Page 57 of Wicked Tricks

Antoni

Angel pulled in and out of traffic, swerving his car expertly through the lanes. I held my shoulder, the adrenaline was fading from my body, and the pain was becoming more prominent. My fingers were stained red with blood as I kept pressure on the wound.

The bastard got me right in the muscle, and I knew I’d be feeling it for weeks.

Angel pulled swiftly into the driveway, ripping up the handbrake as he parked right near the door, before he ran inside as I heaved myself out of the car.

By the time I reached the front door, grimacing as I pulled it open, Angel and Zarina were already rushing back down the stairs.

Zarina looked at me with wide eyes, holding the first aid kit in her hands.

“What have you gotten yourself into now?” she asked, shaking her head.

My sister was the best at treating our injuries, when we wanted to avoid hospitals and doctors. She had a steady hand and an iron stomach, and was used to seeing the gory injuries that we brought home to her.

Angel guided me to the dining room, pulling out a chair and helping me sit.

Zarina flicked her long blonde hair over her shoulders as she examined the wound, soaking up the excess blood with a wad of paper towels. The hole in my shoulder was quite small, but deep, and I could feel the blood quickly soaking the towel as it poured from my shoulder.

“Ah!” I snapped, as she wiped it down, the cleaning solution stinging and burning.

“You big baby,” she mumbled under her breath.

She prepared the needle and thread, and began to stitch me up.

It wasn’t the first set of stitches that I had received from my sister, but I still couldn’t bear to watch.

I focused on the art on the walls.

“All this for her, huh?” Zarina asked, looking up at me for a split second.

I rolled my eyes, and focused on anything else in the room that held my attention.

Of course for her, and I would do it again.

Luca was just lucky that he managed to walk out of there alive after he held the knife to Rome’s throat. The only reason that he was still breathing was because I didn’t want to scare the girls. Though it would have been for the benefit of everyone in that room, I had better morals than killing a man in front of an infant.

I had to admit, even if only to myself, that I didn’t want Rome to witness me in that situation either. Obviously she knew what kind of man I was, and the terrible things that I had done. I knew that she was far from innocent herself, and that she had seen and done plenty - I just didn’t know if she would give me a chance once she had actually seen that side of me with her own eyes.

Even though Luca may have thought he had gotten away with what he had done - that piece of shit would pay.

I checked my watch, bouncing my leg as Zarina finished up.

I was growing impatient.

It had been over an hour, the time I had promised Luca to get his head start.

But I had already decided that he would not see out the day.

Zarina finally finished, and Angel threw me a fresh shirt. I pulled it on, wincing.

“Let’s go,” I said to Angel, and he nodded once.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Zarina threw her hands up, “where are you going? You need to rest your arm.”

“It’ll be fine, Zar,” I said, kissing her on the forehead before rushing to the basement with Angel. I opened the safe, grabbing ammunition and a second gun. Angel grabbed one too, and he slipped a knife into his boot as well.

“Antoni,” I heard Mum’s voice from behind me, “what are you doing?”

---