Page 107 of Brutal Obsession

“I’m finally dead.” She mumbles, nearly too low for me to hear, something like relief or resignation in her distorted voice. “But I’m…so glad…heaven is…you.”

Her heavy head falls against my shoulder.

Enough emotion wells in my chest to drown a giant.

But now’s not the time. I’ve found her. I need to complete the rest of the mission.

Once we’re safely home and she’s recovered, I can bare my heart.

Reality fractures into sounds, sights, and sensations as my heart beats wildly out of control with anticipation, rage, and blind vengeance.

The tang of bloodshed permeates the air.

I barrel left through an open doorway and find myself on a catwalk overlooking what may have once been a factory floor.The pathway is narrow and made of metal, and two storiesbelow, chaos unfolds.With Harper in my arms, I hesitate to cross to the other side.

There’s enough going on down there that they wouldn’t notice if I sprinted across. But I worry about stray bullets. What if a few ricocheted? Being on that catwalk would put us out in the open?—

“Enzo!”

It’s a feminine growl of rage I’ve never heard before. Intense, guttural, bounding through the space like an energetic echo.

Riley.

I take stock of the scene shaping up below.

Riley and Finn, with Darren and Rory right on their heels, thunder onto the factory floor with guns blazing. It’s not until several more bodies drop that I see him.

Enzo. They chased him in here.

Picked off his entourage.

Cornered him.

As soon as my eyes lock on that motherfucker, my body’s moving before I have any idea what I’m doing. Holding Harper tight to my chest with one arm, I aim with the other.

The world slows to a crawl as I finger the trigger.

Even while trapped, Enzo’s face contorts into the smuggest, ugliest smile I’ve ever seen. He opens his mouth to trade words with my friends, but nothing comes out before my bullet pierces his neck. Straight through his windpipe.

Missed his head by a few inches.

Enzo clutches his throat, blood oozing through his fingers and spilling down onto his hideous three-piece suit.

“Up there!” Male voices rise around the room seconds before thetinkof bullets glancing off the underside of the catwalk begin to punctuate the air.

Fuck. We’ve been spotted.

“Cian, run!”

Riley shrills a warning as Rory and Finn fire. At least three of their bullets pierce his skull before the rest dot his torso, collapsing his corpse to the ground like a felled tree.

It’s over. I know it in my bones.

Enzo De Luca is dead. Finally dead. Forever.

But the victory of that never reaches me. Not with dashing feet approaching my flank.

A De Luca enforcer spots us. “He’s got the target!”

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