"Where is my niece?" Tommaso questions, his gun trained on me. I'm not afraid of dying, but the thought of leaving Luna utterly alone does something to my chest. I don't want to think about it any longer than I have to. I've fallen for the tiny dancer, and there is nothing I can do about it now.
All I need to do is survive this.
"She's at home, where she belongs," I tell him, a sly smile curling my lips. "And with any luck, she'll be having a baby in the next nine months." I know I'm poking the bear, but I don't give a shit. This asshole will die today, and it will be by my hand.
"Like fuck she will," he spits angrily. "She is a Cavallone," he informs me while gunshots and shouting sound around us. It's like a war waging while we're having a fucking drink and chat. I don't know if Tommaso has told them not to come at me, but none of the Irish are even looking in our direction.
"Trust me when I tell you, she's never going to be a Cavallone again. She's accepted her fate, and so have I." If someone had told me I'd ever utter those words, I would have laughed in their face and told them they're lying, but as I say it, I know it's true.
"You think you can take what is mine?"
"I already have," I taunt, and that's when I pull the trigger, but I don't kill him. Not yet. I take a couple of shots at his torso, sending him to the ground with a loud grunt of pure agony. "I've never been one for flare, I like to end my enemies quickly, but you're special."
The bastard picks up his arm and takes a shot, hitting me in the shoulder. Pain causes me to groan, but I swallow back the words of revenge, and breathe through the agony. With a smile on my face, I walk closer, giving him a direct shot to my legs, but he can't take it because he's clawing at his knees which are bleeding out far too quickly.
"You fucking took my family!" Tommaso's voice is filled with venom, but I have a cure for his poison, it's my queen waiting for me back at the penthouse. "But I will take it all back from you."
I can't help but laugh out loud when he says this. "Can't take from the living when you're dead," I inform him before dropping to a crouch before him. I press the barrel of my gun against his forehead, right between his beady fucking eyes, and I say, "Time to meet your fucking maker."
"She will never be yours," are his final words before shots ring out and pain lances its way through me. Even though I have my bullet-proof vest on, the agony causes me to stagger back. I stumble as one of Tommaso’s goons gets in my face while two others drag Tommaso away.
I look up at the bastard towering over me and I aim the weapon in my hand at his head and pull the trigger. Tommaso may have escaped me now, but I will find him. My confidence in what I have planned for him is brimming as I rise to full height.
My phone vibrates violently in my pocket, and when I pull it out, the words on the screen have my heart beating against my chest as if it were about to escape.
“Enzo! What the fuck?” Mario’s voice catches my attention. His eyes are on my chest. A quick glance at my shoulder confirms I need a doctor, but that will have to wait because I need to help my men.
I've never feared death. I've danced with her night after night while working as Underboss for my father. And now that I'm in his seat, I still don't run from a fight, especially when it's my men that need me.
Familia forever.
Death before dishonor.
I race into the foray, my gun held high and pull the trigger as I run through the gunshots flying around me. I drop to my knees suddenly as pain skitters over me, and the warmth of metallic fluid spreads over my crisp white button up.
Weariness overtakes me and I can't fight it anymore.
My eyes flutter.
Screams and shouts echo around me.
And then darkness.
Chapter 30
Luna
My eyes snap open.
My lungs drag in air with difficulty as pain shoots through me like an electric current. I can't move my body. Turning my head forces an agonizing groan to tumble from my lips, and when I look around, I realize the soft yellow light isn't that of my bedroom at the penthouse, it's a hospital room.
Confusion settles in my mind which is clouded with memories that flit back and forth between past and present. The door swings open with a soft whoosh announcing the arrival of somebody.