Page 139 of King of Obsession

I was going to beat them at my game, my rules.

I rolled my shoulders, loosening up. ‘What do you say, boys? Let’s settle this like men. No more guns, no more tricks. Just you and me, mano a mano.’

Fabio snarled, his face twisted with rage. ‘You think you can take us both, vecchio? You’re insane!’

‘Crazy like a fox,’ I countered with a predatory grin. ‘I’ve been scrapping and brawling before you ever wiped your culo. You don’t stand a chance.’

I shifted into a brawler’s stance, fists up and ready. My muscle memory kicked in, ingrained from countless back-alley bouts.

The Contis had yet to learn what they were in for.

Bruno cracked his knuckles, trying for a badass, rugged look. ‘You’re going to regret this, fucker. We’re younger,faster, stronger. We’ll break you in half!’

‘Enough talk.’ I beckoned them forward with a curl of my fingers. ‘Let’s dance, ragazzi.’

The slow-turning gears behind their eyes were comical as they tried to decide whether to rush me together or split up to flank me. But I wasn’t about to give them time to think. This ends now, one way or another.

They wanted to play the game, thinking I was just some tough guy in his mid-thirties that their youthful arrogance might push around. They were about to learn that I was no old dog and had plenty of bite left in me. And I was going to savor every instant of teaching them that lesson.

The brothers exchanged glances, then charged as one, arms open to grab me from both sides.

Amateurs.

I pivoted at the last second, letting their momentum carry them past me. Bruno stumbled off-balance, and I cracked him across the jaw with a vicious right hook. He went down hard, spitting blood and teeth.

Fabio roared in anger and came at me with a wild haymaker.

I ducked, driving my fist into his soft belly. He doubled over, gasping for air, and I brought my knee up into his face with a satisfying crunch.

Decades of pent-up rage and frustration had fueled my attacks, giving me a strength and speed I’d never experienced before.

All those years of street brawling, all those back-alley fights and barroom scuffles, had been leading up to this moment. This was what I was born for.

But I’d no time to gloat. The other Conti soldiers were already advancing in, trying to surround me.

I had to keep moving and tip them off balance. They might have outnumbered me, but I had decades of experience.

I whirled and lashed out with a spinning back fist, catching one thug in the temple. He crumpled like a puppet with its strings cut.

Two more rushed me from either flank, but I was ready. I grabbed one by the arm and used his momentum to flip him hard onto his back, then snapped a quick front kick into the other one’s groin. He went down, squealing like a stuck pig.

The last two hung back, trying to circle behind me. I let them think they had me trapped, then feinted left and dove right, rolling beneath their clumsy grab. I came up in a crouch and swept my leg out in an extensive arc, taking their feet out from under them.

I pounced as they struggled to rise, hammering them with a relentless flurry of punches and elbows. I had to put them down hard and fast.

Cleo had disappeared in the rush, and I hoped she was OK.

She was badass, but this shitshow was getting out of hand.

The still-standing Contis circled me like a pack of wolves.

I settled into a fighter’s stance, blood singing with the thrill of impending violence. ‘Come on then, you sons of bitches,’ I taunted. ‘Let’s finish this.’

They rushed me as one, but I was ready. I became a whirlwind of flying fists and precise strikes, my body moving on pure instinct honed by years on the unforgiving streets. One by one, they fell before my onslaught.

A piercing scream broke through the air

Cleo.

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