Page 44 of Unresolved

Chapter Twenty-One

Evander

As much as I’d beentempted to ride my Harley to my cabin with all guns blazing, I’d chosen to park it on the other side of the hill, then run using what cover I could to close the distance silently between myself and Gemma...between myself and my enemies.

If only I had a sniper gun.Instead I’d brought my revolver, which meant I needed to get close enough to shoot with precision, to shoot to kill.

If the mobster lifestyle had taught me one thing, it was that weakness would not be tolerated.Violence was my biggest weapon, along with a fearlessness to do whatever was needed to keep on top.In this instance, to keep Gemma safe.I’d all but given her my word that while she was with me nothing bad would happen to her.

Karma insisted on testing that and making me work hard to prove my honor.

I narrowed my eyes at the pair of vehicles parked in front of my cabin.Motherfuckers.At least two of my enemies were here, but there were possibly up to ten of the bastards.

I dropped low, moving forward at a much slower pace, but not stopping until I was in range.I froze as a heavyset man ambled around the periphery of my cabin, a cigar hanging loosely from his mouth.He stopped around the side, unzipped his beige-colored pants and began pissing on the wall of my cabin.

Fury boiled through me.He was desecrating my personal space, my private sanctuary.That Gemma was chained to my bed inside and I had no idea what was happening to her meant I had to act fast and instinctively.

Flicking off my revolver’s safety, I lifted my firearm and kept my finger on the trigger, my aim steady.Another suited enemy stepped into view, this man stringy and lean.I didn’t move, I barely breathed.If I waited a few seconds longer I could take them both out, substantially increasing my odds of survival.

I was close enough to hear my leaner enemy chortle as fat man’s piss reduced from a stream to a trickle against my cabin.

“Whaddya looking at string bean?”

He shrugged his scrawny shoulders.“Not your peanut-sized dick that’s for sure, though I would have sworn you were a horse by how much piss you—”

I aimed and squeezed the trigger.

Bang.Bang.

Fat man dropped like a ton of bricks.String bean grunted as he fell back, his eyes wide as he clutched his bloodied stomach.

I didn’t wait around to plug him with another shot.I got up and sprinted hard while the rest of my enemies scrambled to set their sight on me.

I probably had a minute to advance as fast as humanly possible before I’d have bullets whizzing past my head.I made it to a small boulder, throwing myself behind it just as a bulletpingedthe rock.

That was when I heard it...the sound of an incoming helicopter, its blades cutting through the air in awhump, whump, whumpsound that was music to my ears.

I threw my head back and laughed.I knew the sound of that helicopter!Ethan and my family had come through for me!But of course they had!They’d exterminate any enemies who dared to step outside and fire at them.

I peered around a corner of my rock and up into the sky as Valentine leaned out one side of the helicopter with his firearm, Serafino doing the same on the other.

Bang.Bang.Bang.

A man dropped to the ground from beside my stacked pile of firewood, his fedora rolling a few meters away.Another man fell to his knees, then landed face-first onto the ground, his body laying at an unnatural angle.The last man managed to fire back two wild shots from behind one of the enemies cars before he was also dispatched, crumpling to the ground with his gun still clutched in his dead hands.

A grin split my face.My brother and our family enforcer were amazing marksmen.We all were.We’d trained hard to stay in peak condition and this was the result.Then my brother and our family’s enforcer aimed their sight on our enemy’s vehicles, peppering their tires with bullets and shredding the rubber as if the wheels were nothing more than paper.

Ethan flew the helicopter my way then and I looked up and gave them the thumbs up.

Ethan nodded, his dark stare brilliant and intense.He enjoyed a good battle and an adrenaline rush as much as the rest of us.He also knew I was more than capable of defending what was mine.Giving a salute goodbye, Ethan swung the helicopter away even as Serafino lifted his firearm in farewell.Valentino continued scanning below for any surprises.He never really stepped out of his enforcer role.

With the sound of the helicopter still loud and distracting, a spray of bullets following its departure, I burst from my hiding spot and raced toward my cabin.

There would be hell to pay for whoever was inside.

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