Page 55 of Wicked Tricks

His woman?

Even in the situation we were in, my stomach fluttered with both flattery and irritation.

“I-I won’t hurt her,” he insisted, “just give me Grace.”

“Are you really trying to givemean ultimatum?” Antoni chuckled darkly, the sound stirring a certain feeling in my core, “you let her go now, or you know exactly what will happen.”

His hand quivered against my throat, the blade vibrating and scratching my skin. I controlled my breathing, and kept focused on Antoni.

I knew he wouldn’t let anything happen to me.

“Grace,” Luca snapped, leaning around Antoni’s frame, “get here now.”

Grace sobbed quietly behind Antoni, cuddling the baby close to her with eyes pressed firmly shut.

“Baby, please,” Luca cried, spluttering pathetically in my ear, “you know I love you, okay? It won’t happen again.”

“Shut up shit bag, before I do all the women on planet earth a favour and cut your fucking dick off,” I wrestled stubbornly against him.

“Rome, stop,” Antoni chastised.

While Luca tried to restrain me, Grace made a run for it, sprinting towards the back door. The movement caught Luca’s eye and distracted him for a split second, which was all I needed to escape his clumsy hold. I kicked back towards his kneecap, and he went tumbling over in his drunken state, letting out a heavy roar.

I ran to Grace, holding her in my arms as he climbed to his feet.

“He will not hurt you,” I promised, holding her by the shoulders and looking into her eyes.

“Rome!” Antoni called, and I looked over my shoulder.

Luca lunged at us with his knife held high in the air.

Antoni grabbed him by the wrist, pulling him backwards and away from Grace and I. They struggled, and Antoni punched him hard in the stomach. Luca stumbled forward, causing Antoni to lose his hold on him. He took the chance he had, obviously not thinking about what he was doing, and Luca contorted and twisted around to plunge the knife into Antoni’s shoulder.

Antoni grunted, holding a hand to the wound as Grace’s high pitched scream filled the air. With wide eyes, Luca back-stepped, realising what he had done - who he had hurt.

He stumbled back towards the door.

“I’ll find you Grace, you can’t fucking run from me,” he spat.

He turned and tried to leave.

“Luca,” Antoni said huskily, “Because you wereoncea loyal employee, I’ll give you a one hour head start.”

I saw the panic in Luca’s eyes, his eyes looking between me, Antoni, and Grace. He decided that he would not win here, and left.

He was lucky that he did.

I was surprised that Antoni had let him live this long.

I dropped to my knees as Antoni did, my hands searching for somewhere to hold, to fix, to heal. He was bleeding, his white shirt turning dark red with blood.

“Fuck,” I panicked, “help!” I shouted, hoping someone else was around.

Antoni’s security, Angel, must’ve heard the commotion and came quickly, though still perfectly calm. Without his expression changing, or saying a word, he knelt beside Antoni, carefully removing the blade and putting pressure on the wound.

“Why did you do that?” I scolded in a whisper, “you could’ve been killed.”

He shook his head, grabbing his arm.

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