Page 34 of Savage Mafia King

Finally, we reach the top of the stairs, and sure enough, there's a door a few feet down the hallway that's propped open a few inches. She raises her voice, putting on an act for whoever is inside there listening.

"Come on, Marcus, it'll be fine," she tells me, raising her eyebrows at me, silently imploring me to play along. "Just the two of us, in a place like this, you'll love it."

"I don't know," I reply loudly, praying my voice doesn't give anything away. "You're into some weird shit, Isabella."

She reaches the door, and when she pushes it open, she dashes inside.

"Oh, James, thank God!" she exclaims.

She's putting on a good act, I'll give her that. Or maybe this isn't the act... maybe this is the part of it that's real. I hesitate fora moment, holding back, wondering if I should go through with this. If I doubt her still, this is my last chance to get out of here and run before I walk into a trap she's laid out for me.

I shove the thought aside and lift the gun. One shot and all of this will be over. One shot and my traitor uncle will be dead—and I'll have Isabella all to myself.

I step into the doorway and level the barrel, but the moment James sees me, his face drops, the smug expression he was wearing from her flirtation vanishing in an instant.

"He's got a fucking gun!" he snarls as he whips his own firearm up at me. He grabs Isabella around the waist, pulling her close against him.

"Get your fucking hands off of her," I declare as the two of us stand off against each other, him at one side of the room, me in the doorway, Isabella between us. Her eyes are wide and fearful, and it strikes me all of a sudden how much faith she must have put in me to let things get this far, how easy it would have been for me to use her and leave her to die here, if I felt like it.

"You really think you could ever satisfy a girl like this, Marcus?" James sneers with amusement. "She needs a real man. A man like me. Which is why she came to me to make a deal when she realized you were nothing more than a boy playing at being a man."

Isabella's breath hitches in her throat. I hold my ground.

Don't blow this for us, Isabella. We can't let him know the truth.

His hand is on her waist, pressing her against him. I can see the disgust in her eyes.

"You would really betray me like that?" I ask her, trying to muster up some level of convincing horror.

"I'm sorry, Marcus," she blurts out. "I had to. I couldn't trust you. And James is right. I need a real man to satisfy me." She plants a hand against his chest.

I can see the apology in her eyes, how much she wants this to be over.

"Just put the gun down, Marcus," James tells me, almost gently, like he's guiding an errant child.

All at once, a cold horror crosses Isabella's face. Her lips part, her eyes widen, and she stabs her finger into the air.

"Marcus, watch out, behind you!"

And just as I spin around, I hear a bullet exiting the barrel of a gun and drop to my knees, praying to God it doesn't hit her.

Chapter Eighteen—Isabella

The bullet speeds past me and slams into the wall beyond. Shit, I should have known that James would bring backup! I try to twist out of his grip, but he curls his hand around my throat, pinning me to the spot.

"You really thought I would trust you that easy, princess?" he snarls in my ear. "I have back up. And he's not going to let you walk out of here with your precious boytoy."

"Please, just let me go," I beg him. I don't know what we're up against here, but I get the feeling it's going to be bad—really, really fucking bad.

Marcus scrambles to his feet, and the man behind him lifts his gun once more, but Marcus aims his weapon at him and fires a shot into his leg. A gush of blood spurts from his knee, and he lets out a howl of pain, staggering backward. Marcus uses the momentum to charge out after him. I hear a body clatter with dreadful thumps down the stairs until it lands and finally stills at the bottom.

But he's not the only one after us. I can hear footsteps on the stairs, racing toward us. Though I can't see much of what Marcus is doing, I hear another shot ring out, deafening, and the thud of another body hitting the stairwell. There are yells beyond my field of vision, and my heart hammers in my chest. I know what he is capable of, I've seen it, after all, but this... this is more than I can take.

"You working with him, huh?" James growls in my ear. "You really think that's going to be enough to stop me? I get whatever I want, bitch. And if that means you..." He inhalesdeeply, pressing his face against my neck. I let out a whimper, trying to twist away from him in protestation, but he hangs on to me tight. "Then I'll have it."

Marcus stalks back into the room, spattered in blood. Those men after him must have gotten pretty damn close for him to be sprayed with gore like that. I feel James's gun pressing into my ribs, the cold metal digging into my side. And it's then, for the first time, that it really hits me—he'll kill me. He will kill me.

Marcus doesn't show an inch of doubt or fear on his face. He raises his weapon and aims it at James.

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