottles from Bruno and start dumping them all over Jack’s face and hands from where he touched his face, but it doesn’t seem to be stopping the melting as smoke literally rises from his face. I grab the emergency blanket and put it against his face to try to wipe the acid off but instead, his cheek literally slides off of his face like a flat pancake as it splats against the pavement.

“Kill me! PLEASE! Shoot me! Shoot!” He screeches painfully.

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