She opened and closed her mouth. “I don’t … I…”
Suddenly, the lights were cut off and the unmistakable sound of gunshots rang out. Women screamed as their men took charge. Windows shattered and smoke filled the dancefloor.
“Get to Romeo,” he yelled. Fuck. Ellie was in his arms. He had to get her to safety.
“Antonio, what’s going on?” she asked.
He heard the fear in her voice. He had to protect her, to keep her safe, to love her. There was no way it could end like this. He wouldn’t let it.
Pulling her across the dance floor, he took her down the hall, toward one of the secure rooms. He looked outside in the garden that was aglow. The men would be coming inside. After removing his gun from back pocket, he loaded it.
“Take this and run like hell,” he said. “You don’t stop until you get to Casey. She will know what to do with you. She’ll keep you safe.” He handed her his cell phone. “Call the number labeled as cop. He’ll help you.”
She shook her head. “Antonio, no.”
“Yes.” He cupped her face. “That out there — it’s my life and I’ve got to protect all of them. Please, do not make me worry about you. You know what it’s like to lose love. Don’t let me lose you.” He kissed her hard, passionately.
“I can’t leave you. I don’t want to leave you.” Tears fell down her face and he wanted to tell her it would be okay, but there was no way he could tell her the truth. There was no way he could guarantee they were going to be safe.
After kissing her again, he helped her out of the window. “Go.”
He turned his back from her and grabbed one of the guns from the supply closet. Romeo’s house was made for protection. There were many guns stored away for when they were needed.
He entered the dining room. Bodies already littered the ground. This was the life he was used to. The life chosen for him.
Romeo, Raphael, and the capos, along with many soldiers, were holding down the perimeter.
“Who are they?” Antonio asked.
“Cartel fuckers,” Romeo said. “They don’t like that I said no, and now, they’re all going to die.”
In the back of his mind, he thought about Ellie. She was his love. The light of his life. He’d done many things wrong with her, but in loving her he’d finally done something right. She was worth waiting for, worth risking his life for. He could fight knowing she was safe, protected.
Never had he been beaten down while fighting for the Giavanni Family, and he wasn’t going to start now.
“We’ve got too many casualties,” Raphael said. “We need to fall back.”
“Not going to fucking happen. This is my house. No man, no one will ever fucking take my place from me,” Romeo said.
And that was why Antonio would always fight for him. He didn’t hide behind his rank or soldiers. He picked up a gun and kept on fighting. No one was going to make Romeo back out of a fight.
Their enemy would fall.
Chapter Ten
Ellie hid behind a tree.
She had run all of her life. She’d gone from the foster system when she could until she realized it was just easier to stick around until she could leave. When life got a little too hard, she ran.
Glancing back at Romeo’s mansion where Antonio was, she couldn’t run.
Her man was in there and he wouldn’t let her run away. He’d put his ring on her finger. Claimed her when no one else had. Antonio had taken a chance on her.
It wasn’t lost on her how all of the other women looked at her tonight. She wasn’t one of them. Would never be one of them. She was an outsider, but Antonio had picked her. Romeo liked her.
He was proud to call her a member of his family and not once had anyone ever given her the time of day. Just knowing he loved her, there was no way she could run.
If he died tonight, she wanted to be by his side.
She had already kicked off her heels, and so, she marched back toward the ground. Even as she stood over broken glass, no one was outside. She saw a couple of the guards were dead. Lifting the gun, she looked toward the entrance.
It had been a long time since she’d fired a gun.
The first man she came to was loading his weapon. She didn’t recognize him, and he wore a black hat covering his face. Giavanni men never hid. She shot him. The first bullet got his shoulder, the second, his head.
Her hand shook and she felt sick to her stomach, but these men had tried to ruin a really special night. It wasn’t every single night a woman got ordered into a proposal.