Page 31 of Corrupted

"Five."

"But I love you." He pulled her to him and held her tight.

"Six."

"I love you too." She squeezed him, but pulled away. "But she's my mother."

"Seven."

Angelina stepped over to the door, unlocked it and wrenched it open. "Stop!"

A shadow slipped past me. Past Angelina.

Mina pulled out a knife and aimed it. She threw with deadly precision, the knife slamming into the gun in Carlos' hand. It flew out of his grip and clattered onto the road.

Bianca dropped to the ground and rolled under one of the cars.

"Fucking hell." Carlos rubbed his hand.

"The next one goes into your brain," Mina said coldly. She already held another knife in her hand. I hadn't even seen her pull it out.

"This is none of your business," Carlos said, trying to pretend he wasn't rattled.

She could have killed him, but she hadn't. She was smart enough to know that would provoke a war between the Brantley family and the Vipers. That would get ugly and bloody very quickly.

Although, getting in the middle of a transaction like this also might. In my opinion, it was totally worth it. I was with Mina, women were not possessions.

"I'm making it my business," Mina said. "Enzo is family. That makes Angelina family. We take care of family. Tell Salvador to look elsewhere for a wife."

"There's a shit ton of dating apps out there," I said helpfully. "Or he could try one of those dating shows. Maybe— Asshole Wants a Wife. I'm sure that's a thing. If it isn't, it should be. The ratings would go through the roof."

"We aren't done," Carlos said, his tone icy. He nodded to his men and climbed back into the car.

Bianca rolled out from under the one she was hiding under, and bolted for the door.

Angelina grabbed her hand and pulled her inside. They both stepped back, growling at each other in Spanish. Something along the lines of, "How the fuck could you let him bring you here? You knew what he'd do. He's an ungrateful piece of crap." And so on.

We all waited until the cars pulled away before closing the door and collectively exhaling.

Enzo shoved his hands in his pockets and shuffled his feet. "Thank you," he said to Mina. "Those are some sick knife skills."

"I don't like bullies." She slipped her other knife away. "If I was you, I'd take his warning seriously. He will come for you again."

"They will," Damon said, stony faced. "The only reason he left now was that he doesn't want trouble with us. If we weren't here, this would have ended differently."

"We would have handled it," Enzo said. His voice held more confidence than his eyes did.

"Let's go," Reuben said. "We've wasted enough time here." He didn't bother to hide his irritation at Enzo and his continued stubbornness. He waited until Damon opened the door and stepped out again, before he followed him, leaving the rest of us to fall in behind.

"It's going to be a tight fit," I remarked as seven of us headed out to the SUV. "Mina, you can sit on my lap."

She leaned over to snatch up her knife from the road and tuck it away. "Better than being in the boot."

I caught her hand and pulled her to me. "First of all, we'd never put you in the boot. Second of all, the way you dealt with Carlos was hot as fuck." I whispered in her ear, "When we get home I'm going to fuck your pussy with my tongue until you scream."

"Is that a promise?" she asked. Her voice was husky, like throwing a knife at Carlos turned her on as much as it did me.

Death and violence were an addiction neither of us needed, or wanted, help for.

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