Page 76 of Mafia Princess

“Enzio,” I whispered when I noticed him staring at me with a smug, victorious grin on his face.

His gaze slithered down my body and back up to my face. “You couldn’t fix your hair? Your face?”

I shrugged, trying my best to keep my shoulders straight. “I figured you should get used to this image, since this is what you’ll have to look at for the rest of your life.”

He held out his arm like a fucking gentleman. “Oh, do not fool yourself, Karina. You’ll look your best whenever it’s required, and you will act exactly as would be expected from the wife of a very powerful, wealthy man.”

I suppressed a snort, a laugh, a sarcastic remark that would tell him exactly what I thought about this powerful, wealthy man image he portrayed. He was nothing more than a poor excuse for a man.

I caught him glancing at my bare feet. “Yeah, you forgot the shoes,” I sneered.

“No, actually, I didn’t. I want you to get used to your new role as my wife.”

“So, what, I’ll be your barefoot wife?”

He peered down at me, his eyes beaming with satisfaction. “Barefoot…and pregnant.”

Chapter 23

LORIK

Dante drove, speeding like a maniac. Antonio had been typing on his phone, glancing at it every five seconds. I’d been going out of my goddamn mind sitting in the back seat of Dante’s car, unable to do anything but wait for us to get wherever the hell we were going. After Dante stormed out of the house and jumped into his car, he kept on talking about a beach house, and that since Enzio was one twisted motherfucker, it only made sense he would take her back to where it all began.

The second he pulled into an unfamiliar driveway, I was out the door and running up the stairs.

“Lorik, wait!” Dante called after me. “You can’t just rush in there unprotected.”

I grabbed my gun and pulled it from the holster. “You thought I’d come here without a gun? I plan on killing this motherfucker…tonight.”

Antonio and Dante raced up the stairs behind me, and I pushed down the door handle. Locked.Fuck.

I scanned the house and spotted a window to the right. Without thinking twice, I tore a piece of fabric off my shirt, wrapped it around my fist, and smashed it through the glass.

“Someone would have heard that,” Antonio said behind me, but I ignored him, smashing more glass so we could climb through the window without getting carved into pieces.

I went first, holding my gun at the ready, ready to shoot any fucker who got between me and my mission of saving Karina from this goddamn psychopath.

With precision and stealth, I moved down the halls without making a fucking sound, Antonio and Dante close on my heels. Soft lights on the back porch caught my eye, and I slowly moved through the house, the sound of voices getting clearer and louder the closer I got. I no longer had a heartbeat. What I did have was a giant jackhammer in my chest wrecking through my motherfucking ribs. Every part of me that ever longed to believe in a God was praying Dante was right about this, that they were here…and that we were not too late.

A few soundless steps brought me to the edge of the hall, right in front of an open sliding door…and I saw her standing at the edge of the porch with that son of a bitch next to her. Their backs were turned to us, and I could see the head of a person peeking out from in front of them, and a few bodyguards scattered around them. Only then did I notice the white dress she was wearing, and the daunting thought that we might already be too late.

I launched forward and aimed my gun.

“Let her go!”

Karina and Enzio both jerked around, and within a split second I had about ten guns aimed at my forehead. But when I saw Karina’s face contorted in pain, her eyes red and weeping, I didn’t give a flying fuck that I’d probably have twenty bullets lodged in my skull within the next two minutes. The sight of her made me want to skin Enzio alive…and fucking slowly.

“Lorik.” She breathed my name like it was a prayer on her lips, and my heart broke into a million goddamn pieces.

“Detective Stone,” Enzio started before gesturing to his bodyguards to back up. “Did you come to join the festivities? To congratulate us?”

“Fuck you.” I held my hand out to her, still aiming the gun directly at Enzio. “Come here, princess.”

Just as she started toward me, Enzio stepped forward. “Karina, should I remind you what’s at stake here?”

She froze.

Jesus.

---