Page 163 of My Sweetest Temptation

We’re on route.

Caprice

How many suspects?

Matteo

4

Caprice

Copy. Stay down until we arrive.

Yeah, right. Didn’t he know who we were?

Matteo tucked his phone away. “Now what?” he mouthed.

I walked past him in response, placed my hand on Enzo’s shoulder, and gave him two taps, letting him know to move aside. He looked at me with furrowed brows. He started to shake his head, but I stopped him with a warning glare. He rolled his eyes and stepped aside so I could take his position.

“Come out, you fucking cowards!” gunman number one shouted.

“If you don’t come out, we’re going to kill one person at a time until you show your faces,” gunman number two added.

A glint on the right caught my eye, and I looked down and noticed a woman’s lifeless eyes staring at me. She was lying motion-still, her eyes staring blankly at the ceiling, a pool of blood slowly spreading around her. My gaze shifted to the man, his body slumped over hers, a fatal gunshot wound to the back of his skull. They both looked to be in their twenties, and that’s when I saw her engagement ring in a box beside her head. He must’ve been here to propose; now in one moment, their happily ever after had been taken away.

Suddenly, a little girl’s voice rang out, and a mother sobbed, asking someone to let her baby go. I grabbed the mirror Enzo was using and stuck it out far enough around the wall to get a view of one of the assholes holding a little girl’s hair with his fist and a shiny metal gun to her temple. The girl’s chubby cheeks were drenched with tears that cascaded down her face like a fierce, unstoppable storm. Two other gunmen stood nearby with their machine guns pointed at the crowd. But where was the fourth guy?

I glanced at Matteo, then Luca, who mouthed, “What now?”

I mouthed back, “Bring the rain down.”

They both smirked.

As soon as the asshole cocked the gun back, I rose to my feet and slowly emerged from around the corner with my gun aimed at his head.

“You fucked up, coming into my uncle’s restaurant,” I said in a threatening tone.

The gunman yanked the little girl to his chest and then faced me. At the same time, his guys aimed their weapons in my direction while Matteo and Luca stepped behind me, aiming their guns at them.

“Well, well, well,” the gunman said mockingly. “Now it’s a fucking party! Let’s see who will be the first to go down.”

“No one else has to get hurt. So, let the girl and the rest of these people go, and it will just be us,” I told him.

“Nah. No fucking way.” He shook his head while his guys laughed like it was the funniest shit they had heard.

“Who sent you?” I asked him.

“The Puppet Master sends his wishes.” Then he raised the gun at me and pulled the trigger, but I quickly ducked and pulled my trigger, the bullet hitting him straight between his eyes. He went down, causing the little girl to fall backward. Then all hell broke loose, but before the other guys had a chance to pull their triggers, they were gunned down and fell to the ground with a thud.

I saw the fourth guy scrambling to the front door, but Lo shot him in the back, sending him crashing through the front window, shattering it.

"Nico?" Mom said as I rushed past her into the house. I wasn't trying to ignore her, but there was only one person I needed to see, and she was upstairs in my room.

I took the steps two at a time until I reached the bedroom door. One of the guards stood outside.

"She's sleeping, boss."

"Thank you. You're excused," I dismissed him, and he left with a nod in response.

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