Page 83 of Impenitent Claim

“There was an assassination attempt on you and your little friends.” I held the door tight, but she took a step forward. “There’s dead bodies back here, Izzy.”

Isabella rolled her eyes. A wave of heat rushed south. Damn, but that was sexy as hell.

“Move, Elijah,” she hissed, using the name the mafia knew me by.

“There are two more out there. Your friends had better move away from the windows.” I couldn’t say why the words tumbled from my lips. The warning wasn’t for their benefit. If the young men of the mafia died by assassin’s bullets, there would be fewer souls for me to harvest.

But her brother was there, sitting closest to the bubbled glass window. And the damn fiancé….

Fuck me.I cared. No amount of blood and destruction could make the death of the weak and innocent okay to me. I wasn’t a sociopathic criminal, just a hardened warrior.

“They might want to come behind the serving counter,” I offered dryly.

Isabella gave me a short nod. She turned slightly and threw a string of Italian over her shoulder. Heads swiveled in her direction, but it wasn’t until the don’s son rose that the others followed.

I could still slip away. The way the door swung, they hadn’t seen me. Isabella reached out, grasping the rubber edge. Her lips pressed in a firm line.

“Let me see the damage,Ilya.”

It was my name, whispered on her lips. With a growl, I released my hold on the door and took a step back. I was still near enough that her sweet, fruity scent brushed past me. My groin tightened in response.

The seconds ticked by into minutes as Isabella surveyed the bloody kitchen. I absently realized the cook and her cleaver had disappeared. I wasn’t in a hurry to track the grizzly woman down. She could clearly fend for herself.

“Four bodies?” Isabella breathed.

“And two out front.”

To her credit, she didn’t panic, didn’t faint. But her cheeks drained of color. She clenched her fingers tightly as she assessed the destruction in the back room.

The door banged open a moment later. The hero rushed inside, only to stop short as he saw the dead bodies.

“Isabella, come on, let’s go back out front,” the don’s son murmured, reaching for her.

It took everything I had not to snap his scrawny arms like the toothpicks they were.

Isabella stepped away from his reach, swallowing hard. “No, Lonzo. I’m fine.”

“You shouldn’t have to see this,” he protested.

“Are there more?” Isabella lifted her gaze and directed the question to me.

I nodded. “I counted ten on the street.”

“Okay, so they’re still out there—or got away,” she surmised.

“Elijah?” the don’s son exclaimed in surprise. “What are you doing here?”

Great leadership, kid.He’d just now noticed the true threat standing in the room. “Tullio’s training facility is around the block. This is where I eat.”

Neither of those statements was a lie.

“And you shot these…assassins?” Alonzo drew himself up straight, wrapping a business-like air about himself.

Isabella groaned under her breath.

Her comical reaction sent a bark of laughter through my chest. “Yeah, kid, I did.”

“Well, then, it looks like we owe you quite the debt of gratitude,” the don’s son mused.

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