Page 66 of Mafia Baby

I cast one more cautious look over the hood of the car, then dash toward the warehouse door. It’s still open, and I duck inside just as I hear Vince shout my name.

I barrel down the hallway toward the sound of Will’s voice. This warehouse building traps sound and echoes it back at you, but I’m positive that he’s in a room off the main hallway. Most of the rest of the building seems to be in very rough shape, so it makes sense that he would have chosen one of the few, intact rooms for his mock execution.

“I’m coming, Dom,” I say under my breath, ignoring the sharp pain lancing through my ribs. “The baby and I are coming to help.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

Dominic

I spit more blood out of my mouth.

Will has been toying with me, enjoying punching me and kicking me for his own amusement and to make himself look tough.

Over and over again, I have had to prevent myself from lunging across the room and strangling him with my bare hands. I’ve been trying to count down the minutes since he started peacocking and beating me up.

I think it’s almost time to take the situation back into my own hands.

“And now, to everyone who has ever wished to be lucky enough to get the Reaper into their clutches, I will prepare for the final, killing blow. Should I do this executioner-style? Or should I be more direct? I want you all to enjoy this as much as I am enjoying it,” he says lustfully.

He’s panting, and I can’t tell if it's from exertion or his evident excitement that borders on sexual.

He comes to stand behind me, and I hear him take out his gun. It’s almost time for me to act. My fingers wrap around the handle of my concealed knife. I already know what I’m going to do.

I hear the pistol cock, and I draw in a deep breath.

“Time to say goodbye, Reaper,” Will says breathlessly. “The Cobra has removed the Reaper from this earth.”

My mind is cold and clear. I can practically hear his skin slipping over the trigger, preparing to squeeze. I lean slightly forward, as if I’m bowing to my inevitable defeat. I stare at the drops of blood on the floor. It’s my blood. The same blood that flows through the veins of my unborn child.

I am not ready to give up on this life yet.

The shot rings out at the same time that I roll rapidly to the side. I kick out as hard as I can, catching Will in the legs. With a shout, he slams to the floor, and the pistol slides away across the metal floor.

I roar as I roll onto my knees and tackle him, my hands going around his throat. I wonder in a vague way how the viewers of Will’s live feed are feeling about this sudden change in circumstances.

“You promised me! You gave me an oath!” Will manages to say despite the hand gripping his throat.

I prepare to drive the knife into his ribs and I lean closer to him. “My oath is as good as your sullied soul,” I hiss at him. “A wooden penny for both, eh?”

Suddenly, there’s a searing pain in my side. My eyes fly open wide as I see the intense satisfaction in Will’s eyes that are still hidden behind the mask.

He twists the knife into my ribs, and I gasp, suddenly finding it hard to breathe. My lung. He must have punctured my lung. Black dots swim before my eyes, and I roll to the side, struggling to breathe.

“Not so tough after all, eh?” Will snarls at me as he gets to his feet. “The big, impressive, infallible Reaper, lying on the ground, drowning in his own blood.” He tsks at me, a crazy look in the eyes behind the mask.

My vision swims again, then rights itself. I still have my knife clutched in my hand.

He leans closer to me, continuing to mock me, and I manage to grip the back of his neck and stab upward with the knife. It’s Will’s turn to look shocked as he stumbles away from me, blood oozing through his fingers around the handle of the knife buried in his side.

“This is all turning into a very surprising confrontation,” he says for the sake of the camera, before coughing sharply. He looks down at me, then closes his eyes as pain washes through his body.

I manage to struggle up onto my knees, hoping to be able to defend myself if he comes after me again. I didn’t have a lot of power behind the thrust, but my concealed knife is very sharp and deadly, thin like a stiletto, and longer than the knife that Will used to cut me. It is surprising what a honed instrument can do in the right hands.

“Dom!”

The voice is Gianna’s and I hear her shout just as I hear the metal door bang open with a crash. I want to tell her to run away, want to plead with her to get out of here, but I can barely breathe and my vision is starting to go dark at the edges.

“Oh my God!” Gianna cries out, seeing the blood running down my side. “Will, what have you done?” She hunkers down next to me, clutching at me, patting her hands all over me looking for injuries.

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