Page 56 of The Red Queen

Antonio turned back to her, maniacal rage bright in his eyes.

“Your turn,” he snarled.

She glared up at him, her thoughts racing, then landing on Giovanni. She didn’t want to die. She wanted to be with her lover. She had to get Antonio talking, get him to come closer so she could attack. Antonio only seemed to respond to one thing, anger. If she tried to plead with him, he’d shoot her. If she got him angry, he might get sloppy.

“How dare you do this to your father!” she shouted at him, pushing herself up onto her hands. “You are worthless, Antonio.”

“You know nothing about me,porca troia!” he spat at her feet.

“Maybe I am a whore, but that’s better than you!” She screamed at him at the top of her lungs, hoping some of the house guards might hear so she wouldn’t have to deal with Antonio on her own and possibly mess up her dress.“Deficiente, asino, cane, verme. Vattela a pigliare in culo, sfigato!”

Desi wasn’t entirely sure what she was saying to Antonio. Giovanni had thought it amusing to teach her Italian curse words while they were in bed coming down from the high of sex. In turn, she would teach him Spanish curses, though he already knew most of them, as his Spanish was impeccable.

Desi thought she’d called Antonio a worm, a dog, a donkey and had also possibly told him to ‘take it up the ass, loser’. If the look on his face was anything to go by, then she’d succeeded with at least a few of her insults.

He flew at her, swinging his gun hand back.

She stared at him without flinching, turning her head just as the strike hit so he wouldn’t get her in the temple and knock her unconscious. Pain streaked through her skull, but she used it to fuel her rage. She reached up to grip the wrist of his gun hand as it went past her, and then kicked up at him, wrapping her leg around his arm and pulling him to the ground.

He landed on his face with a grunt and tried to get up, but Desi quickly twisted his arm, wrenching it at the shoulder and putting him in an arm bar. She reached out to drag the gun away from him, but he squeezed the trigger. She grunted as the bullet tore through her side.

A flesh wound. Even so, it hurt like a bitch and she was now bleeding all over her beautiful dress. She snatched the gun from him and hurled it away.

Antonio screamed as she tightened her leg around the arm.

“This is for fucking up my wedding day.” She was no longer screaming. Her voice had dropped into a deadly growl.

She wrenched the arm until she heard the unmistakable pop as it dislocated. She released him before the arm could break.

As Desi pushed herself to her feet, Antonio screamed and crawled across the carpet like the worm she might’ve called him. He was headed toward the balcony where the door was open. He must’ve climbed up that way.

Desi kicked him in the ribs as hard as she could, sending him flying onto his back. “This is for fucking up my dress.”

She stomped on his crotch.

His mouth flew open in a silent scream, and he clutched his balls with his good hand. He rolled onto his side and threw up.

Desi jumped back, then circled around him to stand over him. She pressed her heel to his shoulder and stepped down on his injury until he was screaming and begging for mercy.

It was then she noticed he was dressed like one of the servers. They’d hired a catering service for their wedding day, and he’d thought to blend in. A stupid plan that could only have worked with help.

“Smettila per favore!”

“No!” Desi snarled at him, leaning down to speak in his ear. “I will never stop. You came after me on what’s supposed to be the best day of my life. I will haunt your nightmares for this. I will keep coming for you until there’s nothing left but a shell.”

“Mio padre ti ucciderà!”

“He will not kill me, Antonio. You want to know why?” She caressed the edge of his ear before gripping his shoulder and wrenching it back. She waited for him to finish screaming before she spoke again. “I have no intention of killing you.” She rolled him onto his back and let him see the truth in her eyes. “I care about your father too much to kill his only child.”

She stood, staring down at him with disgust. Turning away, she limped toward the gun he’d dropped and picked it up. He flinched when she pointed the gun at him, curling the stump of her finger over the trigger.

She stood over him one last time, shaking her head. “You aren’t worth the bullet.”

Desi walked to her vanity and picked up her veil. Setting the gun down, she used the knife in her drawer to slice it into strips. She ignored Antonio’s groans as she wrapped the material around her waist, tightening it until she’d stemmed the blood from her bullet wound.

After the ceremony, she’d get Giovanni’s doctor to stitch it up. The bullet had gone through her flesh and lodged in the wall, so she didn’t have to worry about getting a bullet out.

Ignoring Antonio, she picked up the gun and the knife and strode to the door. Vitto was pulling himself up off the floor.

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