Page 67 of Loyalties & Longings

This was all some elaborate plan to divide and conquer, thought up by none other than the filthy fucker, Massimo.

“No. please, man. It’s just what we were told to do.” He’s pleading for his life, but he’s wasted enough of my time.

I pull the trigger without even blinking, then race back to my truck.

This entire time I’ve only had one person on my mind—Lake.

Hurrying back to the bar as quickly as I can, I check the doors, but they’re locked. She has already gone. Leaving the speakeasy, I head to my place, hoping she went back there to wait for me. A quick run through the apartment tells me she’s not here either. There is only one other place she could be.

I get back in my truck for the third time and speed across town again, breathing a slight sigh of relief when the traffic lights give me a clean run to their estate.

I burst through the door at Enzo’s house and try to assess everything, moving as quickly as I can and training my gun around the room. I see Lucifer at the back door, barking viciously, and there’s a trail of blood through the house.

I fear the worst, and I swear to fucking God, if Lake is hurt, he is going to pay. I follow the trail of blood with my eyes from the bathroom and then back the other way to the kitchen until I see that it stops at Enzo. He has been shot and is slumped over at the bottom of the stairs.

Racing over to him, I help him up to a sitting position.

“Lake. Upstairs. Massimo,” Enzo breathes out.

That dirty fucking slimy cunt.

“Okay. You’ve lost a lot of blood. Wait here,” I say quietly before creeping up the stairs with my back to the wall. My body is now running on a cocktail of adrenaline, fear, and panic.

Light streams through Lake’s open bedroom door, so I moveslowly and carefully, trying not to let Massimo become aware of my presence.

Clap!

Was that a gunshot?

Has he got a fucking suppressor on his revolver?

I freeze on the spot, feeling like I’ve been dropped into an ice bath, and a knot quickly forms in my stomach. I hear the thumping of blood rushing in my ears and Massimo saying something, but I can’t make out his exact words. I force my legs to move and close in slowly on Lake’s room. Finally, I hear him, the knot in my stomach growing even tighter.

“Now, pet, don’t move and don’t make a sound.”

Motherfucker.

My feet are now actually cooperating with me and eat up the last few steps to Lake’s room. I step into the doorway, and I’m momentarily stunned into paralysis as I take in the scene before me.

Lake is tied to the bed, spread-eagled, and looks like she’s passed out. Massimo is above her, pulling out his dick.

Ohfuckno.

“I don’t think so, cunt,” I growl out, my lips pulled back and teeth bared. Closing the distance between us faster than a black mamba snake, I bring my closed fist down on the bundle of nerves in his neck, below his ear. Before he even has a chance to turn around, his body looks as though it melts as he falls off the bed to the floor, dick in hand.

I rush to Lake’s side and feel for a pulse, finding her skin cold and clammy to the touch. I sigh a breath of relief when I feel her heartbeat.

I stand above Massimo, and as much as I’d love to cave his head into the floor with my foot, I know I have to work quickly before he comes to. He will have only been momentarily rendered unconscious.

Not worrying about being rough, I drag him downstairs, not caring that his head hits each step down in the process. I may have even deliberately hit his head on a few corners. Hopefully, it’ll be enough to concuss the dirty conniving cunt.

Enzo’s eyes open when I make it to the bottom. He doesn’t even have to say the words for me to know what he’s going to ask or what he wants me to do.

“She’s okay. I think she fainted. This fucker was just about to rape her. I’m going to tie him up in the shed, and then I’ll be back up to help you and Lake,” I say, already pulling Massimo through the kitchen to the back sliding door.

Lucifer barks maniacally at the man I’m dragging across the floor, his mouth frothing with saliva. Before opening the door, I give him the command to stop and he instantly falls silent and sits, awaiting his next command.

Dragging the would-be-rapist sack of shit down to the shed, I sit him in the chair that’s bolted to the concrete floor. I tie his wrists to the armrests and start work on one of his legs when he starts coming to. Before he’s even fully conscious, he’s slurring a string of profanities at me that I can’t even make out. In an instant, Lucifer is at his side, barking maliciously in his face, his canine spit and saliva coating Massimo’s face while I tie the man’s other ankle to the chair.

---