Page 559 of Sinfully Savage Mafia

“You were saying?” Messina spews at Sergio, turning his gun toward him.

A flicker of confusion shadows Sergio’s face before he dives at Messina’s ankles, knocking him to the floor. Bruno shoves Chloe out of the room before emptying a clip on Messina’s crew. I crumble to the floor, sliding toward Zeno on my elbows as gunfire erupts into the stank air.

“Take this,” Zeno murmurs, dropping a nail into my hand. “And get me the fuck out of these chains.”

My hands tremble as I back against him, trying to fumble with the lock. I finally feel the nail slide into the cuff and I pull it apart, freeing him. He wastes no time before running over to Gallo. I crouch low to the ground to stay out of the line of fire, spotting a gun on the floor a few feet from the doorway. There are so many shots being fired, and I have no idea who is shooting whom at this point.

All I know is that I need to get in on the action. Messina has Sergio underneath him, smacking the side of his face with the barrel of his gun before pointing it at his forehead. I reach out and grasp the gun, ready to pull the trigger when a loud scream echoes in the room.

“Get off of him!” Chloe shouts, darting toward Messina with a white spray bottle of bleach in her hand. Her trigger finger works incessantly to empty the content of the bottle into Messina’s eyes. He lets put a guttural roar, his hands flying to his face before collapsing backward. Sergio jumps out from under him and fires three shots to his head.

Huh. How do you like that?

The bleach reallydidkill him.

Sergio grabs Chloe and shoves us both over toward Zeno and Gallo before joining Bruno in eliminating the rest of Messina’s crew. I search the room, relieved that everyone seems to be accounted for. I count the thugs to make sure we’ve taken care of all of them.

My eyebrows furrow.

Wait…

A final shot rings out and I fly backward against the wall. Chloe screams, racing toward me. Flames engulf my flesh as the bullet blasts through skin, muscle, and bone. I grit my teeth, tears springing to my eyes. I glance down, blood pouring from the wound. Numbness sets in fast and I can no longer feel my fingertips.

Actually, scratch that.

I can’t feel my whole arm right now. Oh Christ, it hurts worse than any pain I can imagine. A whimper slips through my lips as I roll away from the person walking toward me with the gun in his outstretched hand. I cannot cry! I refuse to be the girl he thinks I am.

No, I want him to see me for who I really am, not some pathetic girl who relies upon her family for everything. I rely on nobody but myself, dammit.

“This isn’t on my family,” Messina’s son growls. “It’s on you. You’re the reason why my brother is dead, why my father is dead. And I’m the reason why you’re about to be?—”

Bang!

“For fuck’s sake, was he ever gonna shut the hell up?” Sergio mutters, walking up behind me as Messina’s son crumbles into a heap at my feet. He winks at me. “I got your back, badass bitch.” He peers at my wound. “Looks pretty superficial to me.”

“Thanks,Doc,” I say with a roll of my eyes, squinting at the hole in my shoulder. From what I can see, he’s right, not that I’d ever give him the satisfaction of agreeing. “No offense, but I’d like to have a real medical doctor give me a second opinion.” I can’t help but snicker, even under these insane circumstances as I’m losing blood by the second and my head is beginning to feel a little woozy. Zeno runs over to me, stripping off his shirt and wrapping it around my shoulder to stop the bleeding. I sway into him, my balance completely off. Although, I have to say it feels pretty good to have his arm wrapped tight around me. “Are you okay?”

“Ugh, people really do suck, you know?” I groan. My lips stretch into a tight line as I wince from the searing pain.

“So I hear.” Zeno laughs and helps Gallo out of his restraints. I frown at his beaten body. “Looks like you need a doctor, too.”

Gallo groans. “You’re fucking right about that.” He narrows his eyes at me. “So, you’re the one who was almost kidnapped, huh? The reason my brother almost got his ass handed to him, twice now?” He winks at Zeno, giving him the thumbs-up sign.

Zeno flips him off in response, draping an arm around my good shoulder. “Looks like we’re gonna need to work around your little shoulder issue later. You know, at bedtime,” he murmurs against my ear.

I giggle. “I’m sure you can come up with some pretty creative ways for us to get around a bum shoulder.”

“Trust me, the wheels are already turning at warp speed.”

CHAPTER25

ZENO

“Only a few more to go, Lily,” the Emergency Room doctor at Sunrise Medical Center says, completing the last of his stitches.

Fortunately, the bullet exited as fast as it entered and no surgery was needed.

“You’re being so tough right now,” I murmur against her ear. I know she’s in pain but she’s trying to be strong, squeezing the shit out of my hand each time the doc works his needle.

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