Roman laughs, watching me like some kind of pathetic injured animal hobbling along, one who he plans to shoot just to put it out of its misery. He stands, keeping his disgusted leer on me as he checks over his gun. We hear the discreet sounds of the three gunmen creeping in closer and Roman slowly turns, more than ready to destroy them, his bullet wound barely even a thought on his mind.
He glances back at me, the silent warning sharp in his eyes, and just like that, he’s gone, slipping into the darkness like a deadly shadow intent on raising the fucking dead … or at least, adding a few men to their exclusive club by giving them a non-refundable eternal membership.
Silence fills the property as my head spins, the blood loss starting to fuck with my vision … or maybe that was from hitting my head during the crash. I’m almost certain I’ve torn open old stitches, but what does that matter when I’m about to get sliced and diced? I might as well help the process along.
The silence gets louder, and with each passing second, the nerves turn into dead weights in the pit of my stomach, the lingering smell of gasoline making it that much worse. With a whispered groan, I roll myself to my knees and creep out from behind the wreckage, desperate to see what’s going on. Roman never told me who these guys were, but if I had to take a guess, I’d say these are his father’s men. Nobody else would be foolish enough to come here and take a shot at Roman like this. Though, I’m quickly starting to realize that the men in this fucked-up world don’t often come equipped with brains.
Everyone thinks they’re better than the next, stronger, wiser, fiercer. They’re all fools, assuming they have Giovanni’s protection, though nothing compares to Roman, Marcus, and Levi. Being one of Giovanni’s men is the same as painting a target right in the center of your forehead and parading around in front of a bunch of psychopaths, daring them to take a shot.
I catch sight of Roman slipping in behind the shadow of the bushes, his body barely visible in the darkness. His back is to me, but I don’t doubt that he’s somehow still watching, still waiting for me to make a stupid move just to give him another excuse to end my life.
He takes another step and disappears out of sight, leaving me to watch after him, my heart thundering erratically. My stomach twists with nerves as my body grows heavier by the second. Tonight has been a fucking mess, but I’m not about to call it quits yet.
The hooded woman set off a series of events that not even she would have been able to foresee. Despite her bullshit escape plan, I think she was actually trying to protect me, or at least trying to get me away from the brothers, but maybe she just wants me out of her way. She reminded me a lot of Ariana, wanting to take claim over the three men in this world who could never be claimed.
God, I hate that bitch. If there was some way I could sink my claws in and destroy Ariana without destroying myself in the process, I’d do it. She’s a leech with a hard-on for Roman, and because of that, she feels entitled to fuck with me.
This hooded bitch shot Marcus and took him away from me right when I thought he and I were starting to build some kind of … fuck, I don’t know what it’s called. It sure as hell isn’t a relationship, and I’d be fucked if I were to label it as a friendship. We were building something, that’s for sure. Changes were happening and the dynamic between us was shifting. He didn’t trust me, and I sure as hell didn’t trust him, but we were heading in that direction. It could have been great between us, but now he’s lying on his bed, bleeding out with his brother’s hands buried deep inside his chest. No matter what happens here tonight, there’s no way I’ll ever be able to see him again.
Levi and Roman will do everything in their power to save him, but they’re also going to do everything in their power to end me, and from what I’ve come to learn of the DeAngelis brothers—they won’t stop until they get exactly what they want.
Fuck. That bitch better hope she never crosses me again because I will make her life a living hell, though hopefully the boys finally see that I’m telling the truth. Then I won’t have to worry about making her life a living hell; they’ll do it for me and turn it into an Academy Award-winning performance.
Minutes pass before I hear the telltale sounds of a fight, and my eyes flash across the wide yard, desperately seeking them out. Grunts and groans echo through the darkness and my nerves skyrocket, hating the idea of not knowing where each of the men are.
A gunshot rings out, making me jump, and just as I catch sight of three more men slipping onto the property, a shadow looms over me. My eyes widen and I suck in a deep breath, ready to scream, but his big hand clamps over my mouth, muffling the sound.
Ignoring the stabbing pain in my stomach, I kick out, desperate to get free as he tears my dirty knees up off the ground. My fingers dig into his skin and I feel my nails tearing thick ribbons into his flesh. “Ahhh, fuck,” the man spits, throwing me down as he shakes out his bloodied hand.
Digging my heels into the ground, I scramble back, barely feeling the tears as they flow freely down my face and splash against my collarbone. He laughs, watching my pathetic attempt at escape as he walks forward, stalking me like a wild animal. We move almost as one toward the front of the wrecked car, and as the glow from the headlights finally hits him, I recognize him as one of the men who snuck into my room and dragged me right out of bed.
Anger pulses through me and I grab a fistful of dirt and throw it up into his eyes. He curses and the small distraction gives me just a moment to clamber to my shaky feet. Without looking back, I launch myself forward, not giving a shit which direction I’m heading, just desperate to get away.
Pressing a hand over my bleeding stomach, I try to keep myself alive. The man roars in frustration and bolts after me like lightning until a bullet whizzes past my face.
The roaring stops as the man’s heavy body falls to the ground, but I barely get a chance to look back before Roman’s familiar tone is tearing through the property. “GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE. RUN.”
My eyes widen in horror, my gaze darting around to see that there’s more than just a handful of Giovanni’s men. There’s a fucking swarm of them and they all have him in their sights.
As a general rule, Roman never tells me to run. His reckless confidence outweighs the possibility that things might not go his way. Even when backed into a corner, running is not an option. For him to tell me to run now could only mean one thing—Roman DeAngelis has finally met his match.
Not one to wait around and try my luck, I take off like a fucking bat. My feet pound against the hard ground, each step sending me soaring toward the thick forest surrounding the massive castle. A distant thought that my father is out here somewhere filters through my mind, but he’s the least of my problems.
Low hanging branches and bushes snag on my skin, cutting shallow tears into my flesh as I whip past them, the overwhelming fear too great to even register the pain. My ankle twists under me but I keep going, unsure how many more of Giovanni’s men are hiding in the woods.
BANG!
A loud explosion tears through the property, the sound deafening as the force of the explosion launches me into the air. I scream and I’m thrown headfirst into the thick trees as the blasting heat hits my back. Fire burns through the property and as I crash to the ground, my heart races.