Page 91 of Enzo

But I’d bleed for Robbie. Kill for him. Burn the whole fucking city down if it meant he could sleep easy one more night.

The shot echoed in the vast space. One to the head. Another for good measure. Vinnie went limp.

I swallowed hard, jaw clenched, chest aching when I turned to Mateo standing at the door. “I’ll kill anyone who goes near Robbie.”

He nodded. “I’m not starting a fucking war over some stupid-ass kid whatever the fucking payout?—”

I was on Mateo in an instant, ignoring Goon Two, trying to pull me off, and the gun Mateo snatched from my hand was pressed to my head in an instant. He was so close I could see the flecks of amber in his hazel eyes, feel the tension in every line of my childhood friend. There was no compassion in him, no loyalty, no hint of the boy I used to know—just a cold, calculated emptiness that had carved out whatever was left of his soul and replaced it with survival instinct and bloodlust.

I hadn’t blinked over killing Vinnie, but Mateo was the worst kind of monster.

He’d fucking enjoyed watching me do it.

“Robbie is mine,” I snarled, the words spilling out hot and fast, tangled in fury and fear and something that cracked right down the center of me. Robbie wasn’t some bargaining chip or name on a list or paycheck waiting to be cashed in, he was the only person who made any of this worth surviving. He was the reason I breathed, the one thing I didn’t believe I could have until he’d crawled into my life and made a home in my heart. “He’s not a fucking kid, and if you talk about him like that again, I swear I will fuck you over so hard you won’t know which direction the sun rises. I don’t care what empire you’re trying to protect or how many guns you’ve got pointed at me. You ever reduce him to less than what he is again—less than brilliant, less than strong, less than mine—I will end you, Mateo. You hear me?

He heard me. He didn’t move, not a twitch, then, he lowered the gun. “I hear you. The five years you did for me, for yourfriend. My debt is repaid.

“Stay away from Redcars!”

“I don’t want anything to do with that shit,” he snarled.

I turned and left, feeling the weight of guns pointed at me, shaky from what I’d done, and Rio followed me a few feet away and then stopped by the car, arms crossed, his expression was calm. He’d seen everything I had, and when our eyes met, he nodded once. “You okay?”

No. I’d just killed a man. Yet another thorn that needed to be drawn on my tattoo. It was to keep my family safe. My lover. My Robbie. Was I okay? Not with taking life, but for Robbie, I’d kill any fucker that got near him.

Rio drove back, quiet for most of it until we reached the garage and went inside to find Jamie pacing. I looked for Robbie, but Rio gripped my arm and stopped me. “We need to tell J, then you get to go to Robbie.”

We briefly explained, in low tones, what had gone down, and when Rio said Vinnie was gone, Jamie touched my arm, enough to let me know he had my back on whatever I’d done.

“It doesn’t matter that Vinnie’s gone if there’s a price on getting Robbie back to this Mitchell guy,” Rio said. “And we don’t know who the other two are.”

“Then we find Mitchell, track the others down,” Jamie said as if it was a done deal. “No one gets to hurt Robbie.”

I wanted to debate that we shouldn’t do anything without thinking it through, but I was over all of that. We had a name now and Mitchell was next, and if I had to kill after I found out the names of the other two, I would.

All I wanted now was to see Robbie. Touch him. Hear his voice and feel the warmth of his skin under my hands. There was a phantom itch in my palms from the gun, from the recoil, from the truth of what I’d done—and it wasn’t regret. Not really.

Because I’d done it for Robbie.

Because Robbie was mine.

I didn’t feel shame. I didn’t feel guilt. I felt the fierce throb of possession in my chest and the ache in my hands to hold him. My hands weren’t clean. They’d never be clean. But maybe they were finally doing something right.

I needed him. Needed to touch him, to remind myself of why all of this mattered. Because when I had Robbie in my arms, there were no monsters left. Just him. Just us.

THIRTY-ONE

Robbie

Enzo wasquiet when he and Rio came back, both of them with that expression as if they’d seen something they couldn’t unsee. They huddled with Jamie, voices low, tension vibrating off them in waves. I watched from across the garage, pretending not to care, but every time Enzo glanced over and then turned away, something inside me curled up tight.

After ten minutes of being ignored and excluded, I slammed the folder I was holding onto the counter louder than I needed to and marched over. My pulse thudded hard in my ears. “What?”

Enzo blinked like he’d forgotten I was there. Jamie was awkward, and Rio gave me a warning glance that saidnot now, but I didn’t care.

“What happened? Where did you go? Why are you all?—”

Enzo reached for me, fingers twitching as if he wanted to touch me—then he dropped his hands as if they’d been burned. He wouldn’t meet my gaze, shoulders hunched under some invisible weight.

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