Page 89 of The Marriage Auction 2: Part 4

Mamásnarled. “Bad seed. Bad human.” Then she let the gun fall to her side and went back over to her pot. She snapped her fingers, and Christophe and I turned toward her.

“Taste?” she ordered, pointing at Christophe and then her pot.

“Sweet love, she wants you to taste her food.” I couldn’t deal withMamáanymore, rushing instead to grab at the stack of folded white towels I saw across the room on a shelf.

I brought the stack over to Bianca and pressed two of them over her bullet wound to stanch the blood flow. I could see she was breathing but it was labored.

“She needs a doctor!” I hollered.

We heard a commotion near the back door, then a single gunshot before a man entered.

Mamáhad her gun up and ready to fire but didn’t.

Diego grinned at his mother, holding up both hands, even the one with a gun.

“Oh, thank God!” I cried. “Diego, Bianca needs a doctor right now!”

His gaze went from his mother then to me and to Bianca. He had his gun drawn in a nanosecond, pointing straight at Bianca.

“No!” I screamed and once again put myself in the line of danger for a woman that didn’t deserve to live. But that didn’t mean her child wasn’t innocent. “The baby is my family,” I reiterated.

Diego’s entire face turned murderous. “You want her to live? After everything she did?”

“The baby didn’t do anything,” I pointed at her protruding stomach.

“Bad seed.”Mamárepeated with a cluck of her tongue.

“Shut up,Mamá!” I snapped, anger and fear flooding my veins.

Diego’s eyebrows rose as a couple men I recognized entered the kitchen through the double doors. Angel leading the way. He glanced at Diego who still had his gun pointed at me as I stood protecting Bianca. I stupidly had my arms and legs spread out as though my small body could do anything to prevent Diego from killing her if he truly wanted to.

“Stop him, Angel. He wants to kill Bianca and the baby!”

“Brother, since when do we kill children?” Angel rumbled, not a speck of emotion crossing his features. “Women we treat equally. If they commit the crime against us, they deserve it.No bebés.That is too far, my brother.”

Diego let his gun drop to his side and nodded. “Verdad.” True.He muttered sounding unhappy with the reminder.

I could relate. I wanted the woman to cease to exist. But I also wanted her child,Brenden’s child, protected even more.

“What do you want to do with her?” Diego asked while tucking his gun into his shoulder holster.

“I want her to pay for her crimes. I want justice. And when the time comes, our family wants that child,” I demanded on a huff.

Diego rubbed his jaw back and forth. “Angel, what do we have on her?”

Angel leaned against the counter, arms crossed, his gaze never leaving Bianca. “Everything. My team wired the table. We have all of their confessions recorded.”

“Bien. Patch her up and drop her at the hospital. Have your men watching from a distance. Send the recordings to…”

“I can bring them to Inspector Moreau.” I offered.

“You’re going to have to have a great story,Reina de Las Vegas,about how you came across this information.” Angel smirked as he called me The Queen of Las Vegas.

Diego crossed his big arms over one another. “This is what will happen. We will clean up the hotel. There won’t be a single trace of what occurred here today. You will tell the authorities that you were in hiding. They found you and shared all their nasty deeds. There was a scuffle, and you and Christophe ran away. You don’t know how she got shot. Give us a week to accomplish this before meeting with the inspector.”

I nodded. “What if she tells them what happened?” My voice cracked.

He shook his head. “She won’t. That’s not how this works. If she wants to stay alive in prison, she’ll keep her mouth shut. As the daughter of a mafia boss, she knows better.”

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