Page 96 of Now and Forever

“I came for both women. I’m not leaving without either one.”

“She’s not here,” I lied.

“That’s bullshit,” Rocco yelled in my ear as he pressed the barrel of the gun against my temple. “I watched the surveillance at Emerald Club. Dario left with her. She has to be here.”

“Here I am.”

We all turned toward Jasmine’s voice.

“No,” I yelled.

“Don’t hurt Catalina,” Jasmine said. “I’ll go with you.”

I said a silent prayer that Dario’s training would work. With everyone’s attention on Jasmine, I gathered the length of my skirt.

“Fuck,” Rocco roared as my knife punctured his thigh. Loosening his grip of my neck, he reached for the knife.

I hadn’t hit his groin, despite my upward motion. The knife was lodged in his upper thigh. Blood saturated his blue jeans as he pulled it out.

Piero and Armando both advanced, taking Rocco to the ground. Armando twisted Rocco’s wrist. I cringed at the sound of bones breaking. My knife fell from Rocco’s grip.

Jasmine rushed toward me. We fell against the wall in an embrace as the men restrained Rocco.

ChapterTwenty-Six

Catalina

With his wrists bound by zip ties, Rocco’s curses filled the air.

Piero ripped the sleeve from Rocco’s shirt revealing a bandage.

Holding Jasmine against me, I lifted my brow in question.

“He’s the man who tried to get to Jasmine,” Piero said. “The one I shot in New York.”

“Rocco?” How had he been in New York and gotten back to Kansas City before Jasmine? I knew the answer. Rocco had flown while Piero and Jasmine drove.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Rocco replied, his gaze filled with hatred directed at both me and Jasmine. He spoke to Armando. “Let me go. I’m the next consigliere. If you let me go, I might spare your life.”

When Armando turned to me, I shook my head and directed my message toward Rocco. “Dante is the next consigliere. When my husband learns what you’ve done, you’re going to wish you weren’t spared.” I turned to Armando and tilted my head toward his blood-soaked sleeve. “Are you okay?”

“Just a scratch.”

I hoped he was right. “Find out if Mia is really downstairs, and do whatever Dario would want you to do with Rocco.”

Armando spoke to Piero as the two of them wrenched Rocco to his feet. All the time, Rocco cursed and grumbled. At the same time, Contessa came rushing toward the elevators, one hand clenching her chest, the other over her lips. Her gray eyes scanned over the men and settled on me as I peered over Jasmine’s shoulder. The girl was still rigid within my embrace, holding onto me with all her strength. I whispered in her ear. “You’re safe. You saved us.”

Jasmine shook her head, her face buried in my shoulder.

Loosening my grip of Jasmine, I looked into her blue stare, seeing an array of emotions swirling within. “You did.”

“Where did you get a knife?” she asked.

Bending down, I picked up the knife Em had given me, the one Dario had encouraged me to learn to use. The blade was covered in blood. “It was a wedding gift.”

Jasmine’s cheeks rose. “That’s a weird wedding gift.”

“We’re a weird family.”

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