All that anger coursed through her as she went to work on Isla, beating the woman until her knuckles began to slide against the woman's face. Monique blinked, snapping out of her anger-induced haze to find blood coating her hands and Isla’s face.
Isla groaned in agony, her body now limp underneath Monique. Panting, Monique pushed herself to her feet, unable to believe she’d beat this woman until blood was everywhere. Isla’s eye was already swollen shut.
Her face was so bruised that Monique barely recognized her. She truly hadn’t meant to do all of that. She swallowed as she stared down at Frederico’s daughter. Raz had beat the father. Monique beat up the daughter.
What the hell was wrong with her and her man? Then again, Monique’s life had been in danger. Isla had left her no choice. A noise sounded at the stairwell door Leo had gone through. Monique scrambled to find Isla’s gun.
She grabbed it, fingers coated with blood, and pointed it at the stairwell door as it opened.Please be Leo. Please be Leo.But the person who stepped forward wasn’t Leo. Monique’s eyes widened.
“Biiitchhh,” Toya drawled. “Did you do that?” she asked, staring at Isla, who was too hurt to move.
Toya!Was she seeing things, or was her friend really there? Tears filled Monique’s eyes as she stared at her bestie. Suddenly, everything she’d been through tonight came crashing down on her.
“Don’t cry,” Toya told her, stepping into the hallway. “I’m sure she deserved it, whoever that hoe is. Look who we rescued from getting jumped in the hallway.”
Resisting the urge to wipe her eyes with her bloody hands, Monique sniffled and leaned to the side as Toya stepped more into the hallway. Meka was with her also, and together, they were helping a battered Leo stay upright. Both of her friends had guns, and Toya’s dress was torn and had blood stains on it.
“Is he okay?” Monique asked.
Meka nodded. “Yeah. He’s fine. His leg is hurt, though.”
“He’d been holding his own out there,” Toya praised, staring at Leo, who seemed to stand a bit taller at her words. “I see why he’s the don’s right-hand man. If it hadn’t been so many on him, he wouldn’t have needed us to shoot a few at all.”
Monique didn’t miss the slight uptick of Leo’s lips. Even as hurt as he was, he was still smiling. Yeah, there was something brewing there. She’d figure that situation out later. There was something else they needed to do first. Monique stared at her friends and Leo.
“I’m glad you all are safe. But it’s time to go find my don. I’m ready for this gala event to be over.”
She’d never wanted a party to end as much as she wanted this one to. It was time for her to find Raz. She was ready to go home with her don.
Chapter Forty-Nine
ORAZIO
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Raz stood in the hallway, watching his brothers. The truth of what they’d just done settled over them like a heavy shadow, and it wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Their father was dead. The bastard was now a lifeless heap on the floor.
Yet, the wounds he’d left behind in each of them still bled. It would take more than stitches to get some of those wounds to heal. And because of those wounds, Raz would never forgive his father.
The fucker didn’t deserve a proper burial. If he could, he’d leave his ass rotting in some landfill. He may just do that. Raz took in his brothers’ expressions. Cas was staring at the floor, his hand shaking slightly as he wiped blood from his face.
Rome stood beside him, jaw clenched, but even he couldn’t hide the flicker of pain in his eyes. And then there was young Denver, still trembling, still clinging to Cas like a shipwreck survivor grasping for anything solid, trying to stay afloat.
Raz crouched down to Denver’s level, placing a hand on the boy’s trembling shoulder. His heart ached for his little cousin. The kid had lost everything tonight: his parents, his innocence. No, he hadn’t lost everything.
He still had them. Denver still had his family. However, after what Raz’s father had done, the kid may not be so comfortable around family any longer. They’d have to show him that the old don wasn’t the blueprint for how their family worked. He was merely a glitch.
“You did good, Den,” Raz praised softly. “I need you to stay with Rome now, okay? I have to go find Monique.”
“Who is that?” Den asked.
My life. My heart. My everything.“My girlfriend.”
“You have a girlfriend, Raz?” Den asked, sounding so shocked he caused all of them to chuckle.
“Yes, I have a girlfriend.”
“And she’s here? Is she... okay?”