Page 110 of Hearts Of Darkness

He hangs up, and I glance at the warehouses again. The gunfight is over. As I watch, two figures spill out onto the roadway. In the glare of the headlights, I see them locked together in a deadly duel of fists. My heart lurches when I recognize the taller of the two. There’s no man on earth with that fluidity of movement, that same grace and power. That savagery.

Dante.

The fight moves closer. They’re barely twenty yards away.His black hair is a disheveled mess, and there’s barely an inch of his skin that hasn’t been tainted with blood. Somehow, he manages to gain the upper hand and straddle the other guy, raining blows down onto his face and chest. So controlled, so deadly. He raises his fist in one final arc, and that’s when I see the knife glinting there.

I let out a soft cry and drop the cell phone. I’ve just watched him stab a man, over and over.

No doubt.

No hesitation.

“Game’s up. Ditch the weapon,” comes a voice as Emilio emerges from the warehouse clutching a bloodied chest wound. I look down at his other hand and my stomach drops. He’s pointing a gun at Dante.

With a curse, Dante tosses away the knife and rises to his feet. “I was hoping Joseph had finished you off.”

His voice is rough with exhaustion. His chest is working hard to draw breath into his lungs, but there’s still fight in him. His eyes are pits of darkness; his expression is as controlled as ever. Emilio hasn’t spotted me down by the car, but I know that Dante senses me. I watch his gaze flicker in my direction, and then back to his brother.

“No such luck,” drawls Emilio. “You’ve just taken out thirty of my best men.”

“And I’ll murder another thirty, given half the chance. Why did you do it? Why kill my daughter? She was an innocent in all of this.”

My eyes fill with tears when I hear the emotion in his voice.

“Because I knew how much it would damage you. BecauseI knew what you were capable of, even as a boy, and I wanted to twist it to my advantage and turn you into my pet killer. For a while at least…” I can see the sinister white outline of Emilio’s smile. “It forced you back to Colombia, didn’t it?”

“We are brothers no more!”

“My thoughts exactly. Goodbye, Dante.”

Three shots ring out, sharp and deadly in the cool night air, slamming into the body that I love so much. I watch in horror as he goes down.

“No!” I scream, leaping up from my hiding place, my mind a dangerous blank.

Emilio turns in my direction. I see surprise and intent on his face. Flicking off the safety, I fire five rounds in quick succession, and watch his body fly backward—my arms absorbing the gun’s recoil with a grim satisfaction.

The silence that follows is the loudest sound I’ve ever heard. I feel no regret, no guilt. Nothing.

Dropping the gun, I rush over to Dante. He’s lying face-down, a sinister red pool spreading out underneath him. I roll him onto his back. There are three gaping holes marring his chest and abdomen.

“Please don’t die, please don’t die,” I whimper, ripping my sweatshirt over my head to press against the wounds.

“Put your damn clothes back on, Eve. You know I can’t resist you naked.”

I cry out in shock. His dark eyes are staring straight at me. The skin on his face is pallid and bloody. Pain is etched into his every feature, but he’salive.

“You bastard! Don’t you ever dare die on me again!” I throw myself onto his chest and he groans.

“Not planning on it.” He coughs, and it’s a rough, brutal sound. “Fuck, that hurts.”

The sirens are nearly upon us. I can see a convoy of lights barely half a mile out, hurtling up the road that runs parallel to the container docks.

“You need to stand-up,” I tell him urgently. “I have to get you to the water’s edge. I called Rick. He’s sending a boat for you.”

He turns to look at me. His eyes are softer now. I can see those gold flecks re-emerging in a sea of darkness. “You really are an angel.”

I shake my head. “I just killed your brother. I don’t get to hold that title anymore.”

“You willalwayshold that title with me.” He coughs again. “Now, put your sweatshirt back on.”

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