Page 74 of Devil's Game

Chapter Twenty-Three

Giana

“Ishould’ve known,” Tommasoground out, vitriol leaking from his tone as he rushed around the other side of the couch, not toward me this time. He lunged for the side table, desperately reaching into the drawer.

He yanked the whole thing out and dumped the contents onto the floor before tossing it across the room. Wood splintered, the crack piercing through the otherwise quiet penthouse. He growled in frustration, clearly not finding what he was looking for, then resorted to tossing the cushions on the ground next.

“Are you looking for something?” Amusement laced my tone as he raced around the room, checking each of his hiding spots. I crossed my arms over my chest, lifting an eyebrow as he came up empty each time.

“What did you do?” he demanded, sending another drawer crashing to the floor.

“I think it should be obvious by now.” I giggled, pulling my gun from its holster. Relief washed over me as the familiar cold weight settled in my palm. “I took all the weapons you stashed here—the ones you didn’t think I had any idea about.”

“How? I was with you the entire time,” Tommaso said as he lifted his hands in the air. Did he truly believe that simple act of defeat would earn him mercy?

“But were you here the whole day?” I grinned, walking closer to him. It seemed it was his turn to go on the defense this time as he stepped back, ensuring to keep a few feet between us—not that it would help with the gun I had pointed at his chest. “I knew that you wouldn’t want to be stuck in here all day; I knew that you would’ve thought that babysitting your captive was beneath you, so we had someone hack into the cameras, and sure enough, you were gone, and you took all but one of your guards with you.”

“How did you even get in?” He clenched his hands into fists, as though it was taking every bit of his willpower to keep them raised in the hopes of placating me. “I would’ve been notified if you were seen on camera or if you used your elevator code.”

“We looped the cameras, so you wouldn’t suspect anything, and used the staff code that you never knew I memorized.” I shrugged, grinning as his anger grew. “For someone who says they know everything about me, I thought you would’ve at least realized I picked up on all of your dirty little secrets, Tommaso.”

“So, they’ve been in here this whole time?”

“They have.” I nodded. “They were posing as guards. I guess it’s lucky for me that you’ve had so much turnover lately that your real guards didn’t recognize them, and that you didn’t even bother to check upstairs yourself. See, most of your problems stem from your massive ego.”

“You think my ego is the problem?” He smirked, lowering his hands slowly as he stepped farther from me.

I gritted my teeth, suppressing the urge to check over my shoulder to see if the guys had gotten Sophia out yet. That was the real reason I was stalling. The window of time earlier hadn’t been large enough for us to get her out before he’d gotten back. Hell, I’d barely made it down the service elevator before Tommaso came back.

“We must be perfect for each other, then, since the same could be said about you,mi amore.”

My heart jackhammered and I swallowed thickly. “How so?”

“Because, in all this time, you could’ve killed me, you could’ve gotten this all over with, but instead, you’ve been stalling just so you could brag about your triumph.”

“That’s not true.” I shook off the oily feeling of his words latching on to me. “You’re really telling me that you have nothing else up your sleeve? That I could just kill you now, and that would be the end of this nightmare?”

It couldn’t be that easy, right? I was waiting for him to make the next move, but maybe I shouldn’t have.

“I guess you do know me, my love.” He grinned just as his hand slipped beneath his suit jacket.

Panic surged through my veins as he pulled the gun from his hidden pocket. “I guess you should’ve searched me too.”

I blocked him out, though, and pulled the trigger, bracing myself for the searing pain I knew would follow momentarily as he did the same. Time seemed to slow around us, my mind trying to make sense of the sudden shift, but reality came crashing back in the next moment as a pained grunt echoed behind me.

Tommaso’s gun wasn’t pointed at me.

The gun in question clattered to the ground as my bullet went wide, piercing his shoulder.

His pained cry echoed off the walls, but it wasn’t the same as—

Icy fear spread over my skin as panicked voices sounded behind me.

Keeping my gun trained on Tommaso, I glanced over my shoulder, needing to see with my own eyes.

Tommaso had caught them coming downstairs, had waited until that exact moment they were in view to even reveal that he had a gun. I should’ve shot him as soon as the guards began dropping, but I’d known he had something, despite his frantic searching. I’d known it wouldn’t be that easy. And I’d been right, but because I hadn’t taken that risk, I wasn’t the one paying that price—Merrick was.

Merrick was collapsed on the stairs, his hands clasped over his chest, pressing against the gunshot while Kellan ripped off his jacket to replace it with the thick material instead. Sophia was trying to keep him upright and off the cold, hard marble, while Spade’s eyes were focused on Tommaso, burning with hatred as he stalked down the last few stairs.

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