When Villains Rise (Anti-Heroes in Love 2)

“She isn’t here, Agostino,” Bambi insisted. “And you shouldn’t be either. If you want me to be your precious rat, you can’t keep showing up where they could find you.”

“Dante come to your house much?” he asked in a low, dangerous hiss.

“N-no, but he has before to pick up Rora or drop her off.”

“The filth near my daughter is disgusting. He’s not even Italian, you know that? The British figlio di puttana. The soon I end him the better. That’s why I came, I want you to tell me what he’s planning now he’s on the outside.”

“I don’t know.” Her words were immediately followed by shrieked as he hurt her somehow. “Please, Agostino, I really don’t know anything. I’m his housekeeper and his cook, he doesn’t speak freely around me very much.”

There was a pause filled with the sounds of her struggling and then, “You’re right. The only useful thing you’ve done is given us Jacopo who has value to Salvatore. You’re nothing. Not to him and not to me.”

“Please,” Bambi whispered. “Please just leave us alone.”

“You’re pathetic, Georgina, you really are. A pathetic liability. If I don’t need you, what are you good for, huh?”

“I’m the mother of your child,” she tried.

In my arms, Aurora whimpered, ducking her head under my armpit to block out the noise. It was impossible to stem my own panic, both remembered and real. Hiding in the kitchen felt too much like a nightmarish déjà vu waiting for the Camorra to beat up my father.

“You’ve been a waste of my time since the moment I met you.” He hummed as if in consideration and then there was a bang as he slammed something against the wall.

From the feminine gasp, it was obviously Bambi.

“I don’t need you anymore,” he decided in a cold, detached way as if assessing a stock risk. “And I don’t need you running your mouth to your precious Camorra men. You saw what happened when you got to close to Marco, didn’t you?” he teased cruelly. “Stubborn bastardo, I thought for sure he would die.”

Bambi started to cry, soft sobs that rolled through the room like a fog of despair.

Adrenaline pumped through my veins. I couldn’t just let him hurt her or kill her or whatever he was gearing up to do. But I was also stuck in hiding with Aurora and I didn’t want to put her in danger.

The choice was taken from me when I heard the cock of a gun.

Gently, I shifted Rora off my lap, encouraging her to curl up in the depts of the cabinet under the mop handle. She shook her head frantically, clutching at my hand as I tried to peel her away from me.

“No, stop,” Bambi screamed, the cries followed by thumping as if she was kicking at him. “Please, Auggie, think about your––”

Three things happened at once.

One.

I burst from the door of the cabinet, slamming it behind me to shield Aurora and startle Agostino.

Two.

He fired the gun.

Straight into Bambi’s sternum.

I shouted wordlessly raced across the twelve feet between Agostino holding her up against the wall and my hiding place.

Three.

There was knife lying on the counter, a paring knife to cut fruits of vegetables. I gripped it in my fist and lunged at Don di Carlo.

I impacted with him as he was turning to looking at the commotion I’d made. I was lucky to catch him off-guard because he was almost as big as Dante. He staggered as I hit him, loosening his grip on Bambi who fell to the floor clutching her chest, leaving a big wet, red smear of blood on the white wall.

Fury turned my vision blood red.

I jammed the knife into the first place I could reach, Agostino’s upper right chest. It slid in deep enough to hit bone then got stuck.

In that moment, I wondered madly if I was going to die.

He flipped me so quickly, I wasn’t even aware I was moving until my back slammed into the floor and the air expelled entirely from my body.

“Elena Lombardi,” he greeted with a sneer, pulling the knife from his chest as if it was a only a minor inconvenience. “What a pleasant surprise. Did this bitch enlist your help to get away from me?”

His hands found my neck, strangling me just enough for black spots to prance across my vision, but not even to kill me.

Not yet.

I was grateful to have long legs.

I kicked the right on up and notched my foot against his belly where he crouched over me, pushing with all my might to get him to budge.

He didn’t.

So, using the last of my energy, I kicked him in the kidney there again and again.

Finally, he cursed in Italian and shifted away from me, taking the pressure off my neck for just a second.

One second was enough.