Page 96 of Born a Queen

Chapter Fifty-One

Raina refused to allow shock to freeze her responses, taking away the precious second she needed to avenge the two men at her feet. She didn't know if they were alive or dead, but she was going to do her best to take down the threat for their sake.

She was going to fucking kill Desi with her bare hands.

Raina dropped to her knees, scooping up the gun that Giovanni had been holding. It was wet with blood. She didn't know whose and she didn't have time to care. She was facing a woman determined to kill her and everyone she loved. Raina rolled to the side of the door as bullets thumped into the wall behind and beside her. The second the shooting stopped, Raina swung her arm around the doorframe and shot at random.

A grunt of pain told her that she'd actually scored a hit. Impressive considering she'd never used a gun in her life. She wasn't about to waste a single second though. She flung herself into the room, crouching low and scanning as quickly as she could. Desi was bent over on the other side of the bed, clutching her thigh where blood was pouring freely. When Desi caught the movement of Raina out of the corner of her eye, she lifted her gun.

Raina got her first, shooting as rapidly as she could until the chamber of her gun was empty and Desi was flung backwards as she took a bullet to the shoulder. Raina was starting to think she was a shooting prodigy, impressed with herself for managing to hit Desi twice.

Raina threw herself across the bed, rolling as she flung her gun at Desi's head, cracking her in the side of the skull with it. Raina smiled grimly as Desi cried out in pain and grabbed her head.

Desi staggered away from Raina, her hand moving to her belt where she pulled a knife, her movements slow and clumsy. Despite Desi having a good four or five inches on her, Raina was able to grab Desi by the throat and swing her into the concrete wall.

Desi’s head hit with a sickening crack. She flinched and shook her head as if trying to clear it. Desi struck out blindly with her knife, finally scoring a hit on Raina. Raina cried out as fire slice through her upper bicep, but she was sure the wound wasn't that bad considering her grip on Desi’s neck remained tight. Raina grasped Desi’s knife hand, slamming her wrist into the wall next to her head.

The two women were in a standoff. Though wounded, Desi was bigger and far more skilled than Raina. But Raina had rage on her side. She wanted this woman to die and she wanted to do it herself. Every time Desi tried to hit out at her, Raina absorbed the hit and struck back. An elbow to Desi's chin, a fist to her chest and a knee to Desi's groin.

There was no doubt, Desi was taking the brunt of their fight. Blood loss was making her weak and clumsy.

"I'm going to enjoy slicing that pretty face off," Desi hissed, baring her teeth at Raina.

Raina punched her in the mouth, bloodying her teeth and ending Desi's stream of vitriol. Raina leaned in close to Desi. "Right back at you, bitch."

Another minute of struggling and Desi was finally forced to release her hold on the knife, allowing it to drop to the floor with a clatter. Desi tried to drop to her knees, groping frantically for it. Raina brought her own knee up, hitting Desi in the side of the head and knocking her to the ground. Raina scooped the knife up and jumped on top of Desi, first dropping to her knees on Desi's chest, then straddling her.

Desi screamed in pain and flung her arms over her face, turning her head to the side as Raina lifted the knife, preparing it to plunge it into Desi's chest.

A hand gripped her wrist, stopping her. Raina threw her head back glaring up at the person who dared to stop her. Mateo stood swaying next to her, then dropped to his knees, his hand sliding away from Raina's. She twisted, still on top of Desi and pressed her hands to his cheeks, uncaring of the bloody knife she held in her hand.

"I thought you were dead!" she wailed, tears starting to flow.

"I… I would never… leave you." His voice was weak, and Raina realized how much effort it must've taken to pull himself up off the floor and come to her aid. "Don't kill her."

"But why?" Raina demanded swiping at her tears. “We need to finish this.”

"Because you are not a killer and this woman deserves a slower death than what she’ll find from a knife to the heart." This had not come for Mateo. He was already slipping away from her, his eyes drifting shut as his body slumped back against the bed.

It was Giovanni. He stood tall, proud and angry, blood pouring down his face and neck from his wound. This was the Italian Godfather. The man who ruled the underground of an entire nation. Not only was he alive, but he looked like the formidable kingpin he was, his cold gaze on the woman laid out on the floor.

He had a point. Desi didn’t deserve an easy death. Not after everything she’d done to Raina's family.

Raina nodded at him. "Can you help me secure her so we can get help for Mateo?"

Giovanni dropped down beside Raina and set about making sure that the semi-conscious Desi would neither move or die anytime soon. When he finished, he helped Raina assess Mateo. They did their best to stanch the flow of blood from his wounds, pressing a towel that Raina found in the washroom around the shrapnel sticking out from his chest and another against a gunshot wound that went through the flesh in his side. They agreed that they didn't think any arteries had been severed, but he was still losing too much blood.

Moments later, the room filled with their people. Danny and Angela were the first ones in. Angela was quick to assure Raina that the house had been secured and anyone involved in the attack neutralized. They laid Mateo out on the bed and set to work saving the life of their leader. The boss of the Miami underworld.

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