Page 111 of Bad for You

Gianna’s perfect facade is fractured because this is do or die.

I don’t understand whose side anyone is on. Why is Gianna disarming Valentina? But more importantly, why is Valentina trying to kill Aldo? She has only known him to be the man who was kind to her when no one was when she was a child.

Unless…

What the fuck has Gianna told her?

I yank furiously at the chains. I need to get free.

Aldo reaches for the discarded gun and runs to where I am, shooting the chains. The moment they snap, I run for Valentina, who is trying to get past Gianna. However, Gianna holds her back.

“Get out of the way!” Valentina screams, eyes wild as she stares at Aldo.

“What did you do?” Gianna asks, but she knows. Valentina’s blood-soaked nightgown reveals that she finally got her revenge on Father Merry.

“Who saw you?” I push Gianna out of the way, shaking Valentina by her upper arms.

It’s as if she finally realizes where she is.

Her eyes focus, and I see it—she realizes her vast mistake.

“You have to go!” I order, gripping her by the back of the neck and pressing our foreheads together. “You cannot stay here. Gianna can’t save you from this. How could you be so stupid?”

“He needed to pay for what he did,” she says, eyes frantic. “And so does he.”

She yanks away, only to headbutt me and catch me unawares. Before I find my footing, she’s running for Aldo, who is helping Bria to safety.

“Aldo!” I scream, warning him that Valentina is coming.

Gianna pushes past me, again attempting to stop Valentina. But nothing is stopping her.

She turns and kicks Gianna in the stomach. Gianna stumbles backward, stunned. This is the first time Valentina has disobeyed her.

Aldo’s men cascade down the stairs, and it’s war.

Men from opposing teams fight, the macabre scene heightened by the flashing red lights and the urgency of the shrill alarm.

Gianna smirks. She appears proud that Valentina is fighting her. Has she been prepping us for this final showdown all along?

Aldo and Bria come to me. “Now is the time to take the bitch down!”

If that’s Aldo’s pep talk, then I’m sold. But on one condition—Valentina doesn’t get hurt.

“I promise,” Aldo says, reading my thoughts. “But do you know why she wants me dead?”

“No doubt some lie Gianna spun.”

“We finish this.”

Nodding, we go into battle, punching, kicking, and disarming Gianna’s men. Picking up a fallen gun, I fight my way through the mayhem, saving my bullets for the woman who destroyed our lives. Gianna and Valentina are still fighting, and no matterhow many times Gianna knocks her on her ass, Valentina always gets back up.

I want to believe she’s fighting because she’s finally seen Gianna for who she really is, but it’s apparent Valentina’s goal is to get to Aldo.

I punch some motherfucker in the face and use him as a shield as bullets are fired my way. No one’s life is precious in battle. It’s every man for himself. And that is why I aim for Gianna’s head. I don’t have a clear shot, as Valentina gets in the way each time I want to shoot.

She is bloody and beaten, but she won’t give up.

Aldo slaps my arm down. “Not until she surrenders.”

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