Page 84 of The Mafia's Surprise Gift

“Yes, that’s her.”

“Fucking bitch.” The woman stopped a few feet away and cocked her hips, but to my surprise, the angry look on her face wavered when she caught sight of Zack.

“She’s got a kid?” she asked, chewing obnoxiously on a wad of gum. Krill approached her and pulled her against his bulky form. There’d be something comical about how different in size they were if this situation weren’t so fucked. They kissed noisily, and when they broke apart, the gum was now in Krill’s mouth.

“Two for the price of one,” Krill said, slapping her hard on the backside.

“Hmm.” Uncertainty flashed in her eyes. “I ain’t killing a kid. Just her.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve got the kid.” Krill turned back to me and started advancing as his men closed in around me. Hands snatched at my arms. Zack began to wail once more.

“No!” I screamed, kicking out at those close to me. “Don’t you dare, don’t you fucking dare!”

I couldn’t fight them. Each man was double my size, and Krill snatched Zack from my arms like he was nothing more than a bag of groceries.

“Zack!” I screamed. “No! Zack!”

“Do you know how you’re going to die?” The woman approached me with a camera in her hand. “I’m going to stick you in that barrel and then we’re going to bury you. Or dump you in the ocean. I haven’t decided. We’ll film it all, of course. However long it takes you to die, so that Rocco can watch every last second of your suffering, not that it’ll be enough to make up for what he took from me.”

“Your brother was a murderer,” I spat, fighting against the men restraining me with all the strength I had. It was sheer luck that painkillers and adrenaline were keeping my pain at bay.

“So is Rocco,” the woman barked at me. “Doesn’t matter. Although…” She turned to Krill, who was wrestling with Zack. He was squirming like all hell, and I’d be proud if I weren’t so terrified. “I suppose we’ll need another barrel for him.”

Suddenly, the phone I had stashed in Zack’s clothing slipped free and clattered to the ground. Silence fell, broken only by Zack’s hiccupping sobs. Krill stooped down to pick up the phone. He eyed it for a moment, then turned it to his girlfriend.

Rocco’s name flashed on the screen alongside an active, ongoing call.

“Shit,” she muttered.

Suddenly, the entire left-hand wall of the warehouse caved inward, utterly destroyed by several large cars that crashed into the building. Electricity sparked as wires snapped, metal creaked and screamed as support beams crashed through, and shelves cascaded across the floor.

Krill dropped Zack in fright, and in the commotion, I wrestled myself free from the hands keeping me back.

“Zack!” I threw myself across the room and landed on top of Zack, curling around him like a shell to protect him. Gunfire exploded overhead, and I curled myself tighter around my son, swearing to protect him with my own life if I had to.

Men yelled, guns fired, and tires screeched. All of it happened overhead while I buried my face in Zack’s hair and breathed him in, trying to hush him but failing.

Then someone was over me, pressing their body down on top of me, and just as I turned to shove them away, I came face to face with Rocco.

“I’m here,” Rocco gasped, blood pouring from a slice on his eyebrow. “I’m right here!”

“Oh, my God,” I sobbed, clutching at his jacket. He stayed like that through it all and only stood up once the explosion of noise had calmed down. As I climbed to my feet, keeping Zack in my arms, I hid his face in my shoulders so he didn’t have to see the dead bodies littered about.

Krill was bleeding heavily on his knees, screaming toward the body of his dead girlfriend.

I felt nothing for him.

“Take Zack outside,” Rocco instructed, cupping the back of my head. “Take him out of here. I will be there in two seconds.”

I wanted to say something to Krill, wanted to laugh in his face or tear off his balls, but other than a glare, I did nothing. Numbly, I made my way outside, escorted by some of Rocco’s men and unable to feel anything but Zack’s wet tears on my skin and a strange numbness that came from the utter shock consuming me.

As I stumbled over sharp gravel and rough ground, a sudden ear-splitting shriek of pain exploded from the warehouse. I clamped one hand over Zack’s ears again, and he whimpered against me. The screaming continued on and on, lasting for so long that when silence finally fell, it was more shocking than the scream.

I stood in the parking lot, watching as another section of the warehouse started to cave in. Then Rocco was striding toward me, drenched in blood. The moment he reached us, tears burst into his eyes.

“Mae, Mae, I’m so sorry, I’m so fucking sorry.”

Tears finally flooded my own eyes. “It’s okay,” I sobbed. “You came for me. You came for us!”

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