Page 76 of Passion and Revenge

“Fuck my life,” the bald man beside me grunts. Then, ducking behind a pillar, he pulls me into the safety of the stone wall with him as bullets fly past us.

“I think they’re keeping her behind those metal doors,” I tell him. “I have to get to her before the bastard has the chance to take her to a second location.”

His eyes meet mine, looking grave, and I know he can hear my unspoken, “Or worse.”

“I’ll distract them.” His eyes flicker around, looking for a means of escape. The men shooting at us are coming closer, and if they get close enough and corner us off in here, we’ll be done for.

“Are you sure?” I ask him.

“I like Miss Marino,” he mutters with a shrug before running out of our cove toward the entrance we came from.

I wait for the men to run after him before peeling myself away from the wall and walking toward the door at the corner. Just as I reach for it, it’s kicked open, and light spills on the dirty cop who’s holding a gun to Sienna’s head.

“Ale,” she gasps. “W—what are you doing here?”

“If you take a step forward, I’ll blow her brains out.” His dark eyes gleam at me, and I know he means every word.

I raise my hands in the air with the gun dangling from my fingers. “Don’t shoot.”

The cop glances between Sienna and me, and then his mouth pulls up into a bitter smile. “Really? It seems I was right on the money when I said you spread your legs for this thug.”

“You’re the one who has a gun to my temple, so I’m finding it hard to pinpoint who the thug is here,” she spits, jerking against her bindings.

He turns to her, his fingers going a little slack. “What would honorable Ivan think of you when he discovers you’ve tossed your dignity out the window?”

She flinches.

I don’t think. I just rush forward and dive into the man. We both crash to the ground, and the gun goes clattering away, a shot going off.

Sienna shrieks, but I’m laser-focused on the man who’s currently pushing my head into the pool of water on the ground. His fist comes down on my jaw, and my teeth cut into the inside of my cheek. I taste blood.

Raising my knees, I dig it into his stomach.

“Oof,” he gasps, and I take advantage by pushing him down beneath me and landing my own blow.

He tries to buck me off, but red has already crept over my vision.

“You touched her,” I roar, landing another blow to the side of his head. “You hurt her!” I growl.

“You bastard!” he snarls. “You can’t kill me. I’m a cop.”

I laugh darkly. “Oh, trust me, Bianci. There aren’t going to be any witnesses.”

“Alessandro, you can’t kill him,” I hear Sienna cry, but her voice seems to be coming from far away.

My fists come down again and again and again on the man’s face until I hear the crack of bone under my fists, and he’s no longer trying to push me off—until my knuckles split and the blood that pours from it becomes one with the pool under me.

Salvadore’s face is pulp—bone, brain matter, and blood—but I don’t stop until a sharp ringing sound pierces through the blood haze.

I rise up and turn to where Sienna is standing in the bald-headed man’s hold, her face completely drained of color, her wide, haunted eyes fixed on me.

I spit the blood out of my mouth.

“Leave us,” I tell Maurizio without removing my eyes from hers.

He stares down at the body behind me, hesitates, and then finally marches off, leaving the both of us in oppressive silence.

Her throat bobs in a swallow, and she takes a step back. That small move feels like a thousand needles being stabbed into me at once. Gritting my teeth, I lock my feet to keep from closing the distance and covering that plump mouth with mine.

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