Page 52 of Ruthless Boss

He’ll get it all right.

I step toward him, noticing the pulse jumping in his throat. The closer I get, the louder he grunts through the gag. What an idiot. At least he knows he won’t escape alive.

He means nothing to me—and probably less to Ross Santini. Ciro even failed at being a loser.

“Didn’t you say he kicked and hit you so bad that you had to go to the hospital?” I ask Gia, lifting the knife.

“Yes,” she replies.

“Now, Ciro, it’s time to teach you a lesson. It’s the last one you’ll ever learn, so pay attention.”

I hold the knife in front of his stomach and look him in the eye. Sweat glistens from his face, each drop sliding down his trembling chin. The blood from his nose runs down his face, which now looks like a mess—swollen, red, and slimy like it’s melting.

He groans, the despair evident in his eyes.

“You don’t kick and hit a woman,” I shove the knife into his stomach and twist it a bit, then remove it forcefully.

Blood gushes out of him, and he tries to move in the chair to no avail.

“What’s that? You didn’t hear me?” I ask, sinking the knife into him one more time.

“Maybe it’ll be more efficient if a woman teaches him,” Gia says behind me, stepping forward. She moves slowly—because of him.

I offer her the knife. “Be my guest.”

Gia snatches it from me. She shouldn’t be here, but I have to respect her wishes. She needs her closure, and who am I to deny her? I can’t deny her anything.

She glances at the knife, and I can tell it’s heavy for her. She’s probably exhausted but acts like she’s strong enough to do this.

I study the bruises on her face, and a fresh wave of rage rolls through me, eliminating any trace of pity I felt for ending this man’s life.

He would have done much worse to her if I hadn’t arrived in time.

“Ciro. I need to know. Are you sorry for all you’ve done to me?” she asks, shortening the distance between them.

He nods violently.

I square my shoulders. Is she going to forgive him? Let him go? She can’t. I won’t let her.

Then, she lifts the knife and says, “Sorry won’t cut it, sweetie. You know what will? This.” She stabs the blade deep into his chest, and he grunts. She leans over him as if she wants to see every reaction, study the twisted lines on his face.

She whispers something in his ear that I can’t comprehend, then steps back. Without looking my way, she lifts the blade again and goes for his lower stomach, which I assume is where he hurt her when they were together. She thrusts it in and out of him a few times, ignoring his jolts in the chair, the blood gushing from him and splattering on her hands and face. She doesn’t seem to care about any of it. She slices him, draining the life from him.

I look at her trembling hand.

Her gaze meets mine, and she tosses the knife on the floor.“Shoot him.”

I fish my gun out of my ankle holster and shoot him in the head. After a second, his head hangs. More blood spurts from his chest and stomach, and his vital signs come to an end.

Gia wanted revenge, but she also wanted a relatively quick death for him. Even though she’s been through hell because of Ciro, she still has the humanity not to blur the lines. She could have done a lot worse if she’d wanted, and I would have let her.

My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I don’t need to pick it up to know it’s Andrei. We need to move fast so the cleaning crew can take over and we can board the private jet. I’m not going to prison for a lowlife like Ciro.

“C’mon,” I say. “We’ll hop in the SUV, and my local contacts can bring a doctor to take a look at you. But we need to bounce. Now.”

29

Gia

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