Page 67 of The Forbidden Husband

He nodded. “I can’t let you kill yourself.”

“I can’t let him kill her.”

“Then today is the day we end this,” Uncle Giovanni said as he pulled out his phone.

* * * *

It may have been a trap, but the Bianchis didn’t know how many people we had, and they certainly didn’t expect those numbers to come to our aid.

Three dozen men surrounded the house, and the Bianchi guards were entirely unaware as they spoke to one another, hands off their weapons. Nobody seemed at all prepared, but I knew better than to go in obliviously.

“I only need a gap,” I told Matthew as he stared down the barrel of the sniper rifle.

He didn’t have to be here. We offered him the option to take care of his brother’s arrangements, but his fury knew no bounds. He would never let this family get away with taking his brother from him, so he insisted on coming and working at my side to clear the premises.

My walkie talkie buzzed. “We see two snipers in neighboring rooftops,” one of my men said. “Give the signal, and they’ll be eliminated.”

I took in all the home’s defenses.

I knew the main threat would be on the inside, and I hoped our inside source had gotten the memo that we were coming. If not… well, I could do it alone. I would do it alone.

I wouldn’t bring a bunch of my men into a house where my wife was being held captive. I couldn’t have a dozen different guns firing in different directions—not when any stray bullet could take her life. I had to go in and out alone, and my men would cover me from out here.

“Are you ready?” I asked Matthew.

He nodded once, and I gave the go-ahead.

The second guns began firing, I jumped from my cover and ran toward the side entrance of the mansion. I heard the return fire—everyone too focused on the shooting guns to worry about the man running into the house. I tightened my grip on my pistol as I walked through the door and fired two shots immediately.

It looked like two guards were intent on storming through the side door and joining their companions, but I caught them both off guard as they fell into the wall with the force of my bullets. One of them tried aiming his weapon, but I pushed it out of the way and threw my fist—brass knuckles and all—into his cheek.

He toppled to the ground unconscious as I continued moving through the house.

I went from room to room, clearing each one. An occasional housekeeper sat with her hands up, and I let each of them live. Anyone with a gun fell beneath my bullets or knives or brass knuckles.

The bullets outside peppered the air, and it sounded like an occasional one broke a window or came through the siding and into the interior of the house.

A few screams of dying men echoed through the home, but I continued forward, intent on finding and killing my target. He had to be here. He had to know we were coming, and he would be waiting beside Aria, ready to kill us.

Unless… unless he decided to get out and get far away to preserve himself and his empire. It would be just like him to allow his men to die while running in the other direction.

I rushed up the stairs and down one side of the hallway. It didn’t sound like anyone had bothered to be guarding the upper level, but I went through each room, kicking the doors in and scanning anywhere a grown person could hide.

The gunfire became more sporadic, and I knew we were running low on time. If Alonzo had planned on us being here, he had made moves to make sure we didn’t leave, so we needed to be in and out quickly.

I wouldn’t announce myself, though. I wouldn’t risk warning anyone that I was coming.

I cleared one hallway and walked toward the other, gun still raised.

Almost as if in over-excitement, one of Alonzo’s cronies peeked around the corner and fired a shot that mercifully went wide. A burn brushed across my forearm, and I swore as I ducked back into one of the rooms, using a dresser as a makeshift cover.

“He told me you motherfuckers were coming,” the man shouted, giving up his location without thought.

I brushed my hand across my forearm and found a trickle of blood, but nothing more significant. The wound was shallow.

“You didn’t think he’d leave the girl unguarded, did you?”

He was just outside the room, and I lifted my gun, waiting patiently.

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