Page 54 of The Devil In Disguise

His eyes sparkle with satisfaction and a malicious grin takes over his face. “You don’t even know, do you?” My lack of response throws him into a fit of laughter and I cock my gun, not faltering when he stands and takes a small step toward me.

“If you think after raising you for all these years I don’t know a thing or two about you, that’s where you’re mistaken, son. Hell, anyone with working eyes at that party saw the way you looked at her all night. I’m no idiot and I know how to play my cards. Tell me,” he walks closer, “do you know where your precious Amaris is now?”

His entire confident demeanor alone has a pit forming in my stomach, but I betray nothing.

“She’s in her room,” I reply confidently, despite wondering if there’s a chance I could be wrong. For all I know, she took her things and left right after our fight.

“She’s gone,” he tsks.

Two words. Fear that I haven’t felt since the night Mama died rushes through me, heart sinking to my stomach.

“That’s impossible. You’re fucking lying, that’s all you know how to do.”

“Is it?”

Renato is a liar. But does he bullshit when it comes to his schemes? No.

No. No, no. This can’t be happening.

This is all wrong, all so fucking wrong. I was supposed to protect her.

Taking advantage of my stunned state and unfirm grip on the gun, Renato shoves me backward with all his force, causing my gun to slip out of my grasp. Once he has me pinned to the ground, he gets a few punches in. This old man can hold his own, but he isn’t as determined and wrathful as I am right now.

My knee connects hard with his groin twice, and when he’s disorientated, I push him back and hover over his chest, pinning his arms down with my legs and delivering blow after blow to his face. Gripping his dark hair tightly, I bang his head against the floor once. Twice. Using the hand that he finally freed, he grabs a decorative vase from the short center table next to him and smashes it to pieces on the side of my head.

Momentarily growing dizzy and fighting, it takes two seconds, but two seconds was enough for Renato to crawl toward my forgotten gun. He’s just barely at an arm's length away from it when I notice his intentions. As I debate my options for the last second it’ll take him to reach the gun and fire, a bullet flies right past my head and straight through the hand reaching for my gun. He jerks back in pain and groans loudly while I whip my head in the direction it came in.

Marco stands beside Luciano who is tucking his gun back in his waistband and moving into the room now. Only Luci can hit such a tight shot perfectly. Anyone else might have hit me, or at the very least grazed me. Marco hurries for my gun and hands it to me, clapping me on my shoulder as he walks away.

The three of us have our guns pointed at Renato. He has no more moves. Game over.

The moment he realizes he’s truly outnumbered, defeat is reflected in his eyes, mixed in with the usual anger and hatred that bleeds from them. Maintaining eye contact with Renato, I waste no time giving the guys orders.

“Marco, go check Amaris’ house and make sure she’s there and she’s safe. Run. Luci, grab the cable ties he keeps in his office.”

They both agree. Then it’s just a sickly looking Renato and I once again.

“He won’t find her and neither will you. You won’t ever see her again.” Renato still sounds confident, but tired.

“Shut the fuck up.” If only to wipe the sneer off his face, closing the distance between us I use the gun to pistol whip him on the head and kick him hard in the gut. My voice is low and threatening when I crouch down, coming face to face with him red and fuming. He looks like the devil himself. “I’m gonna enjoy killing you, piece by piece.”

Luci walks back in a few seconds later with sack in hand. Pulling out duct tape and multiple long, black zip ties, he wordlessly binds Renato’s hands and feet together. When he’s done, his eyes flick up to Renato’s, darkening his gaze.

“By the time we’re done with you, not even the pigs will want anything to do with you,” he hisses, punctuating his statement by slapping a slab of tape over his mouth. Pinching his nose he continues, watching Renato struggle without airflow. “Consider this a lesson. Do better in your next life.”

Reaching into the sack once more, he pulls out a wet cloth and replaces the hand pinching Renato’s nose with the cloth until he loses consciousness. Turning to me impassively, he adds, “We can throw the sack over his head when we carry him out so no one sees his face, but we gotta get moving. Go find Marco.”

He doesn’t have to tell me twice.

The devil knows I’ll do anything to be with her, let alone find her. I’ll burn the world to ashes looking for her if she isn’t safe at home.

Marco is making his way back to the estate when I rush out the front doors. My gut is sinking, but I wait until we meet in the middle for him to tell me personally.

After a beat, he shakes his head from side to side. “I’m sorry, Kylo. We were too late.”

She’s gone.

We were too late.

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