Page 83 of Malevolent King

“So will I,” Niko murmured beside us, and took my hand again.

Carmella pulled back, wiping under her eyes with a finger. “Go on then. Hurry up, before they get back from the hospital. They are already on their way.”

With fresh alarm beating through me, I followed Nikolai into the garage.

The familiar smells of the grease and motor oil, all the usual things I loved, filled my head. I’d come so far in the days since Nikolai’s first escape attempt, when I’d walked in here and right into his waiting arms. Now, we were escaping together, his hand was firm around mine, and I wasn’t letting go.

We made it through the garage and to the door on the farthest side.

“Okay, I’m going to open it, and when I do, you take Sofia and run,” Angelo said, positioning himself at the side, his gun at the ready.

“Be careful. Chiara will kill me if you get hurt.” I knew, without a doubt, my best friend was as vengeful as they came.

“She would, wouldn’t she? If I do, tell her… I’d do it all over, just to have the time we did again,” he said gruffly, softening my heart.

“Fuck, man, that was touching as hell, but you can tell her yourself,” Nikolai prompted, and pulled me close. “Let’s do this.”

We had no idea if there was someone waiting for us outside. Franco might have expected this, they might have already suspected Angelo. I had no idea.

Nikolai caught my eye, his silver gaze brushing fondly over my features. “Just remember,lastochka, it’s better to die than do nothing,” he told me quietly.

Those words seemed a good fit for him. He was a man who had clearly lived by them and been lucky enough not to die for them so far.

I nodded and straightened my spine.I was Sofia De Sanctis, Mafia princess, knife fighter and Nikolai Chernov’slastochka. I wouldn’t go down with a whimper.

Angelo watched us, and seeing we were ready, opened the door.

And all hell broke loose.

24

NIKOLAI

As soon as Angelo stepped out, a bullet caught him in the leg, and he went down. Shots pinged toward the doorway and came from inside the garage at the same time.

Fuck.

I pulled Sofia low and pushed her behind a hulking car.

“Stay here,” I hissed at her, squeezing her hand hard before turning away.

I listened to the soft shuffling sounds of men trying to be quiet as they moved through the dark. Channeling the kid that I used to be, the one who could see in the darkest night, I decided which direction to go for first and sprang.

I slid across a car bumper, and my fist found the first shooter’s nose. I landed hard on his chest, my hands going to his neck before he even understood what had happened.

The soft crunch of his neck snapping soothed the raging beast of anger and fear inside me. All I could think about was getting Sofia out. She could get hurt like this, with bullets flying recklessly. If that happened, I’d burn every single inch of Casa Nera to the ground, with every single fucker who lived here staked to the earth to die in painful agony before letting the flames consume me as well.

Leaving the dead body of the first man, I moved silently on my bare feet toward the next person. I’d gone through the man’s pockets and now had a knife and a gun. The knife was preferred in these dark, close quarters, however, as I’d rather sneak up and attack in the dark than have a shoot-out.

My knife found the neck of the next man, sinking like butter through his worthless flesh and sinew. Hot blood splashed my chest and arm, and I was relieved that the feeling seemed to be returning to my dislocated shoulder. Angelo had done a good job of popping it back in, though, in a few hours, it’d hurt like a bitch again. At this rate, I’d be lucky to be alive to worry about it.

Angelo.Fuck.The man better not bleed out, not when he was so close to getting everything he wanted, the future he dreamed of with the woman he loved. I felt like his life was my responsibility as well now, along with Sofia’s. Good people who were in this situation because of me.

Another guard fell to my knife, and the garage fell quiet. I headed back toward Sofia.

As I did, my eyes perfectly adjusting to the dim light, a rapid motion ahead pulled my attention. The small door to the garage flung open at the side, the light blinding me for a moment, and then a figure staggered through, dragging another.

Someone had Sofia, and they were taking her outside.

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