Page 86 of Broken Princess

The basement is clear, and we’ve taken out most of the exterior hostiles. I was doing a sweep of the first floor when Sin called for backup. I’m back in the main house and flying down the stairs before the last body falls off the roof. This place is a fucking maze.

Calling out over the comms for their location, I catch up with my team in a reception room at the front of the house by the front door. I have four of Manny’s men with me, none of which I’ve worked with before, but I’ve heard good things.

When we reach the third room… holy fuck. It’s a massacre.

There’s a heap of bodies—skewed limbs branching off of prone torsos—piled like rag dolls on the hearth, a carpet of blood beneath them. Signalling for my team to watch the door, I edge around the glassy crimson pool and grab a poker from the fireplace. I can’t get close enough without risking skating through the viscera, so I poke the top body with the iron tool, rolling it over to confirm my suspicions.

Salvatore De Luca’s body tumbles to the floor with a dull thud, followed by a thick squelching sound as it disturbs the congealed gore.

I can hear the collective gasp of shock from the men behind me, and I can’t help but join them. Shit just got a whole lot worse if the sick-fuck that is Max De Luca is now in charge.

Please, for the love of God, say he doesn’t have her.

I turn around a fraction too late to warn my awestruck team of the men coming into the room behind them. Diving behind the pile of corpses, I reach for my weapon, but my angle is wrong, and I can’t lay down any cover fire. I can only listen as one by one they drop to the floor, adding to the surrounding carnage.

The voice that rings out makes my blood run cold. “Bring him here.”

Hands band around my arms and haul me up and present me to Manny-motherfucking-Ferella.

“You traitorous cunt,” I scream, only to be silenced by the butt of his gun.

“You can shut the fuck up right now, you illegitimate bastard. I’ve tolerated your inferior pedigree polluting our ranks for far too fucking long.”

He backhands me before spitting in my face. Fighting against the vice-like grips holding me back, I nearly succeed in wrenching myself free before he pulls his gun on me and presses it firmly into the fleshy part of my cheek so hard I can feel a pounding ache in my teeth as the barrel pushes into them.

“Bring him.”

I’m dragged behind Manny further into the house. Where the fuck are the other teams? How many are loyal to this prick? Can’t be many—if any—Bianchis if he just slaughtered his own men. I’ve always known Manny was an old-school underboss, but I would never have thought he stood against Mateo.

He drags me into a less gore-strewn sitting room and sits down on the most uncomfortable-looking couch I’ve ever seen. It looks like it’s stuffed with concrete, but the pompous twat makes a show of relaxing, throwing his arms over the back of the sofa and puffing out his chest like some kind of preening peacock.

“You really fucked me, Enzo.” I keep my face blank and let him continue his diatribe. “We had a solid plan, cut out all the weak links and make The Syndicate a shining example of how an organisation should run. Then you and your fucking mongrels had to get involved and accelerated the fucking timeline. You’ve incited a civil war when it could have been an efficient takeover.”

He nods to one of the goons behind me, who kicks out my knees and pushes me down, leaving me in a heap at Manny’s feet. I grind my teeth, livid to be prostrated before a man with so little honour.

Years he served at Mateo’s side, and he sold him out. It makes me nauseous. I can taste the bile rising in my throat and it’s all I can do to bite it back down.

“Why show your cards now?”

Manny stands, wrenching my head up off the floor with one hand, only to kick me full across the jaw. I feel the sharp pain as my jaw threatens to dislocate and I have to smother the scream that desperately wants to escape. I won’t give this fucker the satisfaction.

“You wiped out every fucking Bianchi ally I had! I’ve had to assume my new role earlier than planned. You’ve created fucking chaos and now the fate of this organisation rests is being influenced by a whore and a band of impure bastards?” Manny's words are brimming with a hatred so strong I feel every one of them like a blow to the body.

I spit out the blood that’s pooling in my mouth, making sure to cover his pretentious loafers. I can’t help but smile as he swears and fusses over the mess. It’s the small things in life that make you happy.

My smile is short-lived as I see Max appear at the door, men towing Aurora behind her. She wrestles herself free and half runs, half limps to my side, crouching down to check on me.

“I’m good,” I force out through the searing pain in my jaw, hoping I’m muted enough for no one to hear the next part. “Has he hurt you?”

She shakes her head and various hands grab us both and pull us to our feet, restraining us as Max approaches.

“Interesting,” he says, tone practically dripping with venom as he addresses Aurora. “It seems my wife has picked up a fondness for strays.”

He grabs me by the hair and jerks me down to meet the knife in his other hand.

“I hope you didn’t get too attached. Mongrels like this only ever end up getting put down.”

Grunting, I try to lean back, away from the blade that he’s now pressing at my skin, coaxing out a thin stream of blood that I can feel slip down my throat beneath my collar. I try to shake my head, to tell her to keep quiet, but the blade only slips further around my neck, lengthening the cut.

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