Page 82 of Malevolent King

“The cops. They’re on their way.”

“The cops! That’s your plan? The local police won’t do anything to the De Sanctis family. They are all on my father’s payroll.”

“Give me some credit. I know how to cause a little mayhem. We didn’t call in for help… we called in a bomb threat. That’ll bring them running.” Nikolai grinned. “That’s what you heard me rigging up.”

“A bomb? You made a bomb?”

He took in the panicked look on my face. “Just a small one,” he muttered, tearing a manic laugh from me. “Just a little homemade distraction to see us out the door safely.”

“That’s crazy. What about the other people in the house?”

We were edging down the hall, approaching the kitchen. From there, we could take the door to the garage and disappear into the woods, like Niko had originally, over a week ago.

“Everyone will be fine. I told you, it’s just a little thing, more bang than buck… probably.”

“Don’t worry, Sofia. He made it with household supplies and contained it,” Angelo called to me.

I gave up arguing about it. We needed to get out of here, and there was only one other person I cared about in the entire building.

“We need to warn Carmella,” I said as Angelo pushed into the kitchen.

“Warn Carmella about what?” The housekeeper’s hard voice brought all three of us to a stop.

Turning into the room, I saw the very woman in question. She was standing beside the door, holding a gun. My heart fell as I took her in.

“Sofia, come over here to me,” she said, and held out her other hand. She was eyeing Nikolai like he was the bomb himself, about to go off at any second.

I shook my head. “I can’t. I don’t want to. Carmella. I’m leaving.”

“You can’t leave. You’re Antonio De Sanctis’ daughter. You’re the future of this family. You can’t leave us,” Carmella said, her bottom lip wobbling.

I shook my head again. “I don’t want to stay anymore. I want to be free. Free of Antonio and Silvio and his father. Please, Carmella, just look the other way and let us go.”

“What will I say to your brother when he comes home?” Carmella demanded.

“You don’t need to say anything. I’ll come home then. Ren will fix everything, but until he’s here, it isn’t safe for me to stay.”

“And who is going to keep you safe? Him?” She jerked the gun toward Niko.

I nodded. “I trust him. He’ll keep me safe.”

“Tesoro, you’ve fallen for his lies. You told me yourself he’s a silver-tongued devil.”

“He is a devil, I can’t deny it… he’s a devil through and through, but…” I trailed off, unsure how the hell to explain my relationship to Nikolai in a short sentence.

“I’mherdevil,” Niko said, suddenly stepping in. He walked steadily toward Carmella, not even looking at the gun leveled at his chest. “No matter who comes for her, or what they want to do to her, they’ll have to go through me. I’ll protect her with my life,” he said quietly.

Silence fell as Nikolai and Carmella stared at each other. Tension built, knowing that the cops were on their way and the distraction wouldn’t make a blind bit of difference if we weren’t ready to use the opportunity it presented.

“Go then. Go now, and don’t get caught. I’ll be here, waiting for your brother to come home.”

Carmella’s words sank through me, taking a few moments to register. She was letting us go.

“Be here, but not actually here, as there might be a tiny explosion,” I said, hurrying to her and hugging her hard.

She hugged me back, her gun still gripped in her hand.“Take care of yourself, Sofia, my precious girl,” she muttered into my hair.

“I will,” I reassured her.

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