Page 107 of Wicked King

Bullets zip overhead, tearing through the palms and sending splinters of wood flying. Amidst the turmoil, the roar of the ocean serves as a grim backdrop, muffled by the pounding of my thundering pulse.

Nico and Dante stand side by side atop the front deck of the gleaming speed boat, a barrage of bullets spraying the air.

Luca’s at the helm, directing the others, a gun in one hand and the steering wheel in the other. “Let’s go, let’s go!” he shouts. “Incoming in five!”

Jia leaps off the vessel, sinking into the brilliant blue waters, and races toward me. My heart kicks a desperate beat against my ribs as I take her in. Dio, for a terrible moment, I thought I’d never see her again. I reach the water’s edge and drag her into my arms. She feels so strong, so alive against my chest. I capture her lips for a quick kiss, and salty tears mingle on my lips.

“Dio, I love you, spitfire,” I murmur against her mouth.

“No, I love you, Marco. So, so much.” Tears flood her eyes, spilling down her cheeks. I’ve never seen her so gorgeous. She steps back, her eyes scanning every inch of me, mirroring my efforts. “You’re bleeding!”

I press my hand to the wound across my chest. “It’s nothing, she barely nicked me.”

“Marco…” Fear flashes across those expressive spheres.

“I swear it’s nothing.” As if to prove it, I claim her lips once again, reveling in her sweet taste. Dio, if anything had happened to her…

“Come on, you two, get over here!” Nico yells. “There will be plenty of time for that when we get home.”

Dante and Nico jump off the bow of the speedboat, peppering the beach with bullets. I scoop Jia into my arms and spring into the shallow water. Bullets fly past our heads, a deadly assault between my brothers and Blanca’s guards. If it wasn’t for their precise cover, we never would’ve made it aboard.

I toss Jia onto the boat, then pull myself up. Nico and Dante climb up next, still shooting. Luca revs the engine and pulls back off the shore.

“Hurry,” Dante hisses at his brother, throwing his thumb over his shoulder.

The other speedboat filled with La Sombra Boricua is on our ass. I hold Jia tight against me as Luca maneuvers the vessel out to sea. “Thanks for the assist, gentlemen.” I glance at my twin, then my half-brothers. I never thought they’d show up today. Never thought I’d be thanking them for reuniting me with my wife.

“You can thank us when we get back to Manhattan safe and sound, coglione.” Dante tosses me a cheeky grin. “My wife is going to kill you if I don’t make it back by dinner.”

“Hold on!” Luca spins the steering wheel and the speedboat careens to the right. With one arm around Jia, I grab onto the sleek white siding, then drop down to a crouch. The second boat filled with Blanca’s men races after us, a cacophony of bullets resounding across the tranquil blue.

“Go faster,” Dante shouts at Luca.

“I’m going as fast as this thing will go, minchione. You should’ve gotten a better damned getaway vehicle.”

As my half-brothers bicker in Italian, I keep Jia tight against my chest, using my body to blanket her against the storm of bullets. I can barely feel the cut across my chest now that she’s safe in my arms again.

“How the fuck are we going to get out of here?” I bark at Nico over the wind.

“Your wife took care of that.” He turns to Luca and grins despite the hailstorm of projectiles. “As long as Luca can get us back to the airfield.”

“I’m on it, bastardo,” Luca growls back as he swerves across the whitecaps.

My gaze swivels to Jia and I cover her head with my hand. “What did you do?”

A mischievous grin tips up the corners of her lips and damn, I cannot wait to get my wife home and bury my cock into that naughty little mouth. Then every other place she’ll have me. I’ll have her coming so hard she’ll forget all about this little unfortunate incident.

My thoughts flicker to the video with Esmeralda… how pissed is she about that? I thank Dio I made the right decision telling her all about it before any of this happened.

“So?” I prod when she doesn’t answer right away.

“I enlisted the unwilling help of the Triad. Blanca should be getting a call from her associates in Manhattan any minute now.”

“She’s being modest,” Nico cuts in. “Your bride called a meeting of the Triad Council and strong-armed all three syndicates to stage a three-pronged attack on La Sombra in Lower Manhattan. They’ll never come back from this.” He shrugs. “I almost feel bad for Esmeralda, but she dug her own damned grave when she let Blanca steal her throne right out from under her nose and forced us to clean up her mess.” My twin casually leans against the back of the captain’s chair as if the air wasn’t riddled with bullets.

An explosion rings out, the sharp keening sound vibrating the brilliant blue around us and sending our boat tumbling forward on a tsunami-sized swell. “What the fuck?” I shout, clapping my hand over one ear while tightening my hold around Jia with the other.

With the deafening sound of the detonation still ringing across my eardrums, it takes me a second to notice the bullets peppering the boat have halted. I glance over my shoulder and find nothing but a fiery mess where the Sombra boat was.

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