No way in hell was I gonna let him do that to me.
“You motherfucker.” Just as my father taught me, I gave him a right hook that happened so fast he didn’t see it coming. It wasn’t packed with as much momentum because I didn’t have as much time to draw back, but my fist landed where it belonged.
He turned with the hit and grabbed at his face.
All the men aimed their weapons at me.
“You’re going to regret that, sweetheart.” He slowly turned back to me, his eye already swelling.
“No. I don’t think so.” I threw my leg up to kick him in the balls.
He grabbed my leg and threw me on the ground.
My back hit the concrete and my body screamed in pain, but the adrenaline kept me on my guard.
“I’m gonna break your leg just to teach you a lesson.” He snatched my ankle and dragged me toward him.
Shit, he was serious. “Get off me!” I kicked as hard as I could, refusing to be crippled so he could beat me even more. How did Mia survive years of this if I couldn’t last even a few minutes?
“Help me,” he ordered his men. “I’m breaking it right at the knee.”
“You psycho!” I threw my whole body into it, fighting with everything I had.
Two men came and pinned me to the concrete so I couldn’t move at all.
“Mia said the same thing.” He grinned then positioned my leg. He looked down at me with a sneer. “On the count of three.”
Oh my fucking god.
I tensed for the pain and prepared not to show it.
I’d never been so scared in my life.
Bosco, where the fuck are you?
“One.” He grinned wider, seeing the sweat form on my forehead. “Two…”
Jesus Christ.
Gunshots rang out.
The two men holding me were down.
“Oh, thank god!” Egor looked up to see the commotion, so I yanked my leg back then kicked him hard in the chest.
He flew back.
“Take that, cunt!”
Cars filled the block, and the men fired at each other.
Egor scrambled to his feet to sprint away.
“Little bitch, you’re mine.” I lunged at him and got him by the ankle, bringing him to the ground. “How about I break your leg, huh?”
He turned around and struck me in the face.
I was immune to pain now. There was too much adrenaline, too much hostility. He did something unforgivable to my family, and I wasn’t letting him get away. “I’m gonna kill you for what you did to my sister.” I’d never killed anyone in my life, but I had no hesitation to do it now. I got on top of him and whaled on him, slamming my fists into his face. “Motherfucker!” I kept hitting him.
He shoved me off, his face bloody. Then he kicked me back, getting himself free.
Suddenly, all the sound died away. The gunshots were over because one side of the battle was dead.
Heavy footsteps approached. “Take her away.” Bosco’s deep voice was different than usual, full of rage he’d never expressed around me before. He didn’t care about me at all. He had eyes only for the man who’d made the mistake of crossing me.
Two of Bosco’s men came and helped me to my feet.
“Bosco, I—”
Bosco held up his hand and silenced me—without even looking at me. “Carmen, you aren’t going to want to see this. Go to the car.”
I didn’t say another word, knowing the man I loved wasn’t available right now.
His men guided me to the sidewalk and then opened the back door. I hesitated before I got inside.
Bosco stood over Egor and didn’t say a word until I was out of harm’s way for good.
The battery to the car was still on, so I cracked the window when no one was watching, wanting to hear everything that was about to happen.
Egor spat blood out of his mouth before he looked up at Bosco.
Bosco stared at him with the same rage as before, his body so still it didn’t seem like he was really alive. He looked like a statue, a spirit that had come to bring Egor into hell. “You killed my men. You touched my woman. You know what your punishment will be.”
Egor didn’t show any fear even though there was no possibility he wasn’t scared.
“I will burn your men alive for what they did to mine.”
I looked to the left and saw the men handcuffed in a group, most of them bleeding from their wounds. The streets were silent because no one was stupid enough to go outside right now. The police steered clear. I shouldn’t feel bad for what the men were about to go through, but I did. Being burned alive seemed harsh.
Bosco wore a black suit with a black tie, sleek and stylish in contrast to what everyone else was wearing. With broad shoulders and wrath in his jawline, he looked like the executioner he always told me he was. “And I will slit your throat right here for what you did to my woman. I will watch the light leave your eyes, and I will fill the sewers with your blood.”