Page 83 of The Mafia's Surprise Gift

“Jian? Jian!” I rolled him over, and what was left of my heart shattered into dust. His eyes were closed. Crimson dotted his lips, and not a single breath passed him by.

“No, no, no, no!”

For a moment, I was consumed by fear.

Dino was injured. Zack was lost. Mae was gone, and Jian was…

The fear burned like static in my chest for a few hot seconds, preventing me from breathing or thinking.

And then there was nothing but cold silence.

I was going to kill Krill.

I was going to save Mae or die trying.

35

MAE

“Mom!” Zack sprinted at full speed toward me, running as fast as his little legs could take him. But one of Krill’s men snatched him up before he could reach me.

“No!” I screamed, lurching forward against the grip Krill had on my waist. “Let him go!”

Zack’s face was beetroot red and swollen from crying. His clothing was dirtied, and the man holding him seemed to get some sick glee from holding him any way except upright. Never in my life had I felt anger like this before. I wanted to tear their eyes out and crush their throats until they were the ones sobbing and crying.

“Let him go,” Krill said after a few minutes of both of us struggling. The other man relented and dropped Zack to the ground just as Krill released me. I scrambled toward my son and swept him up into my arms.

“Oh, baby,” I wept, crushing him to my chest while trying to hide him from view. “It’s okay, Mommy’s here. Mommy’s right here.”

Zack sobbed so hard that he couldn’t speak. He wound his tiny fists into my hospital gown and wailed loudly, shattering my heart with each painful noise.

Bundling him against me, I tried to hide myself from view as I dug out my phone from my bra. I’d snatched it as soon as the commotion in the hospital started, and it was a stroke of luck it hadn’t slipped free with how Krill dragged me about. Within seconds, I’d tucked the device into Zack’s trousers.

I just had to hope my lame plan worked.

Then I turned and glared at Krill. The warehouse he’d brought me to stank of dust and oil. Barely any light trickled in the broken windows lining the rafters, and the floor was covered in a strange layer of dust that clung to my bare feet. Countless metal shelves lined the wall, stretching all the way into the darkness at the back, and a single open and empty oil barrel stood in the middle of Krill’s men.

“Are you going to kill us now?” I snapped, covering Zack’s ears the best I could. There was only so much I could protect him from here, but I’d be damned if I wasn’t going to try.

“Technically,” Krill said, eyeing me sharply, “Not me. My girlfriend wants to be the one to do it. An eye for an eye or some bullshit, but I’m sure you understand after what your little boyfriend did.”

“How does that work?” I snapped. “Rocco killed the man who killed his father, right? Surely, you’re just starting some insane revenge cycle that will never end.”

“You think so?” Krill stalked toward me, his shoulders bunching up to his ears. “Rocco will come here. He will try to save you, or he will be too late and he will be so blinded by rage that he comes to me. I will kill him then and cut off the head of the Italian snake. Then, that power is mine for the taking. You think too short-term, little girl.”

“Is that all this is?” I snapped, taking steps back to mirror his advancement. “You just want to be in control?”

“I make the best of a shitty situation,” Krill snapped. “With Rocco dead, the Italians will die under me, and then my father will have no choice but to step down.”

“I don’t care,” I bit back. “I don’t give a shit about your power plays or anything like that. Having to kill people to be in charge is fucked up, and you forget one important thing.”

Krill stopped walking. “Which is?”

“Rocco is unkillable. You’ve taken the most important thing from him. Do you really think he’s going to do anything other than kill you?” I wasn’t sure whether I was trying to persuade myself or scare Krill, but neither worked. Krill only laughed.

“Blind loyalty. How the fuck does he do that?”

“Babe, is that her?” A sharp, nails on a chalkboard voice cut across our conversation, and Krill turned, revealing a tall woman with long, thin hair and a dress that hung off her unflattering sharp angles.

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