Page 54 of Prince of Malice

Crashing through the door, my eyes narrow immediately to try and cut through the dimlight and get a better read of the room. They’ve left the lights off to the main dining room of the restaurant, so I’m only just able to see using the moonlight bleeding through the gaps in the window blinds and two smaller side rooms with the lights still on. They clearly want this place to seem closed for business and empty to avoid interruptions, but they didn’t account for me.

The Grecos and their lackeys stand in a ring around the room, Antonio standing proud with his arms folded in front of his stomach in the middle of a sadistic cackle. Their heads all turn to the sound of my disruption, each of them eyeing up my prepared fighting stance as I root my feet to the floor and cock my fists ready.

Luca, lying on the floor in a crumpled pile, rests in the middle of them. Finally catching a break from his beating as his assailants prepare themselves to take me on next, but they’re not ready for me. They could never be.

Charging forward at the closest person to me, I see his bruised knuckles that were used to hurt Luca, and a fire burns inside my stomach.

“Get the hell away from him,” I roar, my feet bounding off the floor and launching me toward my target, my fist rocketing across his jaw and sending him reeling back.

With him dealt with, I turn to face my next opponent but find four more already coming at me. Ducking around one of their hits, I end up taking two more instead. Flailing out another attempt at a punch, I barely glance one of their arms before the rest of Antonio’s dogs come down on me with the worst pain I’ve ever felt.

Knocking my ass to the floor, I’m thrown back by a barrage of kicks and punches. Skidding my face against the sharp edges of each tile on the floor, I feel them cut and scrape against my face. The warmth of my injuries cool down under the rivers of cold blood running down my cheek.

Recoiling from the pain, I turn my body in place in an attempt to stand again. Feeling the unbearable pain and struggle of my muscles as they fail to simply hold my weight, I relent the attempt and fall back to the floor.

It’s okay, though; this isn’t over yet. I still have Angelo to keep them busy until I catch my second wind.

Gasping for air trying to fill my emptied lungs, I drop my head, accepting my place on the floor. I turn my eyes across the room to lock gazes with Luca, who looks as defeated as he is in pain. The hopelessness in his eyes feels like a sharp knife stabbing me between my possibly broken ribs. Even if he did expect me to come after him, he didn’t think for a second that I could do anything to help him. He was right.

His eyes start to widen as he looks past me, staring over my body to where Angelo should be rushing through any second now.

I wait for him to come flying past me with a flurry of blows or a supportive arm as he drags me back onto my feet so we can fight side by side again, but nothing comes.

What is he doing? Why isn’t he fighting?

Persisting through my immense pain, I roll over to face Angelo, watching him just stand there, doing nothing. His brown eyes blend into his brunette fringe as it lies in front of his face. No part of his average build is ready for a fight.

It’s him. How could it be him?

His entire act drops, his look of anxietyand alarm leaving his face as his almost trademark cocky smile takes its place.

That piece of shit.

With a new purpose, I push my bruised hands against the floor and stagger to my feet. Fighting through the pain, I stumble toward Angelo and try to tackle him to the floor.

“You bastard,” I sputter out.

Struggling against the weight of gravity itself, I barely make it two steps closer to him before my body collapses to the floor again. The rough hands of Greco’s men grip tightly onto my arms and drag me back.

Propping me up to face Luca and Antonio, I am locked in place as his henchmen refuse to let me go. I’m forced to watch Luca’s beaten state, his almost lifeless eyes staring back at me trying to work out how we could ever get out of here.

I have no choice but to see the exact moment when he gives up.

“That was easier than I thought.” Angelo laughs as he walks past me to join Antonio at his side.

“You did good,” Antonio congratulates him. The two of them laugh at their victory.

I writhe against my captors, trying to free myself from their hold, but it’s no use.

“You betrayed me,” I wheeze, my breath slowly coming back to me.

The two men share a look with each other then burst into laughter.

“Betrayed you?” Angelo echos. “I was never on your side to begin with.”

“I can’t blame him. I always said you could have been an actor in another life,” Antonio jokes. He wraps his arm around Angelo’s shoulder, a smug smile on his lips. “I’m proud of you, son.”

Luca and I react in unison, the revelation hitting us both like a ton of bricks.

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