Page 83 of Darkest Sin

I swallow over the lump in my throat and nod, and just like that, we turn and walk out of the living room. Because while Monica might be dead and gone, her husband certainly isn’t, and until he takes his final breath, we won’t stop searching for him.

36

CHIARA

Killian leads me through the massive underground safe mansion, and after circling the top level twice, we begin creeping down to the next. He reaches out and takes the gun from my hand, and I realize shit is about to get serious.

He’s here. But where?

We move slowly through the home, and Killian is more cautious than I’ve ever seen him before, checking areas most wouldn’t even think to look, but Sergiu isn’t some random drug dealer off the street who needs to be punished. He’s the man who stood at Killian’s side all these years. He’s just as brutal as Killian. The two of them were brought up together, trained side by side. They know each other’s weaknesses, where to strike, and how to make it count.

It’s the first time I’m at risk of losing him. This could go either way, so if Killian tells me to move, I’ll move. If he tells me to run, I’ll sprint faster than I ever have in my life. Whatever he needs from me, I’ll do it without question, because the idea of leaving here without him isn’t acceptable to me.

If Killian dies here today, then I will too. There’s no doubt about it.

We move through the main bedrooms, past a sitting area, and to the other half of the downstairs area. There are a lot of closed doors, and each of them makes me nervous, not knowing what lies beyond.

We approach what I assume is a private office when the slightest movement in my peripheral vision catches my attention, and without hesitation, I drop to the ground. “Left!” I tell Killian, but he’s already seen it. A bullet whizzes straight past where my head was only a moment ago, and Killian shoots back, a bullet plunging straight through Sergiu’s knee.

“Ahhh fuck,” Sergiu roars before diving behind a couch.

Killian glances toward me, his eyes wide as they scan over my body, making sure I wasn’t hit. “I’m good,” I tell him. “Now, go and get the fucker so we can really end this.”

Killian nods and stalks toward the couch that Sergiu is hiding behind as I remain down on the ground, my gaze bouncing through the room to make sure nothing goes wrong. Killian walks with the kind of confidence that gets me hot, and as he approaches the couch, he holds his gun at the ready, but I’m not foolish enough to assume Sergiu isn’t just as prepared.

“It’s over,” Killian taunts. “You and I both know how this is going to end, so you might as well come out so we can get this over and done with.”

Killian remains on the opposite side of the couch, and without warning, he shoots through the cushions. I expect to hear a pained groan, or a gasp at the very least, but when we hear nothing, my heart starts to race just a little faster. “What the—”

A hand grips my ankle, and I’m dragged across the marble tiles as a sharp yelp tears from the back of my throat. I barely have a moment to register that Sergiu has crawled around the back of the couch and through the sitting area without detection.

Killian whirls around as I’m painfully yanked to my feet by my hair. Horror rushes through me, knowing he could kill me in an instant, just as quickly as Killian killed Monica. There’s no time to think. No time to plan. I have to act now, and I have to do it fast.

Then before Killian can even attempt to make a move, my hand strikes like lightning, grabbing the knife strapped to my thigh and blindly whipping it up in a quick arc over my shoulder. I feel the bite of something in my waist at the same moment my blade plunges straight through Sergiu’s eye.

Sergiu roars in agony as Killian lunges toward me, violently yanking me away from his cousin, and as my head whips back to take in Sergiu, all I see is the blade protruding from his eye socket as he crumbles to the ground.

“Holy fucking shit,” I screech before I’ve even hit the ground.

Everything happens so quickly.

One minute Killian is flying toward me, and the next, I’m sprawled on the floor of his mega-underground mansion as he subdues his cousin. “You good?” Killian throws over his shoulder with a bite in his tone.

“I . . . I don’t know,” I say, scrambling to my feet and looking over myself to see a patch of blood beginning to seep into the soft silk at my waist. “I think he cut me. Maybe. I can’t be sure.”

Not wanting to risk turning away from Sergiu, he knocks him unconscious before finally moving toward me, his gaze roaming over my face. “You sure have a thing with eyeballs,” he murmurs as his fingers dance across the high split of my dress and drag the material higher to my waist.

He looks over my body, taking in the fresh wound. “He got you, alright. But you moved just in time. It could have been worse.”

“So I’ll live?”

“You’ll live,” he tells me, that bite still in his tone. “Now, let’s really finish this.”

“Hey,” I say, grabbing his chin and bringing his gaze back to mine. “What’s wrong?”

His gaze darkens, and every bit of it eats at my already blackened soul. “I should have been able to play that out before it happened. He should never have gotten that close to you.”

“You’re not a mind reader.”

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