Page 64 of Hostile Rival
“I don’t understand…” Nico’s shock comes hard and firm. “What happened down there? You’re my guest, Matheus.”
“Yeah, your daughter, who I’ve never met before, wanted me to marry her, and you expected me to say yes all because of my family name. Because it suited you. Well, guess what, Nico? I knocked her back, and she threw a hissy fit. Tonight, the Di Rossis started a war with the Souzas. I’m a human being, not a fucking chess piece. I’ll pick my own bride,” Matheus bites back, his tone gravelly and unlike anything I’ve ever known from him. “You invited my family here, and this is how you treat us. Bullets and bloodshed. You think I’m going to let your men shoot at the people I care about and not retaliate? You’ve disrespected myfamily, Nico, and now yours will understand who they’ve fucked with.”
The terror of a high-pitched scream ricochets around the high ceilings, followed by a voice I’ve come to know as Giana’s. “Papà…Papà!”
I stand on my tiptoes to peer through the moving barricade that has me confined and catch sight of Matheus. His strong shoulders are tense under the blood-streaked white shirt he wears, and his gun is pressed to Nico’s forehead. I’m urged forward, too exhausted to fight against the flow, quickly losing sight of him again.
“Guards,” Nico snarls. “Do not let them take my daughter out of here. Kill anyone who gets in your way.”
Multiple shots are fired, and the room falls silent after a collective gasp from horrified onlookers.
Matheus…
Giana’s hysterical screams come again, growing distant. The soldiers around me keep moving, ushering me further away. Desperation has me panting and my stomach churning, breaking out in a cold sweat.
I need to see what’s going on. Spikes of adrenaline charge my muscles, giving me an extra push. I’ve trained hard for years and know I’m fit, so this bone-tiredness—it’s not like me at all.
Picking the closest soldier to me, I muster what little strength I have left and throw my bare foot into the back of his knees. When he buckles, I clamber over the top of him and stumble forward, my own knees unusually weak.
Disappearing into the crowd, I nudge past stunned guests who stagger out of my way, revealing executed Di Rossi soldiers strewn throughout the ballroom. The parquet flooring had become a battlefield of the fallen.
Out of the corner of my eye, Fintan gradually weaves through the remaining guests and Hunter steps out from behind a pillar—ever vigilant. I duck down and seize a gun from a dead guy's hand, not taking any chances.
As soon as I try to straighten, my insides burn, and I instinctively reach for my side. Half bent over, I see Matheus again, all height and dominance, his gun lowered at his side.
My slowed heart rate skips a beat, and an icy shiver rattles my teeth.
“The men you were relying on to protect your family are dead, Nico. I’m taking your daughter hostage. She’s our assurance you won’t cause any trouble in the next few weeks. Behave yourself or I’ll send her home piece by piece in a courier bag. Next time, don’t try to catch the devil if you can’t handle flames.”
My skin prickles when he glances over his shoulder, as if sensing me falter. I stand still, snared by a switch in his serious expression. Before my eyes, it morphs from hostile to devastatingly beautiful, and quickly fades.
Doing a sharp one-eighty, he swiftly turns his back to Nico and his wife, and advances. His eyebrows nip together and eyes drill into mine, making me feel like the only woman in the world.
I swallow hard, blinking uncontrollably, fighting my eyelids to stay open. My hands shake. The gun becomes too heavy to hold. As it slips from my fingers, I lower my gaze to the floor where it lands by my toes, and then I notice the blood. My blood.
Fuck.
Slowly lifting my heavy head, I slide my hand under the expensive tux jacket Matheus gave me and press my fingers over the throbbing stab wound I’ve tried so hard to ignore.
The red-hot agony I’ve suppressed worsens from the slight pressure. In shock, I pull my hand away and stare at the slick blood covering my fingertips, confirming the worst.
I should fall back into the crowd. Disappear. Sort myself out like I’ve always done before.
But on my next tattered breath, he’s before me. The room starts spinning. In that moment, I want him to hold me more than I’ve ever needed anything in my whole life. My legs are wobbly, and tiredness drains my fight-or-flight instincts.
“What the hell?” He pulls the flaps of the jacket wide and stares, his nostrils flaring and his pupils blown wide. “Those fuckers stabbed you…they drew blood?”
“I—I should…go,” I whisper when he bares his teeth.
All I feel is weakness…the very thing I swore to myself I’d never be again. In a room filled with professional sicarios, influential power players, and the brutal Souza cartel, I’m at my most vulnerable.
But something inexplicable within me, something trusting, a once in lifetime feeling surrenders to the man whose strong arms surround me now. Matheus hugs me tight against his thrumming heart, the beat strong and fast, his possessive embrace, a welcome for my ice-cold veins.
If I die in his arms, I’d be at peace next to him.
Involuntarily, my rolling eyes stay closed, and I melt into the guy I’d once branded as the enemy. I don’t even flinch when a loud rumble from deep within his chest explodes all around us.
“Blow this place off the face of the fucking Earth.”
