Page 296 of The Devil's Fire

Right in the crotch.

“Motherfucker!” Giovanni let out a strangled grunt, cupping himself as he bent over.

I kicked the back of his legs, making him fall to his knees. I pushed him and sat on his back to keep him from moving. I grabbed his gun from his waistband and aimed it at Luca.

“Back the fuck up.” I said with my heavy breathing as I held the gun shakily from the adrenaline pumping through me. Luca ignored me and took a step closer to grab me.

Then I pulled the trigger and shot right above his head as a warning.

“You could have shot me!” Luca shouted after he threw himself on the ground.

“Then back up! And don’t worry, I’m not that good yet.” I said tiredly and lowered my arms.

“I know! That’s why I said you could have shot me!”

“My fucking balls…” Giovanni groaned underneath me.

“Yeah, Yeah… Oh God, I think I’m going to throw up…” I slid off of Giovanni to lie flat on my back when I felt nauseated. My heart was beating like crazy, and I was seeing stars. It wasn’t even nighttime yet.

Damiano blocked my view as he looked down at me.

“I don’t know whether to be impressed or to be fucking pissed at you for firing that gun.”

“You sent me into battle defenseless. I wasn’t about to be cut.” I groaned.

“For someone who doesn’t run, you’re fast. That’s good.” Luca commented. I glanced at him, seeing he looked completely fine while I felt like dying.

“Why did you have to kick me in the fucking balls?” Giovanni slowly rolled onto his back, wincing as he did so.

“Sorry, I panicked.” I got up on my feet. “My legs are trembling, and not in a good, mind-blowing, post orgasm kind of way.” I complained and slumped against Damiano.

“You can take a break before we continue.” Damiano wrapped his arm around me to keep me upright.

“Nope! No way! I’m not training anymore today.” I protested.

“I need to ice my balls…” Giovanni winced as Luca helped him up to his feet. “You just wait, Althaia. Next time, I won’t go easy on you.” He glared at me, his voice filled with promise.

“Agreed. Since you have proven you can think fast under pressure, there is no need to go easy on you now.” Luca retorted with a mischievous smile.

“You call that easy? Running after me with a knife?!” I dropped my jaw.

“These are retractable knives.” Luca laughed and pushed the ‘blade’ into the palm of his hand for me to see it was practically a toy.

“I hate you all.”

“This was merely to assess how you handle pressure, observe your stamina, and evaluate your ability to think under stress.” Damiano explained. I groaned, already dreading what kind of torture awaited me next.

“And here I thought you brought me to Italy for a nice vacation and to meet your family.” I muttered grumpily, fatigue washing over me.

“Since you performed better than expected today, you can rest. Luca, Gio, you can have the rest of the day off.” Damiano practically ordered, to which they replied with a firm nod and went on their way.

“Carry me, please?” I had no energy left, and my legs wouldn’t stop trembling when I tried to stand on my own.

“Next time, we’ll start with a small round of laps to avoid your legs trembling after a sprint.” Damiano said as he carried me in his arms and walked towards the car.

“Why do you hate me?”

“I don’t hate you.” He chuckled.

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