Page 84 of Savage Bratva King

Gianna, who has taught me that blood isn’t always thicker.

If Xander fucking Amory so much as touches a hair on her head, I swear to God, I will chop him into tiny pieces myself and send bits of him to every single member of his fucking Sicilian family.

The casino clientele doesn’t register in my line of vision. Something in my expression must warn them to keep out of my way, and they part like the Red Sea, giving me an unobstructed route out of the building.

Outside, Marco is waiting by the car, the passenger door open.

“I’m driving.” I don’t wait for him to object or climb into the passenger seat. The car is speeding out of the lot before the door has even slammed shut behind me.

I don’t check out Marco in the rearview mirror, standing where I left him outside the casino. I need to remain focused. I need to keep this red-hot anger burning inside me until I’ve obliterated the Amory mob from this planet.

I’ll deal with Sergei later. If he sticks around. He’ll know what’s coming to him, and if he has any sense, he won’t wait for Xander Amory to offer him protection, he’ll get his sorry ass out of this country and disappear somewhere in the back of beyond. Even then, I’ll still find him. I’ll hunt him down to the fucking Antarctic if that’s what it takes.

My knuckles are white on the steering wheel.

My jaw is clenched so tightly, I can feel my back teeth grinding.

Good. I’ve been suppressing everything that makes me Pakhan since Gianna got under my skin, but without this simmering fury, I’ll never be able to protect her. I only hope that she can learn to live with this. The real me. Rather than the idealistic image of me that she must have created inside her head.

But first, I have to get her back.

The road belongs to me. I don’t stop for traffic signals or pull over to let the emergency services pass me by. Tonight, every other fucker on the road makes way for me like I’ve got a huge fucking beacon on the roof warning them to move or I’ll shoot.

I don’t even have to think about where I’m going. I’ve avoided it for long enough that the route is imprinted behind my eyelids with indelible ink.

I drive straight into Amory territory, and what do you know, the place is fucking deserted. Almost like they were expecting me.

I stop the car in plain sight in the middle of the industrial land occupied by the Amory Corporation. I climb out of the car and start walking towards the first building, a gun in each hand.

A sense of serenity takes hold. I should’ve done this a long while ago when Xander first started systematically trying to destroy my operation. But maybe I needed Gianna in my life to give me a sense of purpose.

“Come and get me, fuckers!”

I fire a round of bullets into the first warehouse.

When the aftershock settles, there’s nothing but silence. Not a whisper of a leaf in the breeze, no birds rustling their feathers, not even an insect buzzing around my head. It feels as if the ground beneath my feet is holding its breath, but not a soul from Amory Corp makes an appearance.

“No? Have it your way!” My voice echoes around the warehouses and bounces straight back at me.

I shoot up the next building. Keep walking. The third building receives the same treatment.

“Stop being a fucking coward and come and get me! This is what you wanted, isn’t it? Well, here I am!” I spread my arms wide, exposing my body to the retaliating gunfire I’m waiting for.

Still nothing.

“Pakhan?”

I’ve been so in the zone of what I’m going to do to Xander Amory when he shows hiszhelty trusface, that I never heard my own people coming up behind me.

Ivana places a hand on my arm, forcing me to lower my weapon.

She isn’t alone. Tamara and Marco are with her, and I don’t need to turn around to understand that I’m surrounded by my loyal hand-picked men.

“Go home.” I keep my eyes fixed on the Amory Corp sign above the closest warehouse. “This is between me and the Sicilian trus.”

“You know we can’t do that.” Ivana’s voice is calm and steady. “We’re in this together, Pakhan.”

Without warning, I fire another round of bullets into the next building.