Page 112 of Deception

Gunfire echoes through the house, repeated shouts and screams of the dying. It’s impossible to tell who’s winning. But it’s mayhem. A full-scale assault.

My abductors cluster together, training there weapons on Alessandro, holding him at bay.

“You’re all dead,” he promises, and his words are punctuated by a blood curdling roar from the front of the house. Alessandro bares his teeth. “My brothers are awake. You’re all fucked.”

He stalks towards us.

“Eat shit, Diamante!” One of the thugs shouts, slamming the door.

Fists immediately slam into the wood, splintering the door. Every gun jerks back, aiming for him.

“Get down!” I shriek, right before a hand claps over my mouth.

The spray of bullets shreds the door, deafening me in the enclosed space. An unwitting whimper slips between my lips at the thought of him on the other side of the door, peppered in bullet holes.

“Come on. We gotta get the fuck out of here,” a masked behemoth of a man orders.

“But I wanna kill more of these bastards!” Another one gripes.

“We got what we came for. Let's go!”

They drag me through the house, lifting me up to carry me down the stairs, fighting every step of the way.

“Keep struggling and I’ll rip your hair out,” the huge man roars, viciously jerking a fistful of my hair. “Get her under control or I will.”

My legs turn to jelly the way he says it, pure murderous intent.

The biggest man leads on, blasting one of the guards as he runs to intercept.

“You heard him, woman, stop struggling!” my handler snags the strap of my nightgown, fumbling with me for a second and I lash out, clawing the mask from his face, leaving bright red slices across his forehead and cheek.

“God dammit!” The back of his hand takes me in the jaw before I can take a step, driving me to my knees. He raises his foot to kick me…

“No! I’ll go, I’ll go,” I shrink against the floor, resisting the urge to cover my stomach. My survival instincts demand that I fight, but another instinct is stronger, to protect my child. I just have to bide my time until one of the brothers gets to me.

In the meantime, I can’t give them a hint that I’m vulnerable that way or they’ll use it against me.

“You want your lover and his people to live, you better cooperate.” He drags me back to my feet, spitting blood to the side and we stumble across the entryway toward the front doors.

All around us, blood spatters the floor, the walls. Alessandro’s men are putting up one hell of a fight, the intruders are taking massive casualties.

Still, some of the staff are caught in the crossfire.

A woman runs by us, a maid, screaming. She’s gunned down before she can make the bottom of the stairs.

She was one of the ladies who brought my meals. Always kind. Always offering me a smile.

A sob of rage wracks my body as I’m pulled away from the carnage.

Ciro kicks a man out into the foyer through a doorway, chasing him down and pummeling him like a madman, his fists drenched in crimson. I almost cry out, but I can’t risk drawing fire onto him.

Above us another gang member screams, plummeting over the banister to his death. The body is followed by another figure, deadly silent as he dives over the railing. Ero rockets down, knees first into another assailant, smashing him into the ground with a sickening thud before ramming one of his daggers into the man’s face.

In a flash both knives whip out, taking down another two, launching across the room and into the throat of one of the men guarding our escape.

Ero’s eyes flash, pausing on me for a second. He rushes forward, immediately intercepted by a wall of men as we make it onto the porch, behind a barricade of waiting heavies.

My vision is obscured as we reach a van parked out front, one of many.

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