Page 94 of Twisted Games of Revenge

Marco swipes the blood now leaking from his lip with the back of his hand, smirking at him, tilting his head in a deranged way that makes my skin crawl. He’s a fucking monster. There is no good left in him, not one bit. “I wouldn’t listen to my sister, she’s delirious from blood loss. I would say it’s too late to save the baby. But it’s not like we ever really knew whose it was anyway. Probably not a great loss.”

My chest radiates pain of the loss as I try to suck in ragged breaths so I don’t pass out. “Fuck you, Marco,” I seethe. I know he’s right, but it’s the first time Alessandro and the other boys realize the commissioner’s tight grip on my arm is the only thing holding me up. I see it in their panic, and it kills me all over again.

I close my eyes, not able to handle seeing his pain. Any of theirs. They might be here to save me, but it’s too late. Tears leak from my eyes in a constant flow. I can’t stop them now when it’s all so hopeless. I never knew how much I wanted this baby until I found out I was pregnant, and ever since then, it’s all I have been able to think about. But I know how much pain I’m in. Mix that with the crippling nausea swirling through me, and I know I’m running out of time, if it isn’t already too late.

I feel the commissioner’s low dark chuckle vibrate through my body; it forces me to open my eyes. He’s focused on the doors to the back of the building, as if he is expecting something or someone to arrive and save them.

With a violent crash, the back doors swing open, slamming against the building’s back wall, a sound that shakes the structure. A group of men in crisp, blue police uniforms appear in the empty space.

“Looks like the cavalry have arrived. Last chance, boys, are you real Morettis or are you ready for Marco to take the lead?” The commissioners voice booms through the room.

Dirty cops move through the opening toward the boys, there would have to be at least twenty of them. Their faces, contorted in snarls, filled with menace knowing they now have the upper hand.

“Maddox!” I scream in warning as one of them creeps up behind him, ready to fight. He spins around and captures the man in his massive arms, slamming him into the brick wall behind.

All hell breaks out around us, fists flying, men cursing and grunting as they try to outpower each other. My scared eyes search the room, a sea of bodies before me, each one moving in a different direction. The stench of sweat and metallic tang of blood hangs heavy in the air as the boys desperately fight off the dirty cops closing in from all sides.

“I’ve seen enough,” the commissioner says, taking me around the waist, dragging me away from them and closer to the wings where Valentina waits with a cunning-as-fuck look on her face.

“Guess you really did get what you deserved in the end, princess. The commissioner will teach you a lesson or two for messing with my boys,” she sneers. Her words, laced with venom, drip like poison from her ruby-red lips, followed by the sound of her cruel cackle.

Shots ring out, and I realize Geovani must be here after all, hiding somewhere up high where he has a clear shot and good vantage point. He takes out man after man, protecting the boys from the onslaught. I crane my neck, peering up into the brightly lit fly loft, searching for him amongst the ropes and pulleys. But the stage lights are too bright and blind me.

“Take her through the back, there is a car waiting for you,” comes Valentina’s voice. I blink back at her, the cruel smirk painting her lips.

There are so many things I want to say to her. But I’m too weak to keep fighting.

My body sags, and it’s not until I hit the ground that I realize the commissioner has let go of his tight grip on me. I glance up and see he’s behind me now, blood pooling around him where he’s been shot. Geovani must have got him.

I scramble over to where the commissioner dropped his gun and snatch it up. Clutching it in both my shaky hands, I prop myself up on my elbows, searching for Geovani. Or anyone who can get me out of here. I need medical help, and I know I’m running out of time.

A bloodcurdling scream rips through the air, making me flinch and look back to where Valentina had been standing in the wings just moments before. Sloane tips her head in acknowledgment, wearing a subtle smile. She holds Valentina from behind with aknife to her throat and wastes no time in using it, killing her the exact way Enzo killed her best friend.

My heart heaves in my chest at the awful sight. My attention shifting to Enzo wondering if he saw. He’s not far from me on the stage. His eyes go wide, and his skin pales, watching the horrible scene before him as Sloane drops his wife and obedient servant of thirty odd years’ body to the stage floor below. “Do something,” he calls to Marco.

But as I glance around for Marco, I can’t find him on the stage or down on the floor where the boys are.

Two of the Stryker brothers, Asher and Jagger move stealthily past me from behind the stage and approach Enzo.

I look back toward Sloane and notice she’s not alone, Dani and Malachi are with her, with him embracing Dani protectively as a cop runs at them. Sloane fights him off easily sending him crashing to the floor below. Relief floods over me when I realize Dani’s still alive. And the Iron Strykers are here to help. They must be coming in through the back of the stage, where Valentina and her goons found me earlier, it’s the only explanation, it must be how Geovani got his vantage point above me as well.

In a matter of seconds, the place fills again; this time, though, it’s Strykers creeping in through from both sides of the backstage, quickly outnumbering Enzo and his men. They move in to stand behind Ricky and Maddox. An army of men ready to fight for me.

Enzo bursts into laughter again, but this time, it’s the nervous chuckle of a man who knows he’s outnumbered. “You’re all going to fuck up the rest of your lives for her. Divide this town in two for some pathetic little girl. After everything I’ve done for you.” His eyes shift nervously between them.

Alessandro approaches him. “The only one who divided this town is you and the scum-of-the-earth corrupt cops who have been protecting you all these years.”

Maddox moves in closer as well. “It ends tonight, Enzo.”

“No more games,” agrees Ricky. The three of them banding together looking stronger than ever.

“Grab him.” Alessandro nods toward the Stryker brothers.

Jagger and Asher take hold of Enzo, dragging him down the stairs off the stage.

The rest of the cops all look like they’re gone, taken out by the brothers or the Iron Strykers, but the tension in the air is thicker than ever.

In one swift move, Marco startles me, stealing the gun from my hands. Where the fuck did he even come from. Towering over me, he aims it at me. “I’m not letting you steal away everything I have worked for,” he seethes, bitterness spitting toward me.

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