Page 34 of The Sicilian Heir
I stood behind Vito's desk and ran my fingers underneath it. Right before I was ready to give up and flee, there was a weird notch under the desk, off to the side. I dug my finger into it until it gave. It opened a small door behind the bookshelf that slid to the side. I went inside and noted all the cameras inside the safe room. I started to close the door when a foot stopped it from closing completely. I thought it was Vito, but when I looked up, I looked into the cruel eyes of Sergei, the bratva man we'd tortured in the warehouse less than an hour ago. How did he get out?
"Sergei." I cringed. I tried to close the space between him and the door. I was hoping the door would be heavy enough to crush his foot.
"Slut," he grunted and pressed his way inside the safe room.
I started patting myself down, looking for my butterfly knife. A flash in the back of my mind reminded me that in the haste to get dressed, I'd left it downstairs on the table. "Fuck," I cried out, looking around for any kind of weapon.
Sergei advanced on me and I knew I was just going to have to use my fists. I jabbed out and caught him off guard. I connected with his throat, and while he was coughing and sputtering trying to breathe, I skirted behind him and took off. There was no way I would let the Russians get their hands on me. Before I could descend the stairs, I went flying backward by my hair. My back hit the wall and knocked the wind out of me.
"Boss said I couldn't kill you, but he never said I couldn't damage you," Sergei wheezed.
I kicked out and tried to connect with his balls but got his upper thigh instead. That didn't deter him. He pulled his fist back and let it fly right into my face.
There was no holding back. I was dazed. No matter how much training I had, a bigger man would always hit harder and could always knock me off guard. He picked me up as I was shaking my head, trying to get my bearings back. He threw me over his shoulder and started rushing down the steps.
He had a gun stuck in the back of his pants and I pulled it out and fired. It hit him in the back of the knee, and down the stairs we tumbled.
Groaning, his body pinned me to the bottom of the stairs. I heaved and pulled, trying to get myself out. Sergei grabbed my throat and held me down despite all the blood pooling around us. He had a good grip, until he didn't. His body was thrown off me and I let out a sigh of relief. I was saved.
I looked up into the cold eyes of Alexei Lebedev, the very man who was trying to take me. The man who'd ordered the massacre at Rose's wedding. The man who had caused my best friend to lose her child. The devil. I knew I was staring death in the face, and for the very first time since Romano had taken me, I was afraid. I didn't see any way for survival. I was going to die.
Chapter 19
Vito
Irushed out of the living room after giving orders to my men and making sure Eunji knew where to go to be safe. There had to be a rat in our outfit. No way the Russians got on our property without help. I ran to the warehouse, to stop in my tracks when I saw the doors swinging open from a distance. Gunshots were hailing from all directions. I could hear Luciano cackling with glee. He was probably slicing people up and laughing over their corpses. That was something he would do.
I rounded behind the warehouse and saw a soldier walking toward the compound. I approached behind him as silently as I could and slid my knife over his throat. Although my men were returning fire and defending the compound, I still wanted to be as quiet as possible. I kept going. My adrenaline was pumping. I ran between different buildings, knife in one hand, gun in the other. I was ready to take anyone out. As I got closer to the main estate, I found Luciano straddling a body, stabbing it repeatedly while he laughed. He was covered in blood. His eyes were wild and crazed.
"Luciano," I whispered.
He swung his head toward me. "Fratello." He shook his head back and forth. The crazed look dissipated slightly.
I held out my hand to him and helped him off the dead man he was on top of. "We have a rat," I bluntly stated.
Luciano laughed and shook his head. "I let the bratva scum out of the warehouse, knowing he would call his brethren for backup." He was smug.
I wanted to slap the look off his face. "Why would you do that, crazybastardo?"
His eyes flashed. The wordcrazywas a huge trigger for him. My father called him that all the time in his childhood. I felt bad the instant I said it.
"I wanted to end this. I was sick of following around the bratva and not getting closer to the answers we needed."
I looked at him again.
He had dark circles under his eyes. He looked tired. His shoulders were sloped. I tried to remember the last time I had seen him sleep at the compound. I also couldn't remember a time when he had failed finding the answers we sought.
I couldn't blame him for trying to drag the Russians to us so we could kill them and torture the ones who held value. I slapped a hand on his back, and we left it at that. I understood why he did what he did. There was no need for retribution, no need to fight when the enemy was right in front of us. We worked together, taking out soldiers who were outside the main house. Our men had done a good job keeping them at bay.
"I noticed there weren't any high-ranking men out here," I mused aloud as we walked into the main house.
I needed to get Eunji out of the safe room. I didn't want her to be in there by herself, panicking. We walked in, down the entryway hall, and skidded to a halt. Luciano ran into my back and I stumbled, my mind trying to make sense of the scene in front of me. There were men and blood everywhere. Eunji was straddling a man, slamming the fist from her uninjured arm into his face. I had to double take when I realized it was the Russian from the wedding, Alexei Lebedev, the leader of the bratva mafia. How had this come to be? I wasn't sure. I cleared my throat and Eunji stopped beating the guy's face in and, getting off him, stood up.
"Oh, hey," she panted. Her body was slick with blood and sweat.
"What's going on, little lotus?" I cautiously approached her.
"It's kind of a long story, but they attacked me, and I defended myself," she proudly stated. Her left arm was dangling by the side like it was dislocated.
