Page 36 of Cardinal

"Il Diavolo!"

All the spotlights darted over and focused on a hallway, locking onto a hooded figure as they made their way to the cage. A hooded figure wearing something very similar—as in the exact same thing—to my outfit, particularly what Luciano wrapped and fashioned into a dress around me.

Right before they ascended the steps, someone from the side approached them and peeled the robe off to reveal a shirtless Luciano in all his muscular glory. And hot fucking damn, was he fine as fuck! Especially that full back tattoo of his bat wings and the letter L fashioned in a little pointed tail that curved around his waist to his front side. Other tattoos scattered his body, especially his arms, but his back was the main stage.

"Girl," Evie's voice broke through my dreamy daze as she nudged me, "Close your mouth, you're gonna drool." She teased with a soft, snickering laugh.

Instantly, I shut my mouth, which apparently had been hanging open. What made it even more embarrassing was when I caught Luciano's cocky little smirk and wink at me—yes, he looked directly at me and did that. Breathlessly, I smiled unconsciously as I spoke, "If he's the Devil, then he can take me to Hell whenever he wants." Hell, I would go with him willingly.

Damn hormones.

The cage door slammed shut behind Luciano before the other side opened, and three ruffled men in disheveled casual business clothes were shoved through. "Luciano, please, let's be reasonable." One of them began to grin nervously as he begged on his knees.

Like a tiger stalking its prey, Luciano slowly circled around the men, causing them to all cower together at the center of the ring. "I was more than reasonable with you all. I was even generous and gave you all a chance that you fucked up." Luciano's foot kicked out, catching one man's back, which sent him forward to his front side.

Pausing, Luciano let out a long sigh with a fake look of pity. "Not only do you steal from me, but you try to work with the old mafia to get me overthrown." Luciano's voice hardened with anger towards the end as he trudged up to the men, grabbing one of them by the shoulders and hauling them up into a chokehold.

As the man struggled feebly in Luciano's arms, whacking and flailing his arms and legs, Luciano ignored him to look at the other two men. "But, since I am a reasonable man and love a good fight, I will give you all a chance to fight for your forgiveness and freedom." He proposed with a twisted grin.

"If the three of you can knock me out or pin me for ten seconds, then I will consider your slate clean and let you go about your useless, mundane lives." Chuckling darkly, he released the man in his arms and threw him back to the others. "I'll even let all three of you work together."

The fact Luciano was so relaxed and nonchalant about his wager set me on edge. Sure, he seemed like a capable fighter, and I didn't doubt the abilities he boasted about. But three against one? The three men weren't some scrawny or sickly-looking men either. Granted, they weren't buff or muscular, but they were pretty averagely built, so surely they could pack a bit of a punch or kick.

Turning to Aidan, I tugged at his sleeve to get his attention. "That can't be fair. It's three against one." I voiced my concern to him with a worried look.

Chuckling, Aidan smiled at me confidently. "Those three are going to be nothing but a warm-up to Luciano." Placing a hand on my shoulder, he squeezed and rubbed it. "Trust Luciano. He never bites off more than he can chew."

Maybe I should take some comfort in the fact that Leah and Aidan were so calm about this, but my concern for Luciano came almost instinctively. What if this time was the odd one out? What if they managed to gang up on him and beat him to a bloody pulp?

Or worse, to death.

Chapter 21

Luciano

One last glance at Juliet's worried face, and I focused my full attention on the fearful men who slowly stood up on their shaking legs.

Haphazardly, the three of them all charged me at once with their arms cocked back. Then, like a stupid assembly line, they took their turns swinging—and missing—at me when they came within range. It felt like they weren't even trying with how easily I sidestepped their punches. Sure, there were lots of hands coming at me, but there wasn't really much of an order to their strikes.

All I had to do was carefully keep track of them and act accordingly. For the sake of my entertainment, I hoped they would get it together sooner rather than later.

I was known to be rather destructive when bored.

Thankfully, they put their three brain cells together and started working together. The three of them rushed me together in an attempt to dogpile me, and I managed to dodge two of them successfully, but the third reached out just far enough to snag my shorts and throw me off balance. Throwing his body down, he took us both down to the ground.

Before the other two could jump me, I rolled over and kicked the knees out of the man standing closest to me, knocking him down. Rolling up onto my feet, I went after the only standing man and threw a screw jab at him to break his guard before kidney-punching him repeatedly until I caught movement out of the corner of my eye.

With my guard up, I pivoted around and right-hooked the unfortunate fool right behind me. The force of my punch made his jaw give away, and I couldn't help but grin madly with twisted joy at the feeling of his lower face giving into my fist.

Down the man went in a screaming mess, his hands clutching his deformed face as he wailed in pain.

Whipping back around, I closed the distance between me and my earlier punching bag, and Roundhouse kicked him, sending him to the ground in a bloody mess as he coughed his insides up. Wheezing and coughing heavily, he barely had enough in him to pull himself away from me using his forearms. I probably broke a rib or a few with my blows and punctured his lungs.

"Oof!" The cage's metal bars rattled with the impact of my grunting body.

At least the last man was gutsy enough to charge me like that. Too bad he didn't lock around me tight enough or correctly to do much.

I easily slipped an arm between us, broke his hold on me, and kicked him off. Then, slowly, I stalked up to him, only to have my ankle grabbed and bit by the man who had a waterfall of blood coming out his mouth.

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