Page 17 of The Casella King

“You’re just a fucking child. What do you know of blood?” He spits at his feet. “Tell me, Ezra Casella, have you even killed a man before?” he asks.

Plenty.

“This is your last chance.” I squeeze my gun tighter, assessing the room around me, who I will be shooting first.

He thinks I’m bluffing, and he’s about to learn the hard way that Ineverbluff.

Bullets fly in every direction, blood splattering on the walls and onto the floor, over my clothes and almost into my mouth.

“Cover me!” I yell to Nico as he nods, crouching behind a wooden table on its side. I sprint across the room, dodging the bullets, making it to the bar. I grab the cowering son of a bitch by his collar and drag him out into the open with a gun to his head. “Put your fucking guns down, or he dies right now.”

The room goes silent as the rest of them place their guns on the floor, kicking them away.

“You’ll never hear me beg for my life.” Charlie struggles to speak as I drag him into the middle of the room.

“I don’t give a fuck.”

I drop my guns on the floor, whirling him around to face me. I grab his face with both of my hands so hard, I can almost hear his skull cracking. His eyes fill with terror as he looks at me, and it’s this part right here that I revel in. Soaking up the power, the control, I glide my thumbs into his eyes and press deeper as they sink into his sockets, blood pouring out of them, soaking my hands as his screams rip through the bar, his weak hands gripping onto my forearms as blood splatters onto my face. He falls to the floor, and I pick up both my guns. With bloodied hands, I raise them both between his eyes and pull the triggers.Brains, blood, and matter splatter onto my clothes as the rest of our guys shoot the rest of theirs. Nico and the boys manage to wrangle the two youngsters from the basement. Luckily, they didn’t suffer much, probably some bruises and scratches, though nothing major.

As the boys pile into the van, Nico takes his seat next to me in my car, just as the clean-up crew arrives. “What’s our next play?” he asks, lighting a cigarette.

“I have a line to secure, then we annihilate the rest of the Brayford bloodline.” I grin as I snatch the cigarette from his mouth and throw it out of the car window. “No fucking smoking in my Porsche, you dick.”

After a long, hot shower scrubbing brain matter out of my hair, I managed to convince my mother that my ‘fiancée’ wanted a little getaway with the excuse that she was experiencing some stress over the upcoming events. I wasn’t expecting to be somewhat relieved I didn’t have to deal with running an empire for a few days, but the truth is, I felt lighter already. I had sent Henry to pick up Aries and bring her to the tarmac, where our private jet awaits. I watch as she steps out of the car, her short, wavy hair waving in the slight wind, her sunglasses covering most of her face and her flowing sundress resting just in the middle of her thighs. She tries to help Henry with her bags as he shakes his head at her. I chuckle watching her try to adjust to letting go a little. She walks over to me, her dress blowing in the wind, and I can’t fucking look away.

“I thought it was only meant to be a little getaway?” she asks, her hands on her hips as she reaches me. “What is that?” she asks, pointing to my private jet.

“What? I can’t take my fiancée out of the country? Don’t tell me you don’t have a passport.” That’s one thing I hadn’t considered.

“I do, but that’s not the point,” she argues. I could watch her argue with me all day, though I’d have a pretty sore cock, and a serious case of blue balls from the constant raging hard-on she gives me whenever she’s near.

“Great, let’s go.”

I hold out my hand to her, which she takes. I watch as she takes one step at a time, climbing the stairs, holding her dress from behind. If her ass moving beneath the light fabric of her dress right in front of my eyes was enough to give me a semi-hard-on, I was in trouble.

“You still haven’t told me where we are going. Technically, you’re still a stranger, you know,” she says as she takes her seat on the white leather seat across from me.

“Norway.” I take out my phone and my two gold handguns, placing them on the table between us. Leaning back into my seat, I watch her, her eyes wide, mouth open.

“Norway? As in, like, the country, Norway?” she questions, her eyes never leaving mine.

“Unless you know a different Norway?” I chuckle as she slowly gathers her jaw off the floor. “I have a cabin on a lake in a small country town which I haven’t been to in a while, so I thought it’d be the perfect location.”

She doesn’t say anything, instead, she’s silent, looking out the window. A moment passes before either of us speak.

“Tell me about this man who left you at the altar,” I question, and my brows furrow at her body’s response. She goes stiff, her palms clenching the arms of her seat. The plane has begun ascending into the air as she watches the clouds whizz past from the window.

“There’s really nothing to tell.” She shrugs, looking down into her lap, her hands now keeping busy with the fabric of her dress between her fingers. “He promised me something and couldn’t deliver.”

“Surely there’s more to it than that,” I urge her to go on.

She takes a deep breath. “Why do you need to know anyway?” she questions, and I really don’t need to know. I want to know. I want to know everything about this woman, what makes her mad, what makes her cry, what makes her scream my fucking name.

“You’re going to be my wife. I need to know about your past.” I lean forward, elbows resting on my knees with my hands clasped together.

Reluctantly, she speaks. “We were together since our third year of university. I was studying a bachelor of arts, and he was studying law.” She bites her bottom lip. “I’m pretty sure somewhere along the line, he fell out of love with me and never said anything, he just let it go on because he was afraid to tell me.” Her voice is a little shaky before she says the next part. “He…” She stops herself, looking out the window, letting out a breath. “He was my first. First kiss, first everything.”

Did not expect that.

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