Page 88 of Veiled Vows

“The fuck are you talking about?” He moves as if to get back in his car, and I whip the handgun out of my belt and aim it at him.

“Don’t even think about it. Did you two have a good laugh together, huh? Was it fucking fun to bond while tormenting my mother? Did you have agreattime preying on an already fragile mind? I bet I was just some pawn to you both, right? Shunting me back and forth like it was some game and then having a good laugh about it behind my back!”

Surprise drifts across Alto’s face as he steps away from the car, his eyes on the gun. “You found the phone then.”

“Of course I fucking found the phone,” I snap. “Didn’t he tell you? You know what, I don’t care. I have had it with you and your fucking family messing with mine. I am sick and tired of Gattis being everywhere I turn, causing pain for my family for no fucking reason other than greed. Now get on your fucking knees!”

“Jasmine—”

“Get on your knees!”

He obliges quickly and raises both hands near his head. “You’re fucking crazy.”

“Am I?” I snarl, stalking forward. All my pent-up frustration, upset, and anger suddenly have an outlet, and it’s drowning me in its desperation to escape.

“Yes! I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about!”

“Let me refresh your fucking memory!” My mistake is glancing away to look for the evidence phone in my pocket. The second I do, Alto launches up from the ground and tackles me full force with the curve of his shoulder causing most of the impact.

He collides with my gut and air is forced out of me. I trip and together we hit the pavement. My head snaps back and I briefly see stars, but as Alto rises above me with his fist raised, I let the anger flow. The heel of my hand slams into the tip of his chin and sends his head snapping back with a clack of teeth. My other hand slams into his throat, and as he surges backward, I twist my leg up and shove my foot hard into his crotch.

Alto stumbles back with a choked cry of pain, but he recovers quickly and tackles me once more as I try to climb to my feet.

We go down again. My elbow catches on a pothole in the pavement, but the pain doesn’t register. I’m furious. I want to gouge his eyes out, tear that fucking sneer from his lips, and watch the life fade from his eyes.

He punches me in the face and my teeth sink painfully into my tongue.

I throw my other elbow back into his face and catch his cheekbone, then roll over and slam my knee into his crotch once more. As he rolls away in pain, I scramble to my feet and kick him hard in the face.

Alto goes down hard, but he’s up quickly, and when he throws himself at me, his fist delivers a powerful blow to my breastbone.

Suddenly, I can’t breathe. My entire chest seizes up from the blow, and Alto doesn’t stop. He punches me on the face then in the stomach. I double over, and he uses my hair to pull me back upright and punch me again. Blood trickles down my cheek from a cut above my brow. Pain blooms across my body and heightens when he grabs my throat and drives his knee hard into my stomach.

My baby!

Energy I didn’t know I had surges through me even as I collapse to the ground. Heavy boots thunder around as my security team charges in to take Alto down, but they stop as I raise a hand, coughing up blood.

Alto is mine.

The cocky son of a bitch is laughing as he stands over me. His last mistake.

I surge up and punch him as hard as I can in the crotch, then grab onto his jacket and use that to pull myself up and then onto him. I clamber over him like a spider monkey, wrapping around his back and head with my arms and legs. One hand grips his jaw and wrenches it to the side while I drive my elbow down onto the top of his head.

He yells and tosses me back and forth, trying to dislodge me, but I cling on with every ounce of strength I have. As he overbalances, I flip off and land less than gracefully, then swiftly kick his kneecap. Bone crunches as his leg snaps in the wrong direction just as he bears down with his weight, and he crumples down in front of me.

I lift my leg, slam my knee into his face, and he falls backward.

Defeated.

But I’m not finished.

My captain hands me my fallen gun while I wipe blood from my nose and out of my eyes, then I hover over Alto and placemy boot on his chest. Leaning forward onto my knee, I aim the barrel between his eyes.

“Tell me one thing,” I say as Alto wheezes in pain through a broken nose and God knows what head trauma my elbow and knee caused. “Did you and Roman plan to fuck me over before or after the proposal? I need to know.”

“The fuck…are you talking…about?” Alto wheezes. He grabs my ankle, but there’s no real strength there.

“I feel like that question is pretty clear. Was I always the plan and the wedding just made things easier? Or did you two come up with this sick little game afterward?”

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