Page 70 of Brutal Queen

“Everyone shut the fuck up. We’re kind of busy up here. We need back-up on the top floor. Max is up here,” I roar.

“On our way,” replies Sinclair.

The world is starting to feel like it’s tilting on its axis and I figure it’s probably blood loss, judging from the pain slicing through my side. I pull my earpiece out to try and focus on what the man in front of me is saying.

“You’ve got a through and through on your left side. I need you to stop moving.”

“How about you stop poking me in the middle of my gun shot wound and I’ll stop fucking squirming, you dick,” I snarl. “Pass me my fucking knife.” I wave an arm at the holster on my ankle.

Taking a deep breath, I roll to the right, giving me enough room to shove a hand into my pocket and grab my lighter. I toss it to the man I’ve now designated my field medic. He looks between the lighter and the knife as if he’s waiting for an explanation, but then a look of panic floods his face as it dawnson him what I want him to do. Just to make sure he’s fully aware, I mutter, “Cauterise it. Now.”

Dom’s men push further into the room and start shooting through the drywall, trying to peck off some of the men protecting Max. It buys me the time I need for the knife to heat up. The man I’m sure is called Alessandro is now looking from the knife to my wound and going green around the gills, bless him.

“I can’t do this myself, so you’re going to need to suck it up, buttercup,” I say between gritted teeth. I’m being a bit of a prick. From what I know of him, Sandro’s a good guy. It’s just right now I need him to stop dicking about and cauterise these wounds.

He nods and grimaces as I move to hold my shirt out of the way for him. With one knee planted across my legs, and an arm bracing against my shoulder to hold me down, he presses the searing hot blade to my skin without warning, and I can’t stop the scream that tears out of me.

“Argh. You fucking cunt, that hurts.” I scream the words so loudly they scrape against my vocal cords like shards of glass as he pulls the rapidly cooling knife away from my skin.

He’s already heating the knife again as I roll over onto my side. I’m suddenly aware that the gunfire is moving further away from us as Dom’s team pushes Max’s further back into the hallway. I have a clear view out of the door to the gantry when I see a familiar blond head pop up from the stairs at the other end.

Nico is swiftly followed by a streak of black hair tinged with aqua and emerald green. Relief flows through me, but it’s obliterated when Sandro presses the reheated blade to the exit wound on my back. The words that fly out of my lips are a mixture of anguish and rage, and mostly cussing out the man who’s probably just saved my life.

Fuck it, I’ll apologise later.

Nico runs through the door and drops to his knees, examining the damage to my side while also shouting at me. “What the fuck happened?You did not have my permission to fucking damage yourself, you asshole.”

When he’s done inspecting the wounds, I’m suddenly being lifted into his lap.

“Now is not the fucking time Nico, we need to get Max,” Aurora mutters then slides her hand around the back of my neck as she drops her forehead to mine. “Don’t you ever fucking scare me like that again, you hear me? You fucking promised you weren’t going anywhere.”

“Sorry,mia reginetta. Won’t happen again, but in my defence, I got all of those before the fucker got the drop on me,” I say waving my arms in the direction of the bodies littering the gantry.

Looking towards the door, I note that the gunshots have stopped and Dom’s team is further away from me than I thought. Aurora takes a deep breath, as if trying to steady her nerves before kissing my temple. She stands and presses her hand to her earpiece.

“Dom and Sinclair have him pinned down two floors down.” She turns to the men behind her. “Half of you are going to go with Nico and get Benny down to the loading bay. He needs medical attention.”

“If you think I’m leaving before we’ve got that cunt in custody, then respectfully Don Bianchi, you can fuck all the way off,” I croak.

“You wanna try that again, Benedict?” Aurora shouts back at me, her back straighter than an arrow and her tone telling me she’s in no mood for my bullshit. I don’t give a fuck though. She can reprimand me later. Not only did that fucker shoot me, but I need to see his demise with my owneyes. He nearly destroyed two people I love most in the world.

He needs to die. And I need to watch.

“I said what I said. I’m not leaving until I know he’s dealt with,” I insist.

Aurora’s eyebrow quirks for a moment and she cocks a hip, which is usually a fair indicator that someone has pissed her the fuck off.

Nico’s breath feathers across my jaw as he whispers, “You know you’re gonna pay for this later, don’t you?” I nod, accepting that someone’s going to punish me for this and also not giving two shits.

“Take him down that way,” Aurora says to Nico and then hits me with her ‘don’t fuck with me stare’. “You’ll wait at the fucking loading bay and I’ll bring him out to you on a fucking platter.”

I swallow—hard. Questioning whether or not it was wise to put my foot down on this one, but I can’t leave while that man’s still breathing.

“Yes, Don Bianchi.”

“And then you’re going straight to the fucking hospital.”

“Yes, Don Bianchi.”

---