Page 200 of Rosetti Family New York
Someone lunges at me. Stupid move. I smash a fist into his jaw and feel the crack of bone. He drops, and the rest stay back. For now. I know their kind. They'll swarm once they think I'm not watching. I keep my head down, drive a knee into another guy's gut, push through the noise and the heat and the stink of fear. The lights hang dim and yellow above, but all I see is the memory of Sloane's voice when she promised not to do this. When she didn't listen.
I kick a door down, but it's empty. No Sloane.
A body slams into my side. Two of them, maybe three, fists and arms and shouts. I hit the floor. Hard. I scramble to my feet. She isn't here. The thought pushes through the weight of bodies. Sheisn't here, and she needs to be. Needs to stay alive until I get to her. I drive an elbow into someone's ribs, feel the rush of air as he falls back. Kick out at another pair of legs.
I fight my way back out to the hallway. The taste of blood is sharp and good.
One of them is almost laughing, the cocky fucker, and I guess he doesn't know the kind of damage I can do. He thinks he can take me. Thinks he'll live through this. His grin snaps back with the force of my punch.
It smells like sweat and old weed. A place with cracks in the walls, cockroaches in the corners. I know these buildings. Know them too well.
She'd better be there when I kick the next door down.
I crash through another room, the hum of panic steady and sharp. Shouts ring out behind me, but they're just noise, less than fucking insects. Reyes is who I want. I'll make it slow for him. Make him wish he never crawled out of whatever hole he came from.
There's shouting now, desperate and hard, and then I'm through. Reyes stands, gun raised, his smirk too big for his face. Scrawny, cocky, in all sorts of trouble. He guards a locked door, and there's no prize for guessing who's behind it.
The men stand in a loose circle, taking their time, waiting for their chance.
"Carter!" Reyes shouts, low and smug and sure. "This guy coming for you?"
He nods at me, smiles with his teeth.
I hear her voice from behind the door. Breathless. Sharp. So fucking alive it's better than blood.
"I told you he would," she says.
The words are enough to blow this whole place open. Enough to make me crash through everything in my way. I hit Reyes first, fast and hard. I smash the smirk off his face, feel it splitunder my fist. I slam an elbow into his throat. I feel him choke, feel him drop, watch him claw at the air like the worthless bastard he is.
They come harder then. More of them.
I hit back, hit fast, knuckles raw and ready for anything. They don't get that she matters more than all their lives combined. That they can't win this.
I slam another one into the wall. Hear him gasp, feel him crumble under my fist. I grab another, fling him back like the fucking insect he is. I don't stop. Can't stop. Not when she's so close. I'm still on my feet, even as their numbers dwindle, reduced to obstacles on the floor.
My hands are sure and quick. I don't stop. Not until they're done. Not until every last one of them knows what it means to touch a girl like Sloane.
They're not getting back up. Not this time. Maybe not ever. The room goes still and bright.
I'm at the door, splinters cracking beneath my boots. Her name is on my tongue, stuck there, and I won't say it until I know. Until she's safe. I tear through the door like I'll tear through them all, not a fucking thing in my way.
And then she's there.
And then she's mine.
She's on the ground, wrists tied and red, skin paler than I've ever seen. She looks up, eyes wide and scared. Her hair is loose, messy around her face. Her lip is split, but not enough to slow her down.
"Rafaele," she says.
The rope falls away like it's nothing under my knife. I pull her off the ground and into my arms, hold her tight, tighter, breathe her in. Feel her heart beat. Feel her breathe. Feel her alive and real against me.
"Told you not to come alone," I say.
My voice is raw, too close to something I don't want her to hear. She wraps her arms around me, holds me like she thinks I'll disappear.
"And miss this?"
She smiles, but her hands are shaking.
