Page 22 of Bullet for My Good Girl

"Stella!" I yell louder and run toward the room. It's empty. The drawers are pulled open but there's no sign of Stella or Chance.

She fucking left."Fucking bitch!" I roar and run back to the room to quickly put my clothes on and grab hold of my equipment. I can't even wipe down the house correctly as I'd normally do. I'm going to have to come back and set it on fire.

If she gets herself killed I'm going to have to bring her back to life so I can kill her again. There's barely any lights on the dirt roads so I can't really see where she might have gone but ever so often I see a dark spot on the light dirt. Blood.

I follow the trail picking up my pace knowing that I need to catch her before someone else does. I didn't have a chance to check the body and make sure the assassin in the trees was dead. She's fucking everything up before I have a chance to make sure that we can stay together.

"No! Please, I have a child!"

My heart squeezes tight in my chest as I hear Stella crying in the distance. Someone else is around. Everything sounds like it's underwater as I race in the direction of the last place I heard her screaming.

It doesn't take long for me to find her. Or to figure out who the asshole trying to kill her is. The Torres brothers. Another sibling assassin team. There are three of them each with their own distinct way of killing a mark. The one I shot down in the tree must have been Luis. The one in front of me right now is Jose. He's the largest and likes to use a knife to kill his victims.

"Hey, asshole," I call out not wanting to shoot when I see both Stella and Chance in the line of fire. I've seen enough of her blood for today.

Quickly, Jose turns around and sees me standing there, my gun at my side and my equipment bag dropped to the floor.

"Vitto, you're too late buddy, this contract is ours." He snarls and turns back to Stella.

"Try again. She belongs to me. Now unless you want to end up like your brother I suggest you back the fuck off." I warn him, taking another step in his direction.

"Like my brother? What are you talking about?" Jose turns back in my direction, his eyebrows furrowed together, confusion marring his rugged face.

"Well, last time I checked my bullet had ripped through his body. He's probably still hanging somewhere in the trees." I shrug and widen my stance. I know what comes after this.

Jose's eyes widen and instantly he recognizes what I'm trying to tell him. We are not on the same side today, I just killed his brother. "No! Pendejo!" He roars and rushes me.

My gaze stays glued to the long hunting knife in his hand. It's razor sharp and it won't take much effort for him to disembowel me. How the hell was I supposed to keep Stella and Chance safe if I was disemboweled?

Jose screams as he thrust the knife forward, I dodge the swipe and grab hold of his arm. I lock my fingers around his wrist trying to break the joint and unarm him. He doesn't let me get a good enough grip. As I focus my weight on his arm he grabs the back of my shirt and pulls me down so he can connect his knee with my face.

"Fuck!" I groan and stumble backward. The jolt to the head makes me see darkness for a second and that's all Jose needs. He charges me again this time he wraps his arms around my midsection and slams me to the ground. The wound in my arm pulses in pain and I'm sure the bleeding has started back up again.

"No! Vitto!" I hear Stella call out for me. Her voice brings my vision back with pinpoint preciseness. I can't die today.

Just as I look up, Jose is raising his knife up over his head to bring it straight down into my chest. Rolling my body to the side I threw him off balance. The knife jams down into earth leaving at least four inches worth of blade exposed. I grab hold of the hand that he's using to keep himself from falling down on me and by just shifting my weight I was able to slide him sideways. I push hard and his hand slides toward the knife still sticking out of the ground. It takes only a second for the blade to amputate his fingers from his hand. The sharp metal cut through his hand like a deli-meat-slicing machine.

Jose gasped for a second as he sat up on my midsection and stared down at the perfectly cut nubs on his hand. Then the screaming started.

"Motherfucker! Oh fuck!" he roared before he refocuses on me. Using the one good hand that he has he begins to wail on my face and upper body. I block as best I can but even with only one arm Jose is a force of nature.

Jose lands a good shot on the wound in my arm and I nearly vomit from the pain, "Get the fuck off me!" I grunt.

I'm not going to be able to win in a strength match, lucky for me I've never been against cheating.

Reaching off to the side I find a small rock, it won't do much as a bludgeoning device but the edges are sharp. I palm the rock in my hand and with the last bit of strength I have I lift Jose's large body up and slam the rock straight into his eye. The soft bulb mushes in for a moment before it finally pops and a mixture of blood and visceral fluid drips down my hand.

"Oh god!" Stella gags behind us and I hear the small child whining.

Jose bellows up into the night sky long and loud before he drops down to the ground, rolling off me in the process. His one good hand raised up to his face as if he could put the mangled pieces of his eye back together. I don't give him a chance to focus on what's going on. I grab the hilt of the knife sticking out of the ground and push Jose over to his side. Raising the knife only a little I bring it down hard on his temple.

The sound of Stella crying in the background enrages me further. He was trying to kill her. Trying to take my one bit of perfection away from me. I pick up my arm over and over bringing the knife down on the side of his face so many times that by the time I'm out of breath I'm only stabbing at the blood-stained dirt that was underneath his head.

My eyes dart up and find Stella staring at me. Her hands wrapped around the small package strapped to her chest. The baby is in a carrier. They're safe. The relief that I feel is greater than any words.

I fall to the ground and focus on the star-filled night sky. It's so peaceful yet I know it's false. When I added more money to the price on Stella's head, I started a brand new war. Assassins from all over are about to converge on Stella and my son. I'm the only chance either of them have at staying alive.

Fifteen

---