Page 159 of Dagger in the Sea

“That was a win for you either way,” I muttered. “If I won Berezin’s games, you’d get what you wanted from him. And if I lost, you’d still come out a winner. You’d be alive and I’d be dead for Guardino without you getting your hands dirty.”

“Yes,” came the velvet reply.

Luca’s focus suddenly shifted behind me.“Merda!What is she doing here?” His grip on me relaxed a few degrees, his hold on the gun slackening.

I twisted slightly in his hold, my eyes narrowing in the dusty heat. A figure was running toward Marko. A tall woman, young, with a ponytail.

Adri.

My heart plunged in my chest, squeezing there. I turned toward Adri, every instinct commanding me to get to her. I twisted in Luca’s lax grip and shot my elbow in his face. He jerked back, and I turned and kicked at the gun hanging in his hand. The gun flew. I grabbed my gun that was at my back and aimed it at Luca.

Luca lunged at me, tackling me down to the ground, my gun pitching from my hand. Wrapping an arm around my neck, he bound me in a chokehold. I bit his flesh, digging my fingers in his arm to pry it off me. A fist landed on my wound, and the breath knocked out of me, pain radiating through my body. I crumpled in Luca’s vicious hold.

He swiped at his gun on the ground and shoved it against my cheek, dragging me up with him, both of us breathing hard. Luca raised his gun, he aimed at Adri.

“No! No.” My vision filled with red, watery red. “Are you fucking insane?”

He pulled me up harder against him, his thick muscles pressing into me like a living vise—the fucker worked out hard for a reason. On a grunt, he shuffled his hold, pinning me to his side, extending his arm, the gun aimed at Adriana.

I reached out for the weapon, straining, fingers flexing but he kept me tight at his side. “Luca!” I could taste the metal, feel the sleek hardness. Inches away.Goddammit.

In the distance Adri ripped the ski mask off of Marko, wiping his hair back from his face. Hugging him, kissing him. His hands behind his back, Marko wavered, and she fiddled with the handcuffs. She tried to get him to stand, but he couldn’t. He was dazed. Luca clenched me harder, choking me.

My heart banged against my ribs; it wanted to escape the prison of my chest. A cold sweat prickled my skin. The possibility of her suffering, her being hurt, her dying, gone from this world, from me, because of me and my not being able to stop it—

Impossible.

A small blue pickup truck coasted down the low hill into the lot. A figure in black—dressed just like the men who’d dropped off Marko—darted toward Adri and the boy. The driver got out of the van, gun in his hand pointed at brother and sister. Adri froze.

“Che diavolo?”Luca bit out.

I twisted in Luca’s hold, blinking past the sweat on my face. The driver grabbed Adri, but she turned and slapped him, kicking at his legs, aiming for his balls and missing.

Relax, baby, think. Think.

I planted my feet firmly in the dirt, steadying myself, and shoved against Luca. “Fokas’s minions want Marko for themselves—for the big bucks.”

“Now they’ve got Adri too.” Luca’s mouth came to my ear. “You want to help her,” his voice simmered.

“Yes.”

“You want to go to her.”

“Yes.”

“You want to fight for her.”

“Yes!”

“Your heart’s not so black after all, is it?” He released me and tracked over to my gun, scooping it off the ground. He gave it to me. “Cover me,” he said.

“Seriously, you fuck?”

“I’m not going to kill you, Turo. Not after you saved my brother and Adri from those bullets, and not after you came through for me on Berezin’s boat. There are only a few people I give a true fuck about and Alessio is one of them. There are only a few people I can work with, and you’ve proven to be one of them.”

“So why did you shoot me?”

“I have a reputation. I couldn’t just let you go.”

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