Page 80 of Mercy in Betrayal

It’s absolute mayhem.

Two men lie sprawled on the ground, unmoving. A dozen more stagger about, barely keeping themselves upright. The people I know and love…the same people who hug each other and drink coffee in the morning and laugh at a well-timed joke…well, they’re like animals.

Carina and Luca fight side-by-side, Carina’s movements every bit as decisive and brutal as her

husband’s as she slashes and kicks and drives her opponent forward.

A man wraps his arms around Evie from behind, squeezing as he lifts her off the ground. My heart lurches into my throat for exactly two seconds before she rears back and smashes her head into his face, splitting his nose open with a shower of crimson.

Cassidy and Enzo…

Oh, God.

They fight each other, screaming and throwing fists faster than I would have thought humanly possible. Blood covers both of their faces, making it impossible for me to tell who has the advantage. I step forward onto the sandy edge of the court, trying to get a better perspective amid all of the people.

“Enzo!” He gives a stutter step and hesitates, looking around for me.

Cassidy steals the opportunity to land a punch square on Enzo’s jaw. Enzo goes down, vanishing from my line of sight. I can’t see where he dropped. There are too many people around him.

“Damnit, Cassidy!” I grab Tom’s arm. He’s standing just behind me with Ian, his expression stunned. “Do something!” I scream at him.

Shaking me loose, he yells something at Ian, who simply crosses his arms and shakes his head. I try to run forward, but men step in front of me. One of them grabs me from behind, preventing me from moving forward.

I can’t see Enzo. I can’t see him.

The man holding me is a soldier, whose I don’t know. He could belong to the Marzanos, the Scarpettas…he could be Azrael for all I recognize him. I go limp within his grasp, my hands rising to clutch futilely at the arm banded across my midsection, and my heart begs the universe to deliver a miracle. Closing my eyes, I breathe through my nose and try to think.

Reset.

Reset.

No, fuck resetting. My eyes pop open. I’m not going to calm down. Calming down and finding

my center—that is something someone with a normal life can do.

Begging for a miracle—that’s for someone who wants things to be handled. Someone without her own free will. Without choices.

I don’t have the luxury of a normal life. Regardless of how much I hate it, I’m a mafia wife.

And I don’t want to calm down and wait for things to be handled for me ever again.

I’ll make my own miracles.

I start to struggle viciously against the man holding me, my teeth sinking into his arm. He screams and loosens his grip on me. My hands move quickly, withdrawing his pistol from his waistband. He grabs for it, but I jerk it out of his reach, raising it and cocking it as I point it at him.“No. Not today.” I wave the gun around the group. “Stay.”

I am outgunned and outmatched. I know this, but I don’t give them a chance to counter. I pivot on my heel and run straight into the brawl.

Straight ahead, I see my brother. If I can find my brother, I can find Enzo. I step toward him, but someone grabs me by my hair. With a shrill scream, I swing and try to hit him with the gun, but the grip on my hair suddenly disappears.

I look back to find Enzo pinning the man on the ground, his fist rising and falling in quick succession.

Cassidy notices me. His eyes dart between me and Enzo. He rises from where he was kneeling over someone and starts toward us.

I close my eyes, point the gun skyward, and fire.

It doesn’t work exactly as I envisioned. I imagined everyone going silent, a hush falling over the brawling men after the startling sound of gunfire. Instead, everyone starts drawing their own weapons. Everyone starts to shout louder and louder to be heard over one another.

Then, the piercing sound of a whistle.

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