Page 44 of I Would Die For You

“How could you do this?”

“How?” He splutters. “Fat lot of help you were being.”

What is he on about? I don’t understand. My confusion must be obvious as he continues after a pause.

“You could always have made yourself useful, you ungrateful bitch. I just took the decision for you. After everything I did for you, put a roof over your head, food on the table. I didn’t have to. After that slut you had for a mother left, I could’ve dumped you to child services. I didn’t. But it never crossed your stupid air head mind you owed me this much, did it?”

Owed him? I didn’t owe him a single thing. I didn’t ask to be born, to be saddled with him, to stay with him when he could’ve offloaded me to CPS. That food on the table, I paid for it, waitressing since I was fourteen, sneaking leftovers home when I could. I worked three jobs at twenty just so he could lose all he made in gambling.

AndIowedhim? In what universe?

I’m still staring at him, dumbfounded, when something eerie happens. He’s snarling like a deranged hyena one second, then his tongue is lolling out, choking sounds coming from his mouth. The thin line of blood along his throat appears almost with a lag in the time continuum—almost in slow-mo as he sputters and crumples to the floor.

What the fuck is Stefano up to? I told him to stay away, to let me handle this. He just had to go all knight in shining armor on me, taking ‘care’ of this unfortunate matter in the only way he knows how as an enforcer, by killing him.

I’m about to give him a piece of my mind when my gaze travels behind my father’s prone body…and it’s not Stefano standing there. No, this man is short, stocky, dressed all in black, the only thing standing out being the glint of the sharp blade in his left hand.

I think I scream. Or did I freeze? The only thing I can register is this man coming at me now, lunging over the dead body, his knife aiming for my chest.

A strangled cry catches in my throat when I slam into the rickety table at one end of the trailer and lose my balance, falling back. The knife is coming at me, and the man is saying something. My blood freezes when I hear the name Daku.

I think I scream again, I don’t know.

What I do know?

I’m about to die.

Chapter 14 Stefano

Somethingdoesn’tfeelright.It’s a rustle in the air, a quiet that’s too dead and deep. I don’t need the hairs raising on the nape of my neck to tell me I should get to Kaya right this instant. Instinct is always something I’ve been told to hone since my youngest age, and the cues are familiar now, the messages from my gut a language I know all too well.

I’m barging into the trailer in the next second, stopping still at the sight greeting me. A puddle of blood covers the floor, a small slope worn in from years of use leading the crimson liquid to pool in front of the stove rather than snaking to the door.

Kaya! My frantic gaze scans the space, and the breath lodges in my throat for a millisecond when I see a flash of her dark jeans in my peripheral. A blob of black blocks my vision, and in an instant, I see it’s a man trying to get to her. I slam my boot into the back of his knee, ready to catch him when he’ll inevitably fall toward her.

I didn’t anticipate what happens next. The man is gurgling, a strangled sound coming from his throat. She’s slammed her palm into his Adam’s apple. Good move. As he rears back, Kaya grabs the knife out of his hand and wastes no time in stabbing it into the side of his neck.

Don’t pull it!

One hand braced on the man’s torso, the other reaches for the knife’s handle just as she’s about to pull it out. She just severed the man’s carotid artery. Pulling the knife will ensure a spray from the site as his heart won’t have stopped beating yet. It will look like a bloodbath in here, and we’ll both be hit with the discharge.

Her hand is trembling in my grip, and I clench it tight, then pull her to me as she sags and lets go of the handle. I’ve got her in my arms, and we crash into the torn faux-leather banquette. She’s not clinging to me, her body limp.

Shock.

“It’s okay,ama. I got you,” I murmur softly in her ear all while rocking her tightly to my chest.

As she bursts into tears against my shoulder, I cradle her with more gentleness then travel my gaze around the trailer. What a fucking mess. That’s her father lying in the pool of accumulating blood to the side, and thiscazzohere, who the hell is he? It’s clear from the entirely black clothing stealth was his motto.Bastardowas sick in the head, though—a gun with a silencer would’ve done the job just as effectively. He had to bring a knife and get hands-on.

“Kaya,” I ask softly. “What happened?”

We need to get out of here, but not before I’ve handled this situation. Call it the enforcer in me; I can’t leave a mess like this behind. It could catch up to us, especially to Kaya, and none of us can have that. The more I know, the better I can plan our exit. Looks like we’ll be getting out of the US asap, too.

“Kaya,ama.” She’s stopped shaking so much, which I take as a good sign. Her eyes are still a bit glassy when I tilt her chin up. “Are you hurt?”

She swallows hard, then shakes her head. “He… He killed him.”

The words barely come out. The last thing I want to do is press, yet I have to.

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