Page 69 of Taboo Flames

Her words are drowned out by the sound of loud, boisterous laughter.

“Perhaps we can go somewhere else,” Aurora blurts out. “We could order takeout and stay home?—”

Another round of laughter echoes around the restaurant. I glance over at their table angrily, and a familiar face catches my eye.

It’s been about two decades, but that face is ingrained into the deepest parts of my psyche. It’s one I don’t think I’ll ever forget.

Sudden images of me curled up into a ball on the ground while a cruel face hovers over me, screaming mean words and kicking the living shit out of me, assaults me.

Salvador. That’s his name. A ruthless bully who made my life miserable for years, all because he was bigger than me and knew there was nothing I could do about it. Last I heard, his father went bankrupt, and his family relocated. Good to know he’s back, and it’s even better now that he fell right into my reach.

My fingers curl into fists at my side, and I can feel the blood thumping in my head.

My blood turns to ice in my veins, my anger making me go lethally cold.

“Gio, Gio.” Aurora’s voice snaps me out of my dark thoughts.

When I look at her, she’s staring at me with concern.

“Carlos will take you home now,” I tell her, my voice cold and hard.

“Why? What’s wrong? What’s going on?”

“Go, princess,” I order firmly. “There’s something I have to take care of.”

She follows my gaze to where the men are sitting. “What are you going to do? Just let them be, Gio. We can go somewhere else.”

Carlos appears behind her immediately, attuned to the change in my body language. He must have seen that I’ve entered killer mode.

“Take her back to my place and make sure she stays there,” I instruct him. Then, without looking at either of them, I make my way over to Salvador.

I hear Aurora calling out to me as she’s being dragged away, but I tune her voice out and turn a laser focus on my target for tonight.

“Hey, who the hell are you?” Salvador barks when I appear before them.

I study him critically. The me in the past would have never believed that one day, I’d stand before Salvador and not be afraid. He’s no longer the immense, all-encompassing shadow of my childhood days. He’s still physically big, but now he’s just a fat, out-of-shape man with thinning hair brushed back over his scalp.

The ill-fitted suit he has on looks like it’s one deep breath away from ripping, barely containing the bulk of him.

“You should have never come back. Returning here was the biggest mistake you’ve ever made,” I tell him ominously.

“Sal, who the hell is this fucker? He doesn’t know who he’s messing with, does he?” one of his friends barks.

“I don’t believe he does,” Salvador replies with an evil smirk. His eyes are intense, and they might scare some people, but not me. I am not like most people.

Salvador may be a god in his territory, but I’m the god killer, and I’ve just set my sights on my next prey.

Guns fly out of holsters, and in the blink of an eye, I have four guns trained on me.

Salvador laughs obnoxiously, trying to act like a big, tough gangster. He’s clearly still clinging to the memory of the days when he and his boys were the most feared kids on the block.

But those days are long gone.

All of a sudden, the sound of a pot clanging draws their attention, and I use the minute distraction to pull out my Glock and make four careful shots.

I shoot Salvador’s gun out of his hand and one bullet each into the other men’s shoulders, effectively disarming them. Pained howls go up in unison, and Salvador glances around, shocked and confused.

“Wha—”

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